The Battle Is Not Optional - Anna Storer
“Sweetheart, your life can change in a day” …never truer words spoken than those by my dear mum, words to bring hope and encouragement to her five daughters, as they combatted the fears and disappointments of growing up, waiting on the fruition of future hopes and dreams.
Words that echoed through me years later, as I sat in the doctor’s chair and heard the diagnosis of the sudden, excruciating pain that now invaded most joints in my body. A total curveball for a driven 21-year-old, who was just starting to spread her wings and take on the world… indeed, ”your life can change in a day.”
As I navigated the next several years, years of anger, questioning, unforeseen loss, upset to the natural timeline of events every girl plans in her head for her life… I did learn a couple of things as I allowed God to carve out a depth in me that sometimes only the valley’s of life can produce…
Because it’s true, along with its joys and beauty, its opportunities and adventure… life is messy. It is unexpected. It’s a tumultuous ride that requires some grit.
In the words of one of my spiritual mentors pertaining to life; “Anna, the battle is not optional - so get it right - and do it fast.”
So true. I had some decisions to make… I could allow the enemy to steer all my energy and focus on what is not, what I don’t have, what hasn’t happened, what I don’t understand, to question, ‘where is the will of God in this for my life?’
Side note: Believe me, I’ve spent time here and it has never got me anywhere. It only takes you to a dark place. To be honest, I think the will of God is as much process as it is an outcome, often fluid - not static. And the truth is, there are some things this side of Heaven we will never know, but I’ve learned that if you are going to keep your heart soft and your spirit expectant, the primary thing you need is a burning conviction that God is GOOD. Anything that is not held up under a full revelation of this, will only bring you more suffering.
Or, I could decide I am not going to waste time and space in my life, questioning the nature of a Father who loved me so much that He gave His only Son. And that Son, Jesus Christ, shed His blood just for the joy of knowing and spending eternity with me. No argument can negate these profound acts of love that have irrevocably marked my life. If my God did this for you and I, then no matter what we face in life… I think we’re going to be okay. He’s got you.
So now, in my own life, I choose not to fuel anything which wars against the revelation of His GOODNESS and LOVE in my life, it will only steal His presence and His purpose. I choose to focus on all that He has available for me. Which is everything, because His work on the cross was complete. My healing, His provision, the answer to your prayer… it’s done. It’s here. So instead of asking, just start thanking Him for it!
I’ve also come to believe, whether perceived or not, there is something God is doing and outworking in all of us, in every season, the good, the bad, and the ugly… the unexpected, the unforeseen, the unexplained. He works in ALL things… to make us ‘beautiful’.
Did you know ‘beautiful’ in the Greek is the word 'horaios' and it actually means, ‘belonging to the right hour or season; timely… flourishing… beautiful’.
So, in the midst of my unknown, of countless tests and treatments, surgeries and specialists, ugly shoes and open stares, I’ve made another choice… I choose to be ‘beautiful’. In this hour and season, because of what I am learning and breaking through… it is timely, and as I allow God to show me more of His constancy and faithfulness, the infinite facets of His love and intent for me, I am flourishing.
In saying all that, this is not the end of my story. Because now, decades on, I’m still hearing those words from my childhood come to me. But this time it’s a still, small voice, whispering from the inside. I recognise it as the same voice that tells me, “no weapon formed against me will prosper, by His stripes I am healed”, it’s the same Presence, urging me, ‘’to strengthen my faith, give glory to God and be fully persuaded that He has the power to do what He has promised,” and so, “I remain confident of this, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I will expect, look for, hope in the Lord; I will be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”… as He continues to whisper to me (and to you)... “Sweetheart, your life can change in a day.”
By Anna Storer
Anna is one of our beautiful ladies living in Perth and is on team at Kingdomcity.