Great Gain

She entered my house with that look on her face. I knew we were heading back to an old battleground. The past was haunting her again!

Her face was draped with a veil of mourning. 

Heaviness entered with her.

She needed to talk about it...........again.

I listened. 

Hurt, rejection, regrets revisited. 

I waited.

She continued. 

Despair..........here it comes.........blame....... and the if only's..........

"He said this."

"He meant that."

"If only he would have done........."

Old song, new verse............

Finally I had a message for her.

"Take the spoil!"

She looked at me in shock her tearful eyes searching my face for an explanation.

"Take the spoil!" We both needed to hear it again.

There are many battlegrounds in life. We encounter victories and losses in every battle. It is natural to mourn our losses, but what if we celebrated our gains?

The battles I am speaking of are not necessarily huge fighting moments, (oh, but sometimes they are) but are usually small struggles. Little foxes.  You know, discord in the home, the church, the school, at work, or in the community. Misunderstandings, failure to communicate, reactions instead of healthy responses. 

We can get stuck on a battlefield if we are not careful. War continues to rage in our minds and we fear that our opponents were right about us after all. We struggle. We blame them for where we are now.  

After every battle, we must come to a place where we stop licking our wounds. Being thankful for what we have gained will help us to remember that all is not lost! The Lord will bless us with the spoil if we are willing to gather it in.

I turned to my friend.

"Let's look at what you gained there."

 

Gently I began to count the positive things that I could see that were gained through the struggle my dear friend had faced. 

"Tell me more things that you gained through your experience."

She began to smile as her list grew.

We had a breakthrough! Joy flooded the room. Peace came. We embraced.

My friend left my home with a lighter load.

I swept what she left behind in a heap, giving it to the Father and asking Him to continue to remind her of blessings and strengths she had gained through that very difficult time. 

Lord, thank you for words that set us free. Please quicken my friends to remind me to take the spoil after the battles in my life. We are more than conquerers in You! Thank you for the spoil!

Blessings,

Cheri

Psalm 119:161-162~

"Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Thy words.

I rejoice at Thy word, as one who finds great spoil."

Isaiah 53:12~

"Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."