Recently, I woke up fully intending to check things off of my to-do list. Excited, I jumped out of bed before the alarm. And after gobbling down some avocado toast and gulping all the coffee, I quickly sat down at my computer. Unfortunately, within moments, distraction had a choke-hold on me and defeat fell heavy across my shoulders.

What’s a girl to do when life gets in the way of her best laid plans for success?

At this point, I offered up a half-hearted prayer for deliverance. There was too much to accomplish and only 8 hours to get ‘er done. Heart in shambles, I just wanted to quit and take a nap. Then came the nudge.

Stop. Drop. Give Me 10

Not push-ups, thankfully; but, something even more difficult. Just after praying my lame, yet honest prayer, I heard God asking me for ten minutes of undivided attention. Honestly, I didn’t have the time but relented and soon found myself knee-deep in tears on the carpet.

Surrender beckoned me to lay it all down.

To stop trying to do things in my own strength.

Drop the pretense of having it all together.

And, give God the only thing I had left to offer, my whole heart.

Because all.the.things were too heavy to bear.

As image-bearers, our frames aren’t meant to carry the weight of the world, only the weight of His glory. We are glory-carriers as we reflect Jesus in this world. With gobs of grace, God draws us to Himself in moments of overwhelm. He beckons us to lay down our burdens in an uneven exchange where we come away victorious.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

Was this anxiety? Indeed, it was. A, N, X, I, E, T, Y. I hadn’t known what my heaviness meant; now, it had a name. And in His mercy, God said, “I’ll carry that for you.”

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirt,” says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

A lot can happen in 10 minutes of undivided attention

What happens when we give God our whole heart?

Victory happens!

Our grievances give way to giving Him the glory. Suddenly, our focus shifts from being overwhelmed to being overcome. Worship drowns out our worry. And, instead of feeling defeated, we rise up determined and devoted. In just ten minutes, we’ve won the battle.

THIS IS WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE

• OVERWHELMED becomes  OVERCOME & UNDONE
• WORSHIP DROWNS OUT WORRY
• INSTEAD OF FEELING DOWN & DEFEATED, WE RISE UP DETERMINED & DEVOTED

Becoming a Victory Girl (also the name of my book)

The bounty is confidence, joy, passion, and victory. We walk away with the imperishable things. See, while we may feel stripped bare when we walk off the battlefield, we never walk away empty-handed.

No, we don’t have to live this way, filled with anxiety. We have every weapon needed to fight even the fiercest battles. After gathering the bounty off the battlefield, we realize that in Christ, we have supernatural weapons; weapons forged by the very hand of God.

In those ten minutes of battling it out, God takes what we lay down and He places something much more powerful in our hands.

Ultimately, the enemy’s weapons are rendered useless against us and we have the victory through our faith in Jesus Christ. The bounty is our inheritance as children of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. All that is His is now ours. Victory happens when we rely on His strength, not ours; with confidence, we rise up to follow after Him.

When we passionately follow Christ onto the battlefield, we become a Victory Girl.

No weapon that has been made to be used against you will succeed… This is the inheritance of the Lord’s servants.

“Their victory comes from Me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 (GWT)

*adapted from Amy Elaine’s, Becoming a Victory Girl: Staking Your Claim in The Kingdom