More Than An Conqueror?
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
It’s Mother’s Day! I’m sitting on our back porch, binging on Sweet Magnolia’s again (it returns in June) and enjoying the sounds of the birds and the cool breeze. More than anything, I sit reflecting on the goodness of God. Over the week, I witnessed friends who are broken from the circumstances of life, worship the Lord in a manner that allowed me to see a glimpse of God like never before. I’m reminded that we walk pass people, hop on zooms, drive behind others, having no idea as to what they are navigating, what they just experienced or what they are entering into. It is God’s expectation that we extend kindness, embrace and encouragement as we go about our way, even as we endure our own trials and tribulations.
When I was younger in my faith, I truly believed that because “I believed,” I qualified as being exempt from trouble. In fact, I got a little in my feelings when I found myself in circumstances that I didn’t register for. After all, didn’t going to church, reading my Bible (even lightly) and reciting the 23rd Psalm by heart represent being a solider in the army of the Lord? Perhaps, but at the back of the ranks, or dare I say, barely enlisted. As my relationship with God grew, and I got to know Him as my sister, Pastor Nichole Corder says, “as sovereign.” That required transitioning from the back to the trenches. The filthy, dirty, non desirable realities resulting in an entanglement with the Master as His will goes forth in the earth, even as we disagree, question and are disturbed with the actions He allows. Even when said actions directly impact ourselves and those whom we hold dear. That reckoning has rocked me at my core with inextricable, indescribable pain that I had no where to channel, other than our God.
Yet in all these things, the Word says we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). I quietly wept to God and asked, “Can we be more than conquerors when we are broken?” I was reminded that if we had it all together, there would be no need to mention us being conquerors, let alone “more.” The verses before speak about trials and distress. We are not conquerors because we are strong or have an acumen to endure; We are conquerors through the One who loves us. While things are hard for us, nothing is too hard for God. Accordingly, we shall not be erased as a result of what we face; if anything, we may be grounded in our Heavenly Father who is ultimately the One who is holding us together, even by a thread. It’s certainly a full circle moment as we worship and accept what we struggle to understand.
I pray for you, more “sitting on the back porch days;” but even if that is not the case, may you find solace in the God of the trenches.