I’m often quite encouraged by the number of people that I’ve spoken with over the years that are quite transparent with the stories of their life. I know some people that should have the medallion of life simply because at the breaking of a new day their heart’s testimony is that “I’ve survived”. And for some, that may be the only testimony that you have at this point. Life is hard and every now and then you get knocked down and it's a joy to be able to say "I made it". Think about it. Take a moment and look back over your life, the struggles, the pain, the rejections, the broken promises, the walk-outs, the walk-aways, and all of the disappointments; you can declare aloud that “I have survived”.
However, I want to encourage you to not stop there. Our legacies aren’t positioned in the realm of mere survival. The commencement of our heritage begins when we take survival and cultivate it into tokens that we distribute daily into the lives of others. It's likened unto the concept that wisdom is merely knowledge put to action. For what good is a lesson that can't be taught?
In faith, David saw his past experiece as seed for his present day victory over Goliath!!
Let’s look together at David’s response once he decided to fight Goliath,
“But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, stuck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Phillistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Phillistine.”
(I Samuel 17: 34-37 NIV)
I want to submit to you today that what you’ve gone through is merely a paw. The hope of Israel’s victory lied in the survival of a little shepherd boy that kept sheep on the backside of the mountain. Let me bring it closer to home... The hope of someone's future depends on the seed of your survival. In other words, when you survive, share the story to plant the seed of faith for someone else. The hope of Israel’s victory lied in the little shepherd boy that not only survived the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, but with a shepherd boy that had enough courage to take what he's been through and use it as seed that would cultivate the legacy that God called him to create.
My question: What have you survived from? Whatever it is, know that you have seed in your hand to plant towards an even greater destiny. Divorce, plant it. Depression, plant it. Miscarriages, plant it. Rape or molestation, plant it. Rejections, plant it.
Dear Heart, you have been equipped with everything you need to handle the even greater task that you're faced with now. Through every trial, there's a lesson and that lesson is your seed!!! Look at what you've survived and use it as strength to move forward into something even greater.
So often we get afraid and say that we can't make it. Don't be so stubborn as to think that the "issues" or "circumstances" of life can actually keep you down. Get up, shake yourself, dust off the pitifulness of your present and declare like David, “The Lord that delivered me from "that" can and will surely deliver me from "this". And when you do this, know that someone is watching you! Someone is waiting for you to make it! Use your testimony to plant seeds of faith in others that will continue the legacy~
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