Across the Bridge
  • Mission
  • Blog
  • DONATE
  • NEWS
  • Ministry Plans
  • Partners
  • Current Meetings
  • About
  • Mission
  • Blog
  • DONATE
  • NEWS
  • Ministry Plans
  • Partners
  • Current Meetings
  • About

ATB blog

Losing to Win

1/12/2017

0 Comments

 

This was the quote from my Men's Devotional yesterday:
​
Never allow difficult times to overpower the glory and omnipotence of God. He triumphs far above all - even when you go through the darkest valley.

It brought back memories of my long ride back to ATL after I got the news my son had died. Man, that was the lowest point of my life, every part of me shook with grief and regret flooded my mind that maybe I could have done this or done that or just been there to prevent it. Some of you have been there, too. It was during those times that my relationship with the Lord grew even stronger through the darkness.

And when I read that quote it reminded that almost every triumph in the Bible was after a loss. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Peter -you can rattle off an infinite number of people who experienced this. Then of course, everyone counted the Crucifixion as a loss, there was much grief, until the Resurrection that is, then it became apparent to the disciples and to us today that there must be a.......

Losing To Win.

A coach of some kind once said we must learn how to lose to learn how to win and in our daily walk out of addiction and trouble or the worst kind, we realize that unless we learn how to cope with loss (whether self inflicted or not), we can never appreciate the winning. It may get to a point where we ask God "Can we just stop the pain and get to the gain?" but it is in the battlegrounds of loss that we learn who we are, how much fight we have in us, and what we believe.

Think how hard it was for those disciples to understand what just happened with Jesus on the cross, and look at how many scattered when their faith was on the line. But they regrouped, they received power to go on and they fought until the end for what they believed. So when we buckle, when we wonder, when we fear, take heart because Jesus gave us some words of comfort:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me also.  John 14:1

Because as that same devotional points out, do not allow sudden evil and bad news to upset you and shake you. We are still who we say we are and God is still who he says he is no matter what happens. Nothing can change this, not even death.

Sometimes life is just life and we have to experience Losing To eventually Win!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Glenn Yankowski

    Glenn is an ex-Marine Viet Nam vet who is also a recovering alcoholic, clean and sober for 30 years. He has been involved in start up and ongoing recovery ministry at North Atlanta Church and Campus for the last two decades. He has a passion for outreach and to spread the message that the answer to lasting and fulfilling recovery from addiction is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. He and the ATB team are available to assist in your questions or needs on an individual basis and will do so maintaining complete confidentiality. You may e-mail him at sgtski@bellsouth.net.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly