BATTLES: Hope for the defeated

Fiercely fought but some are lost.

Defeats.

No medals or certificates.

No trophies.

Just wounds and scars.

Friendships that couldn't go the distance.

Sickness that overtook before the finish line.

Love that counted the cost and had no savings.

Suddenlies that stole everything in a moment.

Direct hits.

Assaults that took out the brave and faithful.

Wounded warriors.

Worn out and heart weary.

Hidden scars and untold wrestlings.

Secret liquid pillow prayers,

The questions of the silent night where the warzone rages within.

Here is HIS presence in the ruins.

He hovers over the darkest places.

The weakness and frailty is where He is most active and at work.

The unseen shifting and aligning of our broken stories to an ever present God.

He has never moved.

He doesn't look at our crumpled defeat and walk away in the opposite direction.

He sits right in the middle of losing with us.

His arms surround and hold tightly.

This is where we lean in and find out who He is and who we are because we belong.

The loss is not our destiny.

It does not define or determine the ultimate ending.

It is the invitation!

To rise and stand again.

Regardless of how we feel.

To lift up our swollen tear filled eyes and choose faith.

Faith is not a changeable feeling.

It is a blood stained assurance that victory is never ours....but HIS.

This is the only reason we can reposition ourselves.

Removing our limitations and losses from the equation.

Perspective changes when we shift focus.

Here we discover true triumph.

Reposition

Realign

Remember

Rise again....