Over the Circumstances

     If you have read much of my blog, you might wonder about where the title Over the Circumstances originated.  One influence was something that I heard long ago from my pastor at that time.  Davy Jo Hissom was an amazing man of God with a great sense of humor who lived life with joy.  He once said that often when he asked people how they were doing, they would answer, “I’m doing ok, under the circumstances”,  to which he would reply, “Well, what are you doing under them things?”  Then he’d always say that he knew that phrase wasn’t good English, but he wasn’t teaching English!

     He was right.  We were designed to live a life that is victorious regardless of what is happening around us and to experience a joy that is not dependent on the current situation. The Bible calls us "overcomers", not "defeated ones".

     The other reason I chose this title was that it’s a lesson that I have learned from my own life.  I had an amazing, happy childhood – secure in the love of my parents, raised to know God, blessed to have many material advantages and interesting experiences.  I enjoyed good health, did well in school, and had good friends. Then within the space of fewer than 3 years, I lost both my mother and my father to cancer. Then because of my own choices in life, I became a single mother which put me in a position of financial and emotional difficulty for quite some time. Even marrying a good man of God did not insulate me from pain and problems.  We have had our share of those as most people have experienced.  Once, someone remarked that they thought I’d had a hard life.  It took me by surprise because even with all the events that I have listed, I’ve never really felt that my life was hard.  I knew others who had struggled with as much or more than I have.  I just thought of all that as just – life.

      When the amazing love of God chased me down and brought me back into relationship with Him, I began to learn the lessons of how to experience joy in the middle of negative circumstances.  Relationship with God puts all things in perspective and I began to see that the day to day events of my life are not all there is to my life.  God has a plan that I cannot begin to understand, but He teaches me through everything that happens in my life – both the things that I can control and those for which I am not responsible. 

     I’m not saying that I spend every minute of every day walking on clouds or that I never feel sad or disappointed; it’s just that I’m not on an emotional roller coaster anymore. When the Bible says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)– that’s where I find the key.  If I am “the called” according to His purpose and I pursue that first, then I don’t have to be concerned about all the little things that happen day to day.  I know that ultimately, God will use those things to accomplish what He has purposed for my life.

     2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.  Sometimes the very things that try our faith are the things that are building us up to be more effective Kingdom people. If walking according to our calling is our primary focus, then this is what we should desire. 

     I wish I could say that I’m always the perfect model of faith regardless of the circumstances in which I find myself.  I’m not.  However, I have found that when I remember this principle in the middle of all that life throws at me, I am most content.  I’ve also walked through situations where God has made Himself very real to me precisely because of what I am experiencing and while I would never want problems, I would rather have Him in the problem than never know Him at all.  I have problems, but the problems don’t have to have me.