Thus Far

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said,  “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”–2 Samuel 7:18

Who are you, O sister, and what is your house that God has brought you thus far?  Think about that a bit.  Just who are we that God has, thus far…brought us?  Who am I and what is my house that God has thus far, brought me?

Who I am is a subject for another day, month or year.  One thing I can say is He has thus far, brought me through 15 months of grieving the loss of my one and only daughter.  In fact, though I continue to grieve her loss and long for her with each passing day, I am certain that God is—in the midst of it—drawing me closer to Him than ever before.

Life goes on, after all, and somehow (by His grace) we have to show up in our minutes, hours, days and do the next thing—both at home, in church family life and here at America’s Keswick where I am extremely blessed to serve.

One of the many things I get to do is write Victory Calls. Most days it is a joy and delight to write what the Lord has placed on my heart. There are also, quite honestly, times when writing feels like a chore, something I have to do…just because I have to.

So today, I decided to go back in the Women of Character file and once again read why it is that we write these Victory Call devotions in the first place. The following is what Diane Hunt wrote to all of us way back in 2005 when VC began:

“The Purpose of Victory Call is to encourage and challenge women to live in visible victory in their daily lives, through their walk with Jesus Christ.”

The two words from her original statement that quickly capture my attention are: “visible victory”.

In a previous VC I encouraged you who were willing, to meet me at the merry-go-round with your dancing shoes on.  If I were to pick an actual park with a real date and time, for some, the act of showing up would be visible victory.

In so many ways we get comfortable and set in how we do life and we can sometimes (often) forget to visibly express the joy that we possess in our vessels.  We forget that our feet were made for more than tapping; our arms were made for more than folding and our hands were not made to sit on nor our fingers made for pointing.

Who are you, O sister, and what is your house that God has brought you thus far?

Who you are is a daughter of the Most High God and why you are is simple – you are made for worship, to love God and enjoy Him forever!  Remember, dear sisters, we serve a big God and He is worthy of all our praise and worship.

I leave you today with this prayer for spiritual strength that you may (NO MATTER WHAT!) continue to reach for the prize, to live in visible victory corem deo—before the face of God.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ ma dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. -Ephesians 3:14-21

Stephanie Dale

Stephanie serves as part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America’s Keswick as Director of Women of Character. She has been married for over 30 years to Sesky Paul who is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.  Her single focus in ministry at Keswick is to image Christ in grace and truth to wounded and hurting women, encouraging them to make Jesus the truest Lover of their soul and the One in whom all hope lies.