VICTORY, DEFEAT

A union of opposites

• John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me, ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

• The older I get, the more I see some things clearly, things like victory and defeat being close to each other. I'm a plodder, a slow and methodical mover, deep thinker. That method in itself does sometimes keep me in one place, hesitant to move for fear of jostling the foundation. I think both victory and defeat are not far apart, depending on the vision and I clearly need to move into some victory path and off the road of defeat. How to do this, when I have so little experience with winning??

• Some people seem naturally wired for the dynamic: confident, extroverted, energetic, positive. They seem to live on top of the mountain and seldom in the deep valleys.

• I truly admire that. I am not that. I seem to live so much in valleys, still in survival mode. I'm a classic introverted writer, solitary worker.

• As I struggled some this week to craft this writing piece, Holy Spirit whispered gently to me, " The mountaintop is not permanent. Neither is the valley, W.E.W."

• Wow. Wow. How I love His dear still, small voice! For those of us who so often feel flattened by the demands of the world, that word spoken to me by the wondrous Holy Spirit meant so much. He never lectures, He "encourages while nudging!”

• Every day I read scripture and one of my daily scriptures is Psalm 91, which says

  “he that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty."

  That does not sound like a valley...

• Even the Prophet Elijah, one of my Biblical heroes, whom I always saw as overwhelmingly confident and not filled with doubts ( stopped rain, facilitated provisions for struggling widows, prayed for the raising of a dead child), suddenly had a spate of discouragement and fled into the wilderness. God cared for him there and was kind, gentle and not scolding. He helped him get back up fighting.

• When you are in the pit, the last thing you need is scolding. You need encouragement and support and a little nudge of sincere blessing and belief.

• Habit is a huge thing, it can wrap your mind and soul in a stuck place and block your road.

• I look at "successful" people and one does not see the hidden struggle. Behind the scenes is the difficulty, the failures, the doubt, the sorrows, the blocked roads.

• God has told me, " Wendy, I did not make you a titan of industry." This is most certainly true! I can count on two hands, the victories I have had in 72 years, very humble ones :

  --Made it through high school, with a 3.0, B average

  --Ran the 50-yard dash in 6.8 seconds in 6th grade

  --Passed my drivers test the first time

  --Made 2 grades of "A'" in my one year of college

  --Passed my real estate license test in one try

  --Have only had two accidents in more than 30 yrs in my faithful little car ( No DUI'S, no speeding, no moving violations )

  -- Have survived to 72 yrs and 4 months...March 2025…

• I am a highly intelligent but sensitive soul, very empathetic, and also have "Empath" ability, which means I deeply sense the emotional states of others. I have spoken repeatedly about my core temperament and my lifelong battle of survival, as one who does not fit into the hard-driving type-A world of competition, pressures to make money, to achieve.

  For me to even be alive at 72 is huge.

• As I mentioned above, one of my dearest heroes of the Bible is the Prophet Elijah, who soon after his greatest triumph of defeating the multiple rowdy prophets of the pagan god Baal in a heated competition, simply emotionally "crashed" and fled into the boonies, seemingly in deep frustration when threatened with death by the evil Queen Jezebel. He essentially had to just be with his pain. I do not think he fled in fear, I think he fled in discouragement, as his efforts to warn and exhort Israel away from wandering from God, had not seemed to come to fruition, or not that much and many other prophets of God had been killed by Jezebel.

• What?? How can Elijah flee in discouragement when he had so many amazing happenings, in which he, at God's direction, stopped the rain, raised a child from the dead, defeated a mob of threatening men, tangled with a dishonorable king, and participated in helping an impoverished widow to have food and provision? When he fled into the wilderness, he was soul-weary and simply asked God to bring him Home, as he was profoundly discouraged. God instead had food and provision brought to him by angels, and encouraged his spirit to keep going.

  Papa God did not scold him for his collapse. No, He dispatched angels to feed him and protect him and let him rest, twice. God allowed Elijah to be with his pain...while He brought him out of it.

• God can do that.

• How deeply and desperately do we struggling humans need to simply ASK God for help! I think much of this is related to pride and stubbornness. " I don't need help, I can do this myself!", is a most common theme in Western culture, especially the USA. The vaunted "self-reliance" is practically worshiped the West.

  I do not discount or denigrate the realistic need to make steady efforts to help oneself and to " come up over." Even Christ exhorted His disciples that " in this world you will have tribulation."

• He also told them, " but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

  Amen to that. Keep going, even at a plod or trudge! Hold fast to His dear Hand!

  Wendy Elizabeth Williams, Friday, March 21, 2025

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