More Than Conquerors
July 9, 2000
Dear Friends:
I met a new friend this week named Steve. I had heard about Steve before but we had never met.
Steve was a promising young man with a young wife when one day he suffered a disabling motorcycle accident. He lost almost everything. He lost much of his mental and physical abilities as well as his wife who could not shoulder the responsibility of caring for her disabled husband.
I say that he lost almost everything because he did not lose everything. In fact, he kept the most important thing of all – his faith. He has been a faithful follower of Jesus Christ ever since his accident.
When I met Steve he shared with me that he was embarrassed about his injuries. He told me that he was in an assisted living home. He also confided with tears in his eyes that he thought he was a failure.
What do you do when someone who has been dealt the severest of life’s blows feels like they are failure? I told Steve in no uncertain terms that he was not a failure. Quite to the contrary, he was a hero.
Several verses popped into my head which I shared with Steve. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tested above that ye are able…” What a faith a man like Steve must have to survive his ordeal with his faith intact. I marvel at such faith. He is an example as much as any in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews who had lived by their faith. I had heard of his faith halfway across the country. His suffering was not in vain.
Like I told Steve, there are all kinds of people in this world. Six billion kinds. And of those 6 billion people, God has called many to believe in His Son and the hope of Israel. Of those many who were called, only a few have responded by believing what God has said. One of these is Steve. Steve who has been battered so terribly. Yet, despite it all, he stands faithful in the Lord. I quoted to Steve another verse that popped into my head. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
The last thing I quoted to Steve was Isaiah 35:6 which says “then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Steve will walk again. He will speak without difficulty. He will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God. Steve will meet the King that suffered so terribly for him and knows Steve’s suffering.
Steve is a conqueror and more. So are all of those, well-bodied or not, who have turned to the same source of strength.
Have a great week!
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