Victory

VICTORY-The other day the word "victory" popped into my mind. That is
definitely something that I expect in my life one of these days. Being
healed by God will definitely be a victory over my present circumstances.
The ultimate victory, though, will be when I finally get to heaven and see
the Lord in person. In the meantime, I thought that it would be kind of fun
take the letters from the word "victory" and come up with some words that
describe my life at present.

The words that I came up with for "v" are "very good". Now I  know that my
relationship with God is "very good" and I know that all the time that I
have to spend with Him is "very good" but, to be honest, I can't see many
other things in my life that I would classify as "very good". Perhaps some
of the people, nurses and otherwise, in my life. I have developed a "very
good" relationship with some people that I probably wouldn't have met if I
had been in a different situation.

This one was easy. My "I" word is "incredible".  I did, and still do, find
it "incredible" that there really is God. And I find it "incredible" that,
one day, I will be going to heaven to live with the Lord forever. My mind
still hasn't wrapped around that one. The fact, though, that God has
promised to heal me in this life, before I go to heaven, is really
"incredible". Another "incredible" in my life is the fact that I have gone
through so much for so long and am still, relatively, sane. I even manage to
laugh at times.

The word for "c" is "character". Even though I know that God could have
healed me the minute I became a born-again Christian and became a child of
His, I also suspect that there has been a waiting period in order to
develop "character" in me. I can't help thinking that I must be a real slow
learner to need so much time! One of the "character" traits that I am
learning is patience. Living in Long-term care is helping with that as there
is plenty of waiting in this place. Waiting so long for my miracle is
teaching me things like endurance, perseverance and steadfastness. I also
believe that God is using Long-term care to try and knock pride out of me.
It is kind of hard to have too much pride when others have to do everything
for me. Including wiping my snotty nose. I may not be pride free but God is
working on it.

"T" is for "trust". Because I can't do anything for myself, "trust" has to
be a big part of my life. Of course, I know that I can "trust" God to do
what He promised in His time and to help me to endure until  then. But I
also have to "trust" people. That is not as easy for me as trusting God.
Because of promises made to me that haven't been kept, it takes me time
before I really "trust" people to do what they say they will do. But I am so
thankful for the ones that I have come to "trust" and do things for me that
I can't do for myself. Which is just about everything.

The word I came up with for "o" is "obstinate" or stubborn. God is stubborn in
the sense that, once He has a plan for our life, we are not going to change
it so why bother trying. Being "obstinate" is helping me to carry on. No
matter how bad it gets, I am too "obstinate" to give up. So being
"obstinate" is not a bad thing when it makes me determined to hang on.
Unfortunately, I don't always use it that way.

My "r" word is "real". When I first came out of the coma after the stroke, I
thought it was all a bad dream and I would wake up and be the same as
before. Wrong, oh so wrong! Since then, though , I have had to accept as
"real" some things, both good and bad. The good, God is and so is my
eventual healing. The bad, I may be a Christian but I am still a human
being. I feel the pain, discomfort, loneliness and boredom as much as
anybody else.

Lastly, the letter "y" makes me think of "years, years and more years". It
has been "years" since I had the stroke, "years" that I have been a
Christian, "years" since God made me the promise of healing, "years" in
Long-term care. But, when the thought of all those "years" starts to pull me
down, I need to remind myself that, compared to going to Heaven and living
forever, these "years" are really nothing.

There you have it. My take on the word victory.