The Benefits of a Coach

I’ve always associated coaches with sports teams for most of my life. 

For some reason, it never really occurred to me that there were so many kinds of coaches out there or that having a coach was something that I needed.

• Why on earth do I need a coach?
• Aren’t coaches more for people who play sports?
• I don’t need a coach because I can accomplish everything that I need to on my own.

Matthew 18:20, states:

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

God created us to live in community with each other, and to be social beings.

I never bought into that belief for reasons too numerous to go into. 

I truly believed that if I needed to do something, I could do it myself. And if I couldn’t do it on my own, then it wasn’t meant to happen for me. 

2 Christian counselors and a Christian coach helped change all of that for me.

It wasn’t until I worked with a couple of Christian counselors that I realized I was doing things, a lot of things, for the wrong reasons. 

They helped me see who I was in God and helped me along my path to understanding God’s infinite love for me. 

I never knew there were Christian counselors out there.

My first real experience with a coach, outside of my coaches in high school that I had for sports, was with a Christian coach back in 2017. 

She helped me to understand the role and value of working with someone to achieve a personal goal, in this case, it was improving my overall relationship with God. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 states:

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.”

Coaches provide motivation and assistance. 

They also provide guidance and accountability. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, “And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

Having someone to be accountable to, someone that will push you but motivate you at the same time is a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals, whatever they are. 

I know me and without having someone to coach me in areas of weakness for me, I would never work on them on my own because I suck at doing those things. 

It’s unpleasant and uncomfortable for me so I will usually avoid putting myself through that level of unpleasantness. 

The problem with that mindset is that I will never get any better at those things and my overall well-being will suffer as a result.

God meant for all of us to work together in community, with Him at the center, to improve ourselves and thrive as people.

I thank God every day for granting me the humility to learn from others, and to be open to the instruction and guidance of others. 

To all the coaches who have helped me, I am eternally grateful for your support, motivation, and accountability, because without your help I wouldn’t be where I am now, in a position to help others the way that I’ve been helped and supported. 

That’s what a coach does, we help guide others. 

We help those who feel compelled to make a change walk along a new path, one that’s oftentimes scary because it’s so unknown. 

But, as God reiterates in the above passage from Ecclesiastes, even the hardest change becomes doable when he is present at the center of a coaching relationship.