WHEN THERE’S OPRESSION THERE’S ALWAYS A BLESSING RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER IF YOU PERSEVERE
Have you ever noticed that when you feel most like quitting, there’s much at stake? The longer I live, the more I am finding that one thing is for certain…
When there’s oppression there’s always a blessing…right around the corner if you persevere.
It is for this reason that it is critically important that I remind myself not to focus on feelings. If I feel like giving up and lying flat on the floor in defeat, I should not! If I feel like yelling at someone for being rude, I should not. I would look like a fool yelling at them for being rude while being doubly rude myself. If I feel like eating a bag of chocolate and having a big pity-party, I should most definitely not! In the moment, it’s hard to not do all the things we want.
But, a Warrior knows that she does not steer through her day being led by emotions. Nor does she let her doubt drive the vehicle in which she lives while she sits idly by buckled up with doubt and fear. Why is it that what we “want” to do, we most often shouldn’t. And, what we don’t want to do, we most often should? I’m reminded of Paul who talked about doing what he didn’t want to do and not doing what he knew he should do…
Ro 7:15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Ro 7:16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Ro 7:17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
Ro 7:18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Ro 7:19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Ro 7:20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Ro 7:21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
Ro 7:22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
Ro 7:23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Ro 7:24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Ro 7:25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Warriors find their strength in the Word and in community with other Warriors.
Gal 6:9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Gal 6:10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
When we persevere through trials, maintain a loving attitude during hardship, and hope beyond all doubt, we learn to recognize those silent moments of the aftermath when the storm ceases, and as soon as it does, the blessing that was at stake appears in the midst!
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.