How My Story is Proof You Can Be an Overcomer
So, this past Sunday my family and I were driving home from the East Coast. I was reflecting and pouring out my heart on paper the feelings I had about our visit. It would take a book to tell you how far I’ve come since I first went out East after I got into recovery. You can read about it more in my book, “Healthy Voice: Life Beyond the Weight,” (If you are wondering, it’s not a diet book. It’s actually the story of how I stopped thinking life wasn’t about the diet.)
Each time I go out, I realize how much more God has grown my heart. Each time I realize how much of an overcomer He’s made me. Only by his grace and power.
I started thinking about this conversation I had with a couple on the Jersey shore this week, sitting at an ice cream parlor. They asked where we were visiting from and the husband and I both grew up in the Philly area but we left. Then they said something to the effect of, “You know you gotta come out like once a year to get all the good food and hang at the beach,” and I agreed. My daughter is 5, and we couldn’t really do that during Covid years but this would be our second time visiting during the summer and I want to do it more because it’s great to make memories and introduce my family to growing up out East and going to the Jersey shore.
But as we’re driving home, I thought more deeply about that concept of going back. There are two things I thought about:
- God always reveals how far I’ve come with Him in some way, and
- God always reminds me that He has me right where He wants me.
Now, you only really know this if you are seeking the Lord. You’ve got to have a relationship with Jesus to really understand that. It won’t just come to you.
In fact, in order to see how God is showing up in your life, you have to have SEEN Him show up in your toughest seasons and how He carried you through them.
And guess what? That only comes with surrendering your life to Christ, which takes realizing you can’t fix yourself, but God can. Yes, I know, admitting your faults and failures and attempts haven’t worked is not easy. But boy is it worth it. THAT is how you become an OVERCOMER.
If you think about it in terms of something you struggle with, it might help. For me I immediately think about drinking because I did so much of it down at the Jersey “shore”. Years later, memories may come up, but they don’t throw me off course. They don’t defeat me, or make me feel insecure or make me go get a drink. I see them and each one reminds me – I am an overcomer in Christ. Praise God!
What is it for you? What is the thing in your life God wants you to surrender? What isn’t working? You know, I know that not everybody has a problem with drinking. Because the majority of my drinking was in college and my twenties, people can think, “Oh yeah, you just outgrow it.” But I’m one of those people who couldn’t. God had to discipline me to remove it from my life. I can tell you right now that I would not have the life I have today if I hadn’t.
Why? Because it wasn’t just about putting down the drink. It was about dealing with the reasons I went to the drink, and the feelings around it. It took facing the trauma I had avoided for so many years that I was so addicted to running from (in more ways than one.)
The Lord has made me an overcomer in that area of my life and I give Him all the glory.
Another area, my Mom came to visit us. There were times I’d go out East and wouldn’t speak to my mom, or we’d be fighting. It made it really hard! But this visit, she got to come down for a short visit and it was great. God has helped both my mom and I overcome a very difficult relationship that went on for years. Is it perfect? NO WAY! But we can love each other where we’re at.
Here’s another thing. One of the things that family at the ice cream place told us was how they lost their luggage for 5 days and had just gotten it that day. They talked about how you roll with it and all I could think, “Man, isn’t that the truth?”
Let me tell you, our trip out there was a bit of a nightmare with my 2 year old truck dying in the middle of the highway in Ohio. I still don’t have my car but we do have a rental. What was supposed to be a weekend before the beach with my stepson at his town in New Jersey, turned into a meal and a few hours. But we rolled with it.
Life isn’t about what happens. It’s about how you respond to it, how you deal with it. You can certainly run from the difficult things in life. You can be a victim till you hit the grave. But you’ll never be an overcomer. You’ll never learn how to overcome unless you walk through the trials.
In a reel the other day on my Instagram, I brought up Simone Biles and her performance at the Qualifying Round for the Olympics, how it wasn’t just that she was amazing. It isn’t just that she’s the G.O.A.T. It’s what she overcame to get to that place. Dropping out of the Olympics last time because of a mental health issue took bravery. She addressed it, walked through it, overcame it and as I’m typing this blog I heard her team got the Gold. Pretty amazing.
I don’t know what her faith life is like, or if she has it. But you can certainly look at her story and see someone who pushed through the pain of dealing with what was on the inside so she could show up fully this time. This time, she’s truly right where she’s supposed to be.
And that brings me to the last thing. We’re leaving the beach, driving through Philly traffic that is bumper to bumper on 76 trying to get out of the city. I immediately think of all the times growing up that either my Mom, or my grandmother or my Dad would drive me from the suburbs down to Union Street Station in downtown Philly so I could get on the train to D.C. to spend a weekend with my Dad. Every other weekend from age 8 until I got my license I did that.
So when I looked up and saw the traffic going the other way that wasn’t moving at all, I was just brought right back to that time in my life.
I said to my husband, “It’s no wonder I left. I didn’t want to be in the midst of all this anymore. I didn’t want to be in between cities. I wanted my own peaceful place where I belong, where I feel at home.” Thank the good Lord I’ve found that.
The day before I left, I was talking to a Friend back home and said, “It’s been an awesome trip but I miss home. I know God has me right where he wants me there, and I’m so grateful. I feel so on purpose back home, because I get to focus on Him so much more.”
That’s all I wanna do, is focus on Him, do His will, share the gospel and make disciples. I pray that continues. I’m so grateful He gave me the chance to go back this summer with my family and see not only how far God has brought me but that He has me right where He wants me.
Of course, as we’re driving there were a few songs that came on that I just wanted to share with you. I hope they encourage you, inspire you, draw you into Jesus. Listen to the lyrics and you will hear how they line up with this blog. I pray it blesses you and if it does, that you’ll share it.
And these two below are the ones that inspired me to write this.