Against all odds...

I was running to my usual Rocky Balboa soundtrack today when a line in there (that he says during the Gonna Fly Now/John X Remix song) hit me..."It ain't about how hard you're hit, it's about how hard you can get hit...how much you can take and keep moving forward... that's how winning is done!" I kept repeating it over and over and not only did it make me run harder (yay!) :) but I also had an epiphany from Jesus...no-one in my life has ever really believed in me. No, I don't want you to feel sorry for me by that statement, but it is true and something I had to realize. I wasn't encouraged much. In fact, more than anything I have had a fear of failure instilled in me. So I haven't done too much of anything, and when I did, I had no support. I carried that with me for so long that I began to feel "stuck" in life. And the cloud over me seemed to follow me wherever I went. I rarely came in contact with many people who believed "that I could do it." All that was until recently. I wanted to go to Africa and the naysayers in my life were trying to discourage me not too. I didn't have what it took, they said. But a small handful of women from my church (whom I pray with), believed in me. So I took the scary step of faith forward, decide to listen to God instead, pushed my past behind me and did it. God opened all the doors and I just returned from Africa a few weeks ago and my life was changed. Praise the Lord! I'm so happy that I chose to ignore the naysayers this time! And then my next door opened. I was asked to go on Young Life staff and felt the time was right. Again the naysayers don't believe that I can do it, nor that it's God's will for me. But I'm pushing forward any ways b/c I believe that it is God's will for me. My "stuck" season is beginning to move finally and I'm so happy. But it's also a lonely road when the naysayers are nagging in your ear constantly. But God has reminded me that, AGAINST ALL ODDS...David slayed the giant, Sara conceived in her old age, Moses built the arc, the Jericho walls came tumbling down, etc., etc. So we shouldn't focus on how we've been hit. There's no freedom in that! But rather how we can keep moving forward to victory after the hit! Well right after my Gonna Fly Now song ended today, the next one on my Rocky playlist was, No Easy Way Out. "There's no easy way out, there's no short cut home...but some things are worth fighting for!" I gotta do the thing and the victory will be that much more sweeter! Perhaps that's why I love the Rocky movies so much. Against all odds, he did it, and he was victorious! I have now found a handful of people who believe in me now and it feels nice. Although I realize that no-one can add or take away to the fact of who I am in Christ, and that's that! Hopefully I can be a light to the naysayers in my life! Hopefully I can scream out to them, as Rocky did, "Yo, Adrian (so and so), I did it!", and they will cheer with me and see God's hand in it all...to the glory of His name! But for now, I rest in the fact that I need to love my enemies without expecting anything in return. THey may never cheer me on. I see their lives and it's so negative. There is enough negative...why should we dwell on it? "The JOY of the LORD is our strength!" Oh that my focus will always remain there, Jesus! Against all odds, Jesus carried Corrie to VICTORY!!! Amen and Hallelujah! :)