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Today’s post was originally written in 2017 and I pulled it up to be reminded of some important truths about our Merciful Savior. Hope it encourages you too!
The other night Mark and I were having a talk with our oldest daughter. She was feeling a little down and overwhelmed and when I asked her why, she said she didn’t really know. Then I told her something I’ve told many people over the years, “Sometimes it’s good to sit down with a journal and think of the things that are burdening you – big and small. Just sit there and write until everything that you can think might be overwhelming you is on the page. Sometimes just sorting through our problems and clarifying the specific reasons we feel burdened is a big step on the road to peace and resolution.”
But I am so glad we don’t have to stop there! I don’t just want my daughter to find “coping mechanisms” for life. I want so much more for her. I told her to take each of the burdens she listed in her journal and turn them into a prayer to God. It reminds me of the verse Philippians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Wouldn’t you know, I woke up this morning and immediately felt a mountain of burdens weighing on my chest? – One of them being the fact that Abby has been in a difficult place. It’s never easy watching your children go through struggles. Before I could process why I was feeling this attitude of defeat, it was already upon me. I was feeling heavy with burdens. My heart rate had already begun to rise. Then I remembered my advice to her.
“Write your burdens down.”
I opened a journal I write in occasionally and began listing what was troubling me. I wrote until I could think of nothing else. I took my time. Once I was done I sat and read over what I’d written. While reading I glanced over to the page before and noticed a verse I’d jotted there a while back.
“We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
I stared at the verse. I wondered, What does it mean to say, “More than conquerors”? Couldn’t Paul have said, “We are conquerors through Jesus.”
Looking at the passage and the context, we know that Paul had been through great tribulation. He even faced death. Let’s look the passage the verse comes from.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39 (emphasis mine)
Looking at the original text, what Paul is saying here when he says, “We are MORE than conquerors” is this: We are not only victorious over the present circumstances because of Christ’s love but we are “completely, overwhelmingly victorious”.
Because of Christ, our eternity is secure. For those who call on Him, we can be confident that we are conquerors now in this present trial and for eternity.
I’m just glad that the verse doesn’t read, “In all these things we are able to cope because of Christ’s love.” Sometimes that’s what I’m settling for…just getting by. But as I considered the victory this passage promises, my mind was turned to other passages where God doesn’t just cause us “to get by”, “to muddle through”, “to survive”. That’s not who God is. He lavishes His grace and mercy on His people.
Notice the verse in Philippians I shared earlier in the blog. It said to not worry about anything but instead to pray about everything, to tell God what you need with a thankful heart. But that’s not where it ends. Let’s see what God promises he will do in the next verse.
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
God tells us we will experience His peace that “will get us by”. WRONG ANSWER.
We will experience his peace that will “help us to survive our troubles.” NOPE.
He says we will “experience God’s peace which EXCEEDS anything we can understand.”
Why? Because His peace will guard our hearts and minds as we fall, with all our burdens, headlong into Jesus.
So, I am more than a conqueror and God longs to give me peace that exceeds my understanding. But it gets better. As you ponder the ways of God it doesn’t take long to realize He is a God of abundance.
Consider the feeding of the 5,000 men (plus women and children) we read about in the gospels. He fed them ALL with only 5 loaves and 2 fish. That is an amazing God story already but it gets better. There were 12 baskets full of food left over.
Abundance.
How does God intend to answer when we cry out to Him? When we ask Him for help? Let’s see what the Bible says.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20-21
What do we do when we feel overwhelmed, when we are met by troubles and burdens we can’t overcome?
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2-3 (emphasis mine)
In God we can count these troubles as an “opportunity for great joy.”
Those are big words.
Opportunity to grow? That, I can get my head around.
Opportunity to see God work? I can believe for that.
But counting my troubles as an opportunity for “great joy”? Did God just take it that far? Yes He did and He promises to deliver.
So, I am more than a conqueror,
serving a God that gives peace that surpasses my understanding,
causing even my troubles to be an opportunity for Great Joy.
He desires that my life be one of abundance in Him.
Now this list of burdens I wrote down this morning doesn’t seem so overwhelming.
Christ tells us in John 10:10, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
- He didn’t say He came so we could get through life by the skin of our teeth.
- He didn’t tell us that we would have to wait to experience what He offers us on the other side of eternity.
- He didn’t tell us He came just to give us life.
- He said he wants us to have abundant life.
What does the word abundant mean here in this passage? Don’t miss this! It means – pertaining to a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate – ‘that which is more than, more than enough, beyond the norm, abundantly superfluous.’
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PINIMAGEI like abundant.
Do you know that I’ve been up for about 5 hours now and God has already handled several of the burdens on my list! He works in mysterious ways! He doesn’t tell us to bring our burdens and “proposed solutions” to Him. Just to bring them to Him and He will answer. He will work. That’s a promise. While I think of how my heart has already been encouraged today I am also reminded of the many times I allow my burdens to fly freely in my mind with no relief in sight. What a blessing to write them down and give them up to the Lord.
How about you? Are your troubles whirling through your mind with no relief? Maybe you should write them down and turn them into prayers. God wants to do more for you than you can even understand. Let Him have your burdens and watch Him work.
