My Favorites - VICTOR vs Victim

I had a pretty interesting weekend… how about you?  Our weather was fantastic and besides other things, I enjoyed working in the yard mowing lawns and cleaning up the flowerbeds.  I don’t actually remember now if it was on Friday or Saturday, but I finally took the time to clean up the FAVORITES file on my computer. 

I’ve had my current laptop for four or five years now and the list of websites that I saved there had gotten pretty long!  I know that I’ve mentioned before of how I like to research things.  Many times, when I see an interesting article that I either don’t have time at that moment to read or that I want to save for further study, I’ll place it in that section on my browser for easy access.  Well, as you can imagine, the more I’ve added to that list, the less easy the access has become!  So, I finally took a few moments to delete the listings that are no longer pertinent to me.

It was actually a very enlightening process and one that pulled at my emotional heartstrings.  It was like I was viewing a time capsule of my life over the last five years.  I must have purchased the laptop right after we moved into our home in Fuquay-Varina in North Carolina.  The saved information included numerous articles and scientific studies that I had read concerning the most current information that was regularly being published about Alzheimer’s as I sought to stay up-to-date for Piper’s needs, detailed reports on the newest medications we had her on and/or were considering for her, sleeping aids that I was thinking about trying, and other odd subjects including furniture ideas for the new house as well as new outdoor tools and machinery for our large yard in NC.  

Then there was information on the fancy, custom wheelchair we ordered for her, research on the new car we needed to get so we could transport the chair… and the list went on and on… up to and including research for the move out here to Oklahoma, all the city and state legalities we needed to take care of in the new state… and all the way down to the present when I did local searches for things like new restaurants, various stores and State Parks to visit!

Looking through and cleaning out that file got me to thinking about many things and in particular, the many loses that I endured, not only over those last five years, but also the five previous to them.  With my focus so centered on the loss of Piper, the other losses of people, family relationships, and ways of life that we’d lived for 50 plus years, seemed to have taken a distant second place.  But when I looked back… I realized that it really had been a rather tough, heart-wrenching and emotional ten-year period for me. 

In the midst of reliving many of those personal loses, I came across a verse of scripture, that while it actually talks about sin and our old way of living prior to Christian salvation… also seemed very apropos to my look back in time.  In Romans 6:13-14 the Apostle Paul warns us saying:

“Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things.  Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God” (The Message)

The truth of the fact that we as Christians are to be living in “the freedom of God,” instantly helped me to NOT see myself as a VICTIM of the losses of my past, but rather as the VICTOR of the life that Piper and I chose to live in our trust of God and His Word.  I discovered that it is way too easy to see oneself as a VICTIM of one’s circumstances instead of the VICTOR whose path in life may have taken them “through the valley of deepest darkness” but yet fear had NOT conquered them for their trust was in God as He led them victoriously through it all the way to where they are today!  (See Psalm 23)

So, with that in mind, there is no way that I am going to allow myself to dwell on those losses but instead to look for all the gains that are coming my way!  Believe me when I say that I had ENOUGH people trying to get me into the mode of Victimhood whether it was through the idea of a lack of finances, through fear of the enormity of Piper’s situation or by casting doubt that I was doing the right things for her!  But I refused to yield then and still do the same today!

So, if you’re ever in doubt about your place as a Christian in this world, then just quote a few of God’s promises to you and me and say: “But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:14 God’s Word ©) or “The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties!” (Romans 8:37 God’s Word ©)  And O Yeah… Don’t forgot one of my FAVORITES found in Philippians 4:13 and boldly declare in the face of doubt, unbelief, fear or any thoughts of failure stating: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (EMTV)

Always remember that in Christ… YOU are always the VICTOR and NOT the VICTIM!

Not much more to say about these facts… so, I’ll just end with a firm “AMEN!”