Skip to main content

Not A Victim

 


No fair. Woe is me. I didn’t deserve that. My cries of self pity are just as painful as the situation that caused them. They double the pain and invite hopelessness to settle in, just when I need hope most. But I’m learning a profound truth— in Christ I am never a victim and suffering always has a deeper purpose, growing my faith and helping me to be conformed to His image. This is one reason the Lord calls me to lay down my life, to take up my cross and follow Him. Doing this, laying down my life, guards my heart against self pity. Now when some trial happens to me, no matter how weighty, I can say like Christ, “no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down (John 10:18).” How better to reflect His image? 


Lord, thank you for Your example of laying down your life. Help me to remember that when I follow this example, I am no longer a victim to anything or anyone. Amen. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment!

Popular posts from this blog

In My Body, Not Of It

I became my body. Nothing like a postpartum struggle to upend mental stability. After having my son in 2021, I went through the deep waters of anxiety and depression. My crises point came when I became my body. My mind was consumed with trying to fight insomnia, not wanting to eat, and problems with hypertension caused by deep anxiety. I focused on how to feel better and all my time was devoted to what medication/ vitamin/ exercise would cure me. Mind, body, spirit-- in terms of wellness is all connected. Sure. But after this trial I caution you about the trend that's taking a materialistic extreme. It's a subtle shift among believers to suggest that since the spirit is in the body it's of  the body. Truth is if Christ's spirit indwells you, if the Father and the Son have made their home with you, then your spirit is from above. I am in the world, but I am not of the world. In the same way, I am in my body but not of it. (This is only true for the believer, an unbeliev
Post a Comment
Read more

Beware Of The Eternal Now

Nothing lasts forever, right? Well, nothing earthbound anyway. Of course God is forever. And so is the human soul. But circumstances, life experiences-- good and bad-- are all momentary. We read that   "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17). But sometimes we feel like we're in a forever moment. No matter how much life moves around us, a specific circumstance may feel like it will never change. These forever moments can be good or bad. I remember getting married the feelings of joy and contentment that immediately followed that I felt wouldn't change. Or when I graduated college, or after having my first child. These moments of joy I wanted to last forever. But hardships come and with them bad forever moments. Like arguments, difficult pregnancies, unemployment, and lost friendships. The longer I live the more I find my forever moments are difficult. I love the line in Laura Story's song
1 comment
Read more

Free From Doing Whatever I Want

Often we think freedom is being unshackled to do whatever we want. This is the greatest bondage though. Only in Christ can we be free from doing whatever self desires. To will against oneself is utterly impossible unless the Spirit of God is birthed in us. And when this happens, the war begins. The Spirit against the flesh, the flesh against the spirit-- before the Spirit entered it was simply self reigning. Now there's an adversary to my selfish desires who can conquer me as I can not. Oh praise the Lord for Him, who makes freedom possible, though not comfortable or easy, lest we think we no longer need Him. This breaking of self feels at times as though ripped apart within, tortured between desire and will. Yet the best freedom is within reach-- the abundant life that Christ offers. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. Oh if I only lived this way always! To live against selfish desires is to truly love-- only think of it, how much you could serve, how much you co
Post a Comment
Read more