“You have the authority over any storm you can sleep through.”
Pastor Bill Johnson
After years in a Wilderness season and a couple years of what can only be described as “hellish” trials, we had finally taken a turn and were coming out!
I was so excited as I felt like we were finally coming out of this season into our own personal Promised Land.
Just like the movie The Perfect Storm with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, we were sailing out into the calm deep blue sea when the bellowing waves of adversity hit again. I was withstanding the impact, but feeling capsized in the process.
We were getting plummeted again and again only I was desperate to see God’s coast guard boat on the horizon to bail us out.
The maverick waves consisted of my fourth car accident in a little over a year.
For the record, I had a stellar driving history up to this point and all four accidents were 100% the other drivers fault.
One of them even happened while my car was parked outside of our home!
Many health issues ensued and financial struggles hit us like a rogue wave.
I felt like I was drowning under my circumstances.
I knew better than to stay in this place, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to shake it.
There was a weightiness that was sitting right on my shoulders that seem to stay there with no relief.
I was listening to a podcast that week with Pastor Bill Johnson. He was talking about the account in the Bible when Jesus slept in a boat while the disciples were freaking out because they felt they were going to die in a massive storm that came upon the boat. They woke up Jesus and He rebuked the sea and it calmed down.
Pastor Bill said, “You have the authority over any storm you can sleep through.”
I was definitely not sleeping in this new set of storms that came my way. On the contrary I was feeling the full weight of it and it was affecting my health.
One night while I was in church, I felt the Lord speak to me about this latest storm front.
He said, “You are an OVERCOMER not a WITHSTANDER!”
I had to let that one soak into my spirit…
He continued, “You are an OVERCOMER. Be on top and not under your circumstances. You are acting like a victim with a victim’s mindset (ouch!!!).”
“Act like the OVERCOMER you already are.
For I have created you as an OVERCOMER.
OVERCOMER is your name!
I have not called your name VICTIM or WITHSTANDER.
NO!
For your name is OVERCOMER.
Live – Walk – Breath the name OVERCOMER.”
Something inside my spirit began to rise up and I began to declare that I was an OVERCOMER. The shift happened inside my boat, before the waves subsided outside my boat.
If you are in a boat that feels like it is sinking fast and the storms of circumstances are raging around you, I want to encourage you today to walk as the OVERCOMER you already are.
Walk with your head held high – even on the days you don’t feel like it.
You don’t have to become an OVERCOMER.
You already ARE an OVERCOMER!
Today commit to trusting God through your storm.
It is a choice not a feeling.
Learn to sleep through your storm and speak to the wind of adversity because you ALREADY an OVERCOMER!
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Romans 8:37
One fateful decision landed me smack in the middle of my own Wilderness…
Though I was obeying God’s voice, I spent the next several years “walking on water,” even though it felt more like I was treading water. A Journey Out of the Wilderness is for people going through a rough time—a Wilderness experience—where you feel as though you are “down for the count” and ready to give up. Wilderness Wanderers feel as though they are doing laps around the mountain, passing the same tree over and over again wondering, “Will this never end?” However, being in the Wilderness will be one of the most transformational times of your life.