Blood, testimony, death

Sunday at church, Leanna Chapman testified about coming through something that has been a struggle for about a year.  She referred to the scripture Revelation 12:11

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

2 things are brought to mind this evening from this Word.  First, I was thinking while she was speaking that the 2nd part of this scripture applies to her situation too.  "they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."  I've always thought that line was so cool.  And when talking about overcoming something hard, let's say anxiety, listen how it applies.  

What's more "loving our lives" than trying to control everything by looking at it so hard that it brings on anxiety?  And what a person overcoming anxiety in Him is saying is that I don't love my life so much as to do that to myself.   I don't love it enough as to be so scared of it.  I won't shrink back because my Heavenly Father doesn't shrink back.  My God, my God who has overcome death, CONQUERED death stands up for me!  Why should I care so much about the details of my life that I shrink from them?  Well, that's what Leanna was saying.  She doesn't anymore, she's not shrinking from death because death has no hold on her!  Hallelujah!

Second, TESTIMONY.  YES!  We need to share them that's for sure or what else are they for?  Not for us, we obviously know them already.  I was in bed tonight and something hit me.  God shows me things in picture form because He knows I like to put things from pictures into words.  He showed me something like this photograph:

See the very tip tip top of that plateau up there?  That's your platform.  And its name is what you've overcome. Fear, depression, anxiety, drugs, alcohol, pornography, anger, abuse, write any of those on the flat top of the plateau.  You stand upon that and SCREAM TO THE WORLD FROM THERE YOUR TESTIMONY.  Let's say you've battled depression.  Every moment that you move forward depressed, every step you take that takes you up the mountain of depression, THAT is your testimony.  It doesn't have to be all the way at the top only, EACH STEP FORWARD is your testimony.  No matter what happens after, no one can take that away from you.  Until you are standing on the platform of depression, your feet planted on top of it and you are FREE.

Each step is hard.  When you're going through the depression, yeah it feels horrible.  How can I give God praise, thank Him for being with me, helping me overcome when I can't even rise out of bed?  Are you breathing?  TESTIMONY.

"I woke up this morning and continued to take breaths."

Maybe it's supposed to be hard so that we can have so many little testimonies that lead up to the big one.  Even though it doesn't feel like it, believe me, it's worth it.  As long as we never stop speaking in faith and never stop proclaiming that He is in control, people will be set free by our testimony.  Do you truly get that?  Not only do our struggles and achievement teach US something, they set OTHER PEOPLE free!!!!!

It feels tough because it is.  Climbing to the top of anything is always a struggle filled with sweat, blood and usually fear.  And now that I think about it, maybe our testimonies are for us, too.  They remind us over and over and over and over that God is not only with us, but withIN us.  He cares about it all.  Every step, every drop of sweat that drops onto the rocks beneath us.

Thinking about this climbing metaphor reminded me of an excerpt from a book I've been reading and I think I'm going to just type it out and let it speak for itself.  There's a lot I could say about it, but it's all muddled in my head.  The "point" is in there, I'm just too excited to try to type it out.  So, this is how I'll end this blog (sorry it's abrupt, I'm just spent tonight, too excited about revelations to keep typing)

From Sailing Between the Stars by Steven James:

Rock climbers have a term for the most difficult part of the climb: the crux.  It usually involves a combination of moves and holds that appear impossible at first. Often, it's the critical point, the crucial moment in the climb.

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an expert climber, but I love to go climbing with my friends whenever I can.  And whenever I'm on a climb and I come to the crux, I always start thinking, There's no way I can do this!  I can't make it!  I'm gonna peel!  And sometimes I do.  I fall.

But if I make it past the crux, I can look back and finally see the route clearly.  Once you're past the crux, the route up the cliff makes sense at last.

Crux is a Latin word.  It means cross.