Underdog, or Overcomer?

 

 

There was a time in my life when I used to go home from work practically every week day feeling like an underdog. But, unlike Eddie the Eagle, I was not the kind of underdog everyone, or indeed anyone rooted for.

No, I was the subject of daily ridicule and rejection and I took it to heart. I felt a victim. I behaved like a victim. I was a victim.

Why is this happening? Why are people so cruel? And why is God allowing this to happen? Apart from my husband, or the odd family member, or my best friend, no one seemed to care about me.

I carried a wound deep within my heart and each fresh incident of mockery and mistreatment consolidated my sense of being a non-person.

And then one day I came across a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, which upset me. It went like this:

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

 

How dare she say this!

Does she know what I’ve been through? Does she know what it’s like to be me?

But you know she was right. She is right!

You see, it’s all about the mind-set. The habitual thought patterns. My mind-set. My thought patterns.

And as Assegid Habtewold observed:

A winning mindset can transform an underdog into a champion, conqueror, and achiever. You’re a mindset away from winning your battles!

 

God’s Word puts it this way:

…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

As I exposed myself to the ideas and suggestions of various motivational speakers, they all highlighted the mind-set as a key to radical change, transformation, personal progress and achievement.

I had a choice. Continue to be miserable. Continue to die inwardly. Continue to allow others to control my emotions, dictate my day and keep me in a vegetative state, so to speak.

Or, I could accept responsibility. I could begin obeying God’s Word. I could begin trusting God and using his resources to change and heal me.

So, I decided to take back control. I decided to accept responsibility for the negative role I’d been playing in the scenarios of my life.

Has the mistreatment stopped? Not really!

Do I still feel hurt? Sometimes – but not to the extent that I did in the past.

Am I still a victim? Most certainly not!

Each new day, I make the choice to walk as a victorious overcomer.

Each new day, I take up my cross and follow Jesus (my Lord and Saviour), down the paths of rejection and ridicule, in the knowledge that he has walked the road before me, and for me.

And whenever I feel despondent, or outraged, or weary, I’m reminded of Paul’s words in Hebrews 12:3:

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

 

Dear reader, if life has not turned out the way you envisaged, if people don’t treat you the way you would want, if circumstances have left you feeling, acting and believing you are a victim, I pray God will open your eyes to the truth of his Word, so that as you know the Truth, as you embrace the Truth, as you meditate upon and pray the Truth, it will set you utterly and gloriously free! Amen.

Have a blessed and victorious week.

With love,

 

Carol (author of: Petitions From My Heart)

 

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CREDIT: The above CC0 image comes courtesy of Pixabay.com