Overcomer is my life motto. This is my testimony on how darkness and sin kept me trapped in a hole of despair and how light, love and faith in the darkest hours pulled me out.

I have fallen hard on my life verse in Philippians. When I am in doubt, when my depression darkens the horizons of my life, and when my anxious heart has me wanting to rip the seams of the day apart so I can have an excuse to crawl under a rock, I remind myself of the Ten Finger Prayer.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

I have conquered these trenches of life, and I can conquer them again. I don’t have to live there as I did for many years. I don’t have to wear a mask of fake peace and solitude scented with happiness and the sense of having it all together. My face now wears joy. It’s not the kind of mask that can be torn off, but the one that radiates truth and life. The kind of joy that makes people want what I have.

Being an overcomer isn’t a static label, but something that is in perpetual motion. I live every day in light of the Lord’s grace and fall into worship for bringing me through my trials. We face difficulties all the time, and we must keep propelling ourselves in truth and in prayer. We will overcome the world each and every day.  We don’t have to do it alone. Don’t feel like you need to live in a pit of despair, thinking that there’s no chance for someone like you. I am like you, a broken sinner, but we need to remember that we are not of the world. We are of God.  We can win the race no matter what obstacles we have to crawl through along the way.

Here are some of my favorite verses about being an overcomer.  Be encouraged. You don’t walk this life alone.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Isaiah 41:13 ESV  For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

John 14:27 ESV  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 16:33 ESV   I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

1 John 5:4 ESV   For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13 ESV  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV   Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalm 31:24 ESV   Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

Romans 8:37 ESV  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

If you would like to see my full testimony, check out my post Joy At the End of Drought.