Victim or Victor?
I am a victim.
I am a victor.
Whether it’s cancer, other illnesses, abuse, crime, neglect, rejection….being on the receiving end of any of those things makes us a victim. But we can choose to live life with the perspective of a victor instead of a victim.
Definition of victim according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary:
1: one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agentthe schools are victims of the social system: such as
a(1): one that is injured, destroyed, or sacrificed under any of various conditionsa victim of cancera victim of the auto crasha murder victim
(2): one that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatmenta frequent victim of political attacks
b: one that is tricked or dupeda con man's victim
Definition of victor
: one that defeats an enemy or opponent : WINNER
There is a phrase that I have been chewing on for months now: “We become what we behold.” Whatever it is that we are focusing on, THAT’S what we become.
I do believe it is absolutely necessary to process emotions that come from traumatic events. We have to mourn, cry, and even get angry in a healthy and safe manner. We can’t keep emotions bottled up inside lest we spiral into severe emotional disorders. God made us as emotional beings that have real feelings. It’s good and therapeutic to analyze life from an emotional standpoint and let the emotions flow. Speak your truth that the wrongs done to you are just that: WRONG. They were unfair, unjust, and not the way God would have wanted things to be. Get emotional and let it all out… But don’t stay there.
Bad things do happen to all people but those bad things do not have to be the end of the story. We have a God Who cares and rescues us and redeems our lives. He helps us and heals us and gives us hope in this fallen and cruel world. There are so many attributes of God that we would never know about if we lived in a perfect world.
•We would never know His forgiveness if there wasn’t sin.
•We would never know His healing if there wasn’t sickness.
•We would never understand His depths of love if there wasn’t hate.
•We would never understand His comfort if there wasn’t pain.
•We would never understand His strength unless we have weaknesses.
This world gives heartache and death but God gives redemption and eternal life. God gives us hope because He covers and heals the wounds from our past.
I am just getting over a surgery that has been more traumatic than I thought it would be. I have spent hours staring at a wall or rocking in a chair on my front porch trying to process a mastectomy that happened years ago and an implant removal that happened a few days ago. It’s too much. It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting when I count, recount, and count again all the losses from it. Everything from being a woman, to being a wife, a mother…. it’s all affected.
But I can’t stay there. I can’t stay focused on what was lost. Yes, it’s good to take an assessment of my losses but I have to switch gears and realize that God has a plan to restore and redeem what was lost….every single piece of it.
I realize that I need to rejoice in the fact that I’m still ALIVE! I rejoice that I will grow old with my husband and have many wonderful experiences with him in the years to come. I smile at my teenage children who are growing into young adults and I got to witness that! I have hope for their futures as well as my own. I get to see the sunrise and hear the birds sing to me every morning. I get to listen to the latest Christian worship songs and turn my speakers up to give praise to God. There are so many blessings that it would be impossible to list them all.
There are reasons to mourn and cry and get out all of the emotions…. but there are even MORE reasons to CELEBRATE the life that has been given to us! Each day is a gift and each day can be a day where we take back a little more of what the enemy has stolen from us.
The devil may have made me a victim but he does not have the final word over my life; God does! God chose to make me a VICTOR!! As I said earlier, we become what we behold so I choose to behold the goodness of the Lord. I choose this day to live my life in VICTORY because Jesus has trampled the enemy and defeated the grave!! I choose to focus on the blessings of living…the blessings of seeing, hearing, tasting, and experiencing the goodness of God. His mercies are new every single morning and His blessings overflow in abundance. That is something to be oh so happy about and thankful for, wouldn’t you agree?
