Thursday was our Monthly Men’s Bible Study. If you haven’t been able to join us yet, you should. If you’re not local, you can do it on Zoom. It’s the third Thursday of each month. Right now we’re going through Hebrews. Part of our conversation talked about this mountains we face. We all have those. And just as soon as we climb one mountain, we face another. They keep coming at us. Illnesses. Anxiety. Depression. PTSD. Even facing death. All mountains.
At one of our past studies, one of the veterans shared that he was diagnosed with cancer several months ago. Talk about a mountain to climb. I bet some of you can relate. What stands out about his circumstance is how he faced it. He told his doctor this when he found out he had cancer: “It’s a win-win situation. If cancer takes me, I go to heaven. If I beat cancer, I’m still alive here. It’s a win-win.” He was making the best of his circumstance. So powerful.
All of us are going to struggle at times. Especially, when we face circumstances that seem overwhelming. They seem hopeless. We can lose our joy. We can lose our peace. We can lose our hope. But…I would like to suggest this. Our circumstances do not have to define us. They do not have to control us. We can face them knowing that our God is bigger than all of them. The Bible tells us to not be anxious about anything. It tell us to always be thankful in everything. And the word “anything” means anything. Everything means everything. So that includes our circumstances. Even the ones that are not good. Even the ones that seem hopeless. Our identities are in God. They should define us. And people should realize that about us when they see us. So today, let’s not allow our circumstances to control us. Let’s control them. By changing how we view them. By letting God take control over them. If we do this, we change everything about what we are going through. And just like the veteran said, they become a win-win no matter what the results are.
