Overcomer Not A Survivor

If I could give you a tiny picture of the last few years, you would see a story woven with pain and heartache. Not completely, but a lot. Some my own making and choosing and some just how circumstances happened.

Toxic relationships, job loss and changes, and a plethora of health issues. My therapist (which I highly recommend having one to anyone. Yes, you can still love Jesus and need a therapist) calls me "strong."

And I agree. I am strong. But this has been on my mind and is bothering me so here we are writing.

My generation is entitled (overall) but there is a much bigger movement at play...victimization.

The culture around us in the world right now claims victimization for everything. People as a whole feel the wrongs they experience follows them. Defines them. Takes over them.

That to me, friends, is a depressing thing. See, in victimization we almost always default to survival mode. In survival mode we are just trying to make it. We are trying to fight against out demons and just breathe.

There is a time and a place for that. Make no mistake, I understand processes. But when did we decide that that mentality was our ultimate end? Like, why do we never get out of survival mode?

You may be thinking, "Well you're wrong. I'm not in survival mode." Really? Okay, when someone says something to you, do you get triggered and instantly replay a similar situation? Do you stigmatize people based on past events? When the next big thing looms, do you fear moving because of past experience? Some of that can be natural but many times we kick into survival mode.

Friends, I don't want to stay as a survivor. I want to be an overcomer.

I want to look at people and say, I've been where you are now and you can choose to heal. You can choose to move from from survivor to overcomer. You can go through some things and not always be defined by them. You can go through some things and let God heal. You can be restored and not defined by your stuff. You can go through some things and not always smell like the smoke of the fire you walked out of!

Why is this important? Because survivors live looking for the next shoe to drop. Survivors live chained to the pain. And survivors punish people who never hurt them through their reactions based on other experiences. They have little room for growth or love or even hope.

Overcomers admit there was pain but it doesn't control their life anymore.

I want to live in the attitude and spirit of overcoming. I want to live "free indeed" (John 8:36). It's a choice. It's an attitude. It's a lifestyle.

I am not a victim. I am not a survivor. I am an overcomer.