More than Conquerors

"WHO shall separate us from the LOVE of CHRIST? Shall TRIBULATION, or DISTRESS, or PERSECUTION, or FAMINE, or NAKEDNESS, or DANGER, or SWORD? NO! In all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through HIM who LOVeD us." (Romans 8:35, 37)

Claude Monet
Landscape Painting

I thought was was doing all right a few months ago. I'd been sick for about five years, and I hadn't died yet. I was still breathing, which I thought was pretty darn impressive, all things considered. Of course, I was so bitterly depressed I couldn't see straight. But I was breathing. Isn't that what mattered?

We do more with our suffering than simply “get through it.” We learn from it. We grow. Our character is often strengthened by it, as is our resolve. We help others, we bring them to Christ. And we participate in Christ's suffering.

And we are even more than that. We are more than conquerors, more than just too stubborn to die, more than our existence, more than God's soldiers, more than teachers and models of how to suffer in Jesus' name: we are God's children. We are loved.

That's why it's so important for those of us who are chronically ill or constantly in pain to consciously do more than simply exist---because we are so much more than that. So, let's do something great today that has nothing to do with survival, something that shows we are more than conquerors. I think I'll paint a picture. I am certainly no Monet, so the greatness will have to be in the doing and not the product, but that's okay, too.

Suggested verse to repeat if it's a difficult day is from Romans 8:37

PRC buddies, remember to breathe!

“We are more than conquerors -------> 5 count inhale

through Him who loved us.” -------> 5 count exhale