In 1942, hysteria over Japanese involvement in World War II led to the relocation of some 110,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. In one of these camps Carole Doi, a third-generation Japanese American, was born. Despite this experience, Carole was proud to have been born in America.
Years later, Carole married a man who had also spent time in the camps. When she delivered their baby daughter, they noticed that the child’s feet turned inward, the toes facing each other. Carole was determined to do whatever it would take to help her daughter walk normally.
For four years Carole had to provide the child with corrective shoes. Her daughter was walking normally by age six, but Carole wasn’t satisfied. “I wanted her to do anything in which she would use her legs,” she said. The girl chose ice skating.
Before long, the youngster was bugging her mother for more rink time. She’d refuse to leave the ice until she got a particular move right. Soon Carole was rising at 4 AM to get her daughter to the rink. Finally, after 15 years of lessons, young Kristi Yamaguchi represented her country in the Olympics.
As the US flag was hoisted during the 1992 medals ceremony, Carole and Jim Yamaguchi watched Kristi receive the gold medal. They had never been so proud to be Americans.
Do not let your limitations get in the way of your faith!
Tags: obstacles, overcomer, trials
Ever thought you were destined to not be anyone special due to your humble beginnings? Remember that many great achievers began life in the poorest of homes, with little education and no advantages. Thomas Edison was a newsboy on trains. Andrew Carnegie started work at $4 a month. John D. Rockefeller at $6 a week. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin. Charles Dickens was lame. Homer was blind.
What gave these great individuals the stamina to overcome severe setbacks and become successful? Each had an inner dream that lit a fire that could not be extinguished.
Find that inner dream and pursue it. You’ve got God on your side.
Tags: beginnings, dream, overcomer
Sociologist Robert Bella reports that, “One of our current psychological gurus says that 98 percent of Americans are dysfunctional.” Duh…
Have you looked around you lately? How can anyone raised on American TV not be dysfunctional? This is not a new revelation. He has just discovered what we Christians have long called, Original Sin. His only error is that he miscalculated by 2 percent. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)”.
The task Christ has set before us dysfunctional sinners is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth until we become “overcomers” and are “conformed into the likeness of His Son “(Romans 8:29).
The problem with us Americans is that we settle for way too little. God created us for much more than this.
Tags: overcomer, sin
Pastor and author A. B. Simpson told about an old farmer who plowed around a large rock in his field year after year. He had broken one cultivator and two plowshares by hitting it. Each time he saw that obstacle, he grumbled about how much trouble the rock had caused.
One day he decided to dig it up and be done with it. Putting a large crowbar under one side, he found to his surprise that the rock was less than a foot thick. Soon he had pried it out of the ground and was carting it away in his wagon. He smiled to think how that “big” old rock had caused him so much needless frustration.
On her way to the tomb that first Easter morning, the women who followed Jesus asked the serious question, “Who will roll away the stone for us?” They didn’t realize the problem was already solved. But they lost their joy worrying about how to solve it.
Suppose the difficulty in your life is as imaginary as that rock or the stone. Perhaps that problem seems so huge that we just give up and get used to it. Remember that Jesus has called us all to become “overcomers”. Go for it!
Tags: overcomer, problem, Rock, trouble
Remember the movie Hoosiers? Those small town basketball players came from behind with all kinds of obstacles along the way to win the State Championship, effectively eliminated every other High School in the state! The true story was so inspiring they finally made a movie of the story which is still shown on TV.
Everyone loves the story of losers who overcome and become winners. We love those Cinderella stories more than those who win all the time. Why is that? I think its because each of us see ourselves as natural losers with sin holding us back, but dream of overcoming and becoming the hero after all.
When Bill Clinton was deeply involved on the campaign trail, he became known as the Comeback Kid, because he had an ability to shrug off criticism and stay focused until he actually stepped into the top political office in America, the President of the United States.
God has called us to become overcomers, and we can only do that through Jesus Christ. Go inspire people! Who do you know that has a testimony of overcoming against all odds?
Tags: Cinderella, inspiration, overcomer, winning
Last Friday Anita had a procedure done on her nasal cavity. She has had recurring sinus infections and when the Dr. did further investigation, they found that the bone needed to be reset from an automobile accident she had back in the 1977 when her nose was broken. She had planned to look like a Halloween mask this weekend, and didn’t want to miss sending [Name Withheld for Security] off, but God was merciful and few could even notice the minor swelling, and she felt really good. God is amazing.
But by today the maximum swelling and stuffiness has her pretty homebound. She will have more packing removed on Wednesday and should be good to go after that.
I’ve noticed that God often steps in like than in my life, as well. There have been numerous occasions when I went to church sick. I had my sermon all ready but woke up miserable. I could bearly make my way up the steps, but the anointing kicked in and the symptoms lifted, and I preached like normal. When we said the final Amen, I felt like collapsing again. I believe that is the way God works in our lives supernaturally.
Have you ever had such an experience?
Tags: anointing, healing, overcomer
Hosea is an Old Testament prophet that had to live the message God wanted him to preach. He was directed by God to marry an adulterous woman, name their children after the prophetic themes they represented, suffer the pain of her further adultery, and then receive her back again. What a life’s message! Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet, and other prophets, as well, had to live the message they preached.
I believe it is God’s divine will that I live the message that I preach, as well. I must be a model of the message. As you know, two central truths I communicate most are 1) God has called us to be overcomers, and 2) first comes a death, then a resurrection. I suspect this cancer represents sin nature working death in my mortal body. As I stay faithful to God in faith, I must die to my self-will, so I can rise to new life, and become an overcomer!
If a genuine prophet must live through the message he preaches, let it be so with me, so I can preach the good news with His power.
Tags: Hosea, message, overcomer, prophet, resurrection