Being An Overcomer

One of the wonderful things about Lancaster, PA is the Sight and Sound Theater. This is a theater that produces incredible Christian productions of Biblical stories such as Noah, Ruth, Daniel, etc. This summer’s production is about the story of Joseph, and I recently had the privilege to attend it.

As I watched the story of Joseph, I realized again what an overcomer he was. His life started out well: he was the favorite son of his father. However, Joseph’s brothers eventually became jealous and sold him into slavery. While a slave, Joseph found favor in the house of Potiphar, a high-ranking Egyptian, but was accused falsely and ended up in prison. While imprisoned, the Lord gave Joseph the interpretation of a dream for a fellow prisoner, and he was promised that he would be remembered when the prisoner was released. Joseph, however, was forgotten for a time. But the Lord opened a door again, and gave him the interpretations to Pharaoh’s dreams when no one else could. After the interpretation, he gave the king a plan to protect Egypt from a horrible famine, and was promoted to second in command!

The story does not end there. Joseph’s brothers soon came looking for food, and the family was reunited. Joseph, a man in an eye-for-an-eye society, not only forgave his brothers, but provided a new home for them with him in Egypt!

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that all of life comes in cycles. Things go really well for a time and then something happens that puts us into a tail spin. We have to look deep into ourselves and find God as our strength and comfort in hard times. Joseph had to turn to God over and over again.

Here are some secrets that made Joseph an overcomer:

• Joseph’s faith was deep and sure. It was not a faith that only worked in the good times.
• He was able to adapt to the situation he was in. Even in prison he became a leader.
• He surrendered his life to God no matter what happened, and trusted Him for the outcome.
• He was able to forgive and to bless those who had hurt him.
• He looked for ways to be a helper to others.
• He found his gifts (in his case, administration) and used them for God’s glory.

I am going to be more committed to the principles Joseph lived by. How about you?

Anne

THE POSTMAN

When I was a child, one of the things I looked forward to every day was the postman. I loved watching him bring the mail to our house and put it in the mail slot in the door. We all knew our postman and enjoyed visiting with him briefly when he stopped at our home.

I learned very early that the postman always get through. He came in good weather and bad. He came in the cold and the hot. It made no difference. He came every day except for Sunday. We could always depend on the postman.

The past winter Jimmy and I have felt something like a postman. We traveled for speaking engagements almost the entire month of February! We agreed that in our over 30 years of traveling, this had been our worst winter. Almost everywhere we went there was snow. We even had snow on a trip to Louisiana!

Nevertheless, we made it to every event and were blessed to see the number of people who came out to celebrate and learn about what God is doing at pregnancy centers and homes around the country.

In the midst of the stuggles of traveling, cold, and scrapping the ice off the car each morning so we could get on the road, there were also moments of great beauty. The snow on the trees and the friendliness of people as we traveled was wonderful.

Similarly, despite all of our struggles there are places of beauty and glimpses of the hand of God. An easy life may seem to be the best life, but I think that it is not so much about having an easy life as it is about having a fulfilled one. To have a fulfilled life we have to push through, learn to find beauty in hardship, and pay attention to what is going on around us and most of all cling to the hand of God.

Anne