Ps Kathy Strong - North End Church, Te Awamutu

Don’t you just love it when you are asked to write something on overcoming and you get sick?

So, before you can even start writing on overcoming, you need to overcome the sickness! Kind of ironic right?

I have been laid up in bed for the last couple of days with a runny nose, cold sweats, body aches and a killer headache. And I have to be honest, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself!

All I wanted to do was sleep and watch Netflix, which I did for a day or two but then even that wasn’t fun.

But do you know when I really started to get better? When my attitude changed. When I got my fight back and said “No more, I am not putting up with this sickness any longer.”

That’s when I started to feel better.

And I have come to realise, it is like that with so many things we need to “overcome.”

The disappointment from a job loss.

The disappointment from not getting that promotion.

The pain of a medical diagnosis.

The loss of a loved one.

The loss of a dream.

“But God I thought….” (you fill in the blank!)

The list could go on and on.

Now, I am not saying those things are not important (or life changing) and we ignore them. We can’t do that, but what we can do, is change our attitude!

Disappointment and overcoming are a part of life and we can either make it easier or harder on ourselves.

Sure, I could have stayed in bed for another week, I could have wallowed in self-pity and felt sorry for myself but really, that was not going to achieve anything except feed my pity party! A day in bed was great as my body needed the rest, but it was helping no one, especially myself, to drag it out!

My sickness may seem like a silly example (it was very real as I was living it!) but really it is no different than the bigger battles we face.

Recently I had to turn down an amazing opportunity. It was an opportunity that I was super excited about, and one that I knew I wanted. As I prayed about it, God gave me a clear no! And being the stubborn girl that I am, I kept praying just in case God would change his mind (knowing full well that I had heard a clear NO!) but the answer was still the same. And so, with tears streaming down my face, I turned down the opportunity.

Even though I knew it was the right answer, the pain was still very real. I was grieving what I thought I wanted, and I was saying goodbye to a dream. It hurt. It really hurt.

Now we have to allow ourselves time to grieve. To process our thoughts and allow God’s healing and peace to wash over us. But we are not to camp there.

Psalm 23:4 says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.”

I love this verse for 2 reasons. 1. that He is always with us, and 2. it says “as I walk,” it doesn’t say “as I camp there” and so as we face battles and disappointments we are to carry on walking! Sure, allow sometime to grieve and process, but keep walking!

Overcoming means to succeed in dealing with a difficulty or problem. It means to get the better of in a struggle or conflict, and it means conquer, vanquish, defeat and subdue.

God has called us to be strong women of faith that can face anything life throws at us. But we can only do that through His strength. And we can only do that if we have “our fight on”

Our attitude plays a huge part in how we deal with what is thrown at us in life.

2 Timothy 1:7 says “God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound judgement.”

Hold on to those scriptures God has given you, hold on to His promises, and walk with women who encourage and uplift you.

The battle is ours, but the victory has already been won for us. Even if the outcome is different than we thought it would be, God is always a good God, and even in the darkest times, there is always something to be thankful for.

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You’ve got this girlfriend! You ARE a warrior and you ARE an overcomer!

Watch video here