Unexpected Victory

“It is the game, not the odds that determine victory.”

Loren Thornburg

With all of the unexpected outcomes from the NCAA basketball tournament I think we can all agree that odds don’t determine the win.  Although they are often a great predictor of the game, there is always room for unexpected victories.  I can hear my dad's voice saying “that’s why you go ahead and play the game.”  Even in games where the opponents are of the widest spread they still play the game.  I wonder though how often in life we look at the odds and decide not to play.  We opt out of trying because it seems that our chances of success are stacked against us.  However, just as in basketball, so it is true in life…there is always room for unexpected victories.  No matter how true the odds may seem there is always a chance that they are wrong.  For they were only meant to predict and not to determine.  So to that dream that seemed out of reach, to the goal you gave up on and to the hope you thought hopeless…don’t give up.  Unexpected victories are always a possibility.  

“Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites.  I am sending you!”

Judges 6:14

The Bible is full of unexpected victories and unlikely outcomes.  The gospel seems to thrive on them.  Moses an unlikely leader, Saul an impossible choice for evangelizing and Gideon’s small army a miraculous victory.  The point of every story is to point to the One who writes the story rather than the ones in the story.  It was not that Moses, Saul or Gideon changed into someone great, but that they trusted in the One who is Great!  In Judges we read the story of Gideon overturning an army of 135,000 with just 300.  Gideon wasn’t called to become something great, but rather “to go with the strength he had” because it was God who was sending and who would make it happen.  The same is true for you.  Go with the strength you have and trust the Lord to make it happen.  You are His and it’s His story, so you can trust Him, the One writing the story to make it turn out right.  When we trust in Him we can expect some unexpected victories along the way, for that seems to be the way He does it.  

Holding Onto Hope

“When nothing makes sense, 

when the waiting seems too long, 

when it seems impossible, 

and when all hope seems lost…hold onto hope.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s been a week without finding the missing plane.  It’s a mystery leaving many families in anguish with each passing day that makes any hope of finding them less possible.  Yet, many families are still holding onto hope.  Hope is the anticipation or expectation that things will turn out for the best.  Each day that passes without any signs of the circumstances changing makes it harder and harder to hold onto hope.  We all know what it’s like to be in the place where things seem hopeless.  It is there that we will either hold onto hope or despair.  It’s hard to hope and to keep believing in something that seems impossible.  It’s a risk that often we aren’t willing to take.  We think we are protecting ourself from disappointment with despair.  Yet, it is in holding onto hope that is the greater protection, from the despair which is actually the bigger danger and detriment.  So even when all hope seems lost…hold onto hope.  It may be the very thing that saves you.  

“…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 5:5 NASB

God is all about hope.  He is hope.  Our hope is in Him who loves us so much that He not only gave His Son to have relationship with us but gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit that we might know this love.  This verse on hope comes in the context of suffering and how suffering leads to hope.  Not just any hope but a hope that doesn’t disappoint.  This is not a hope because everything is going well, but a hope even when there seems no reason to, when suffering and sorrow prevail.  Still even then we are free to hope because our hope in Him is solid and sure.  The difference is that our hope is in Him and not in any outcome.  We can hope for those outcomes because we trust in a God who does not disappoint.  We may be disappointed at times but even still our hope in Him is sure.  His love for you is sure regardless of your circumstances.  When all hope seems lost, hold onto Him who is our Hope who does not disappoint.  

Differently Wonderful

“Who you are is a purposeful design.  You are different and you are wonderful.”

Loren Thornburg

“The Voice” is a television show where people get a chance to perform for four accomplished musicians judged solely on their voice.  The range of sounds and styles is amazing.  Often it seems they are not looking for what they have already heard, but something uniquely amazing.  One of the judges once commented, “Never apologize for who you are.”  Oh how true.  Although we may need to apologize many times for the things that we do, who we are is not one of those things.  Who we are is a purposeful design.  It is differently wonderful and uniquely amazing.  We offer something no one else can…it’s who we are.  I’m not even talking about our talents and gifts although those are important and valuable.  Yet who you are in its essence offers something that no one else can.  Often this gets missed as we try to fit into who we wish we were or think we should be.  Yet, here is the truth:  You are different and you are wonderful. 

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

Psalm 139:13-14 NLT

David writes this psalm aware of who God is and how this amazing and all knowing God is involved in every detail of our design.  It’s crazy to think that the God who purposefully created the oceans and mountains purposefully created you.  Like everything else God does, it was an intentional design.  Often I wish I could change things about myself and yet God made me with that uniqueness on purpose and somehow calls it wonderful.  Sometimes it feels like I am too complex for my own good and yet that is part of the wonderful.  He made you uniquely amazing and wonderfully different.  You can trust the One who created the heavens and the earth.  He knows what He is doing with you.  Embrace His design in all of it’s complexities.  The more you embrace it in you, the more you can enjoy it in others too. 

What I Would Have Missed

“The things of greatest worth require the greatest perseverance.”

Loren Thornburg

I remember wanting to quit.  It was softball season of my freshman year of high school and It just got too hard with no guarantee of it getting any better.  With some encouragement I didn’t quit and I am so glad I didn’t as I look back now on all I would have missed.  I would have missed friendships, college ball, playing overseas, and so many opportunities and experiences that I hold of great worth.  I am so glad for all those times I decided to endure even when it seemed too hard.  I’ve had this many times throughout my life.  It’s that moment where you decide whether you are going to stay the course or not.  It seems life requires perseverance.  We can’t escape the call to persevere.  At times it can feel like it’s just not worth it, but just think what you might miss.  What great loss for those who give up when it gets hard.  For they miss what’s on the other side of difficulty.  As I look back on the rewards I’ve found from persevering I am encouraged to do it again knowing that something good often awaits on the other side.  

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.”

Hebrews 10:36 NASB

Here in Hebrews a word of encouragement is spoken to those tempted to give up on their confidence in Jesus.  They are reminded to draw on their past experience to gain strength for the future.  We need that same word of encouragement.  It’s hard to remain faithful when the promise seems far away and uncertain.  The promise is worth it.  His promises are always worth it.  We all face the temptation to give up when it gets hard.  It seems the easy thing to do.  Yet, when you compare it with the loss of what you miss it’s actually not the easier thing at all.  Following Jesus is marked by the need of endurance.  It’s all throughout scripture to wait, persevere and endure because it doesn’t come easy to us, but it’s worth it.  He is worth the persevering, enduring and waiting.  Don’t miss what He has for you on the other side of enduring.  He’s worth it.  

Enough Without

"A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without the medal, you'll never be enough with it." ~Irv Blizter from Cool Runnings

I love the stories of the Olympics and all that many overcame to achieve their dreams.  I am also struck by all of the disappointments of those who felt they came up short.  Whether or not we are contending for a gold medal we all face the same battle: to be enough without.  There is nothing wrong with dreams and desires, unless you are waiting for your arrival at them to become enough.  If we don’t have security inside we won’t find it outside.  It’s an inside out thing.  Some people chase after it for years, jumping from one success to the next on an endless cycle that leaves them with the same emptiness.  It’s a mirage of thinking that the next thing will bring us to the place of security.  Yet, the truth is you are already enough.  It’s not in the next thing or even the last thing but it is now, because you are already enough.  What freedom to chase after your dreams knowing you don’t need them to be enough.  Whether it’s gold, or promotion, or marriage, or title, or money, or fame...you are enough without it. 

“How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.”

Ephesians 1:3 NLT

You are enough, because God says so.  You belong to Him not because of anything that you have done, but simply because you are His.  He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing, not because you are super great, had lots of successes or served really well, but simply because He chose to.  He chose you and that makes you enough for the God of the universe.  Can you hear Him speaking it to you, “You, my child, are enough for me, Your Heavenly Father.”  It’s true, but it’s not something easily comprehended.  We have to sit with it, away from the messages of the world telling us all the things we need to have or do to be enough.  Yet, that’s the miracle of God: He loves you because you are His.  He doesn’t need you to be more, He just needs you.  

Harder Not To

“Healing is hard, but it’s harder not to.”
Loren Thornburg

The advice is clear for treating a wound: don’t ignore it.  When you ignore the wound the infection can spread.  The medical field recommends four steps: take care of it immediately, clean it, see a doctor (if needed), keep pressure off of the wound.  It seems this is great advice for more than the healing of a wound, but for our hearts as well.  We seem to be really good at ignoring our wounds.  Somehow that is the message we get.  If you ignore it then it will go away.  Unfortunately, dismissing it doesn’t heal it.  We wouldn’t expect a cut to heal without proper care and our hearts are just the same.  They need to be attended to, cleaned, advised and have space to rest.  There are many good ways to walk this out and the only wrong way is to ignore it.  We tend to opt out of this process because it’s hard.  I wish I could tell you it wasn’t, but it is hard to walk out healing whether emotional or physical, but it is harder if you don’t.  For what happens is then it gets worse, bringing more pain and less joy.  Don’t opt because it’s hard, for the reality is that it’s actually the easier option.  Healing is hard, but it’s harder not to.  

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Psalm 147:3

God is a god who heals.  It is in His nature.  His character is a healer, especially of the heart.  The word wounds in this Psalm is better understood as grief or sorrow.  So it is your heart that the Lord most wants to heal.  The hard part is, it doesn’t heal on it’s own and it doesn’t heal overnight.  He takes us through a process of healing so that when you’re griefs are healed and bound up you get more than healing, but an intimacy with Him.  When you invite Him in for healing you get more than healed, but you get more of Him.  So although the healing is hard, it’s worth it.  Don’t miss the healing He has for you.  Even though it’s hard, it’s always harder not to.  Just think of all you might miss...freedom, joy, Him.   

No More No Less

“Give yourself permission to be where you are, no more, no less.”

Loren Thornburg

I had read lots of books and been to many seminars, but the words, “it’s okay” brought me the freedom I most needed.  Those words brought validation to the place I had found.  Physically, emotionally, spiritually I needed permission to be where I was and to know that was okay.  It was okay to be single, okay to be short of my dreams, okay to be disappointed, okay to be sad, okay to feel.  It’s part of life and the humanity with which we are designed.  So then how did it get to not be okay?  It’s the message all around us: it’s in advertisements, it's in facebook, it’s in success, it’s in having it all together.  There is a premium placed on those things leaving no room for it to be okay for anything less.  Yet, the longer it’s not okay the more we miss ourselves and who we really are, where we are really at and the beauty found there.  Yes, there is something beautiful about that place because it’s honest and real.  There is something beautiful because freedom is found there.  When we live from the freedom of that place we find the joy we were looking for in all those other places.  it’s not found in getting more.  It’s found when it’s okay to be where you are, no more, no less. 

“But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29 NET

Moses is calling Israel to turn back to the Lord for He would be ready to receive them.  it says to seek the Lord “from there,” from the place where you are now.  From there you will find Him if you really want Him.  Even when we’re in a place that is straying from the Lord He meets us there.  He doesn’t ask that we try to be in a different place first.  God comes to us where we are and says it’s okay.  He asks for our whole heart and soul.  He doesn’t ask that we be a little better before we turn.  If God accepts us where we are, then let us follow and do the same.  Now God loves us too much to let us stay there.  He is constantly calling us to more of Him.  Yet, it all starts from there, that place you find yourself.  It’s okay to be there, for that is exactly where the Lord can meet us.