Overcomers Against All Odds

By Flora Padilla

My name is Flora Padilla and I am a mother, grandmother, pastor, and an author. I married a man that physically, emotionally and mentally abused me. During this turbulent marriage, I was also trying to raise two small children, work full-time and financially support my household. Unexpectedly, I was injured on the job and lost the stability of h

• Language: English
• Publisher: MENDING BROKEN HEARTS MINISTRIES
• Release date: Dec 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781641116732

Book preview

Chapter 1

Overcomer

Everything in my life has been an uphill battle. Nothing has ever been easy for me. Not as a wife, a parent, a sibling, a pastor. In every role I play, it is an uphill battle; life has not been fair. Troubles in life remind me of hills.

Jesus said I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33 (NIV)

I was told Jesus was going to always help me. I said yes to Jesus. Jesus delivered me out of a marriage in which I experienced domestic violence. The impossible became possible. I immediately became a believer. Jesus is my deliverer. I defeated the enemy by breaking out of that marriage successfully.

David wrote: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His Holy place? He who has clean hands, and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from God his Savior.

Psalm 24: 3-5 (NIV)

When you are climbing to the top of the mountain, there are foothills to rise. As you climb, you get tired of climbing. But you know you must keep going. It's the only way you can get to the top. To get to the top, you must become an overcomer. There is something great waiting for you on top of that mountain!

There is deep suffering climbing the mountain.

Everything hurts your legs and your joints. But when you get to the top of the hill, you have become an overcomer; all the hurts go away. Because you are in the presence of God, you will experience the fullness of joy, peace, and healing.

Accepting the fact that there are hills to climb, climbing those hills will change you for the better. You are changed as a person as you climb your mountain. The person who makes it to the top is not the same person who started at the bottom. The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes. But also, the higher you go, the more confidence you grow. The more stable you become. The more power from God you experience. There will be many trials, many valleys, you must pass through. There will be times of darkness, days of sadness. Sometimes heartaches too. You must learn to overcome the spiritual fire to gain God's strength. Defeating spiritual storms grows his faith in you. At the end of one hill, there is another. Thank God, in the end, there is a victory. We overcome our weaknesses.

Without fighting the good fight, how will you know there is a mountaintop (blessings)? The victory is what we want to accomplish. Overcoming the obstacles gets us closer to God. We will always have opposition; talking to God will help us with our storms. We all have significant challenges that delay us all. But we also know God can show us how to overcome them. God does not place us on this earth without a purpose. We all have a meaning. God has a unique plan for all of us. He helps us to overcome everything that keeps us from following the will of our Lord.

My goal is always to gain the victory ever to win. I plan to conquer everything set against me. That way I'll become better, not bitter, after every struggle, after every obstacle, and every conflict that comes my way. No looking back! We have to always take a step forward. Taking that one step forward towards the future it will get us closer to our vision our dream our goal. No looking back again, even when the journey is long. The hill may be high. There may be pain while you climb. There may be rejection, but you must keep pressing forward. I had to learn to always move forward; put one foot in front of the other. Don't be distracted by whatever may be happening to the left or the right. Keep going forward. Keep moving towards God.

We must always want to learn more from God. We, as overcomers, deal with what is real and not what isn't. We look at our circumstances by being honest with ourselves. No more pretending, No more false hope. We come from a position of faith. We must accept where we are to know where we must go next and never stay stuck in the trial.

We must learn to overcome the enemy. I had to learn to prevail over all opposition, over all temptations. I had to overcome my weakness; I had to continue to overpower the enemy. To overcome all the odds, I had to learn from my mistakes. I had to learn to resist the power and temptations of the world. We defeat our problems by acting by obeying God's instructions. What does the Bible tell you to do? When you do obey, the forces that oppose you will fall to the ground and go under your feet. To overcome all the odds is to continue the race with God's kind of faith: to never to give up, never quit even when it seems impossible. The impossibilities become possibilities through believing in Jesus. By having confidence in Him only, God always wants us to act in obedient faith.

In overcoming, we have learned to fight smart through prayer and reading our word. When we do, he takes the obstacles away. That is when we become overcomers against all odds. We all have those times, those times of trials and temptations. Those days when it seems like we have no friends. Those nights when we feel alone. There are times when life seems too hard, the road seems too long, when the mission overwhelms us. But take heart: the word of God will keep you. Sometimes it feels like we are just hanging from a thread, almost like all hope is gone, but when we cry out, God is there to assist us. So, I hold on to him, and I cry out to God when I have no strength. That is when he starts to fill my cup—when I want to give up and cry out. That's how I have become an overcomer against all odds. We recognize that failure is part of our process. We don't let failure speak to us. We practice success during failure. We learn from our mistakes and improve our weaknesses.

I give him my weakness, and he gives me his strength. What an exchange! Then I experience a new level, new spiritual growth, and more fulfillment in my walk with him.

We celebrate our successes, no matter how small they are. Jesus sees all. We must take heart and have courage to gain territory. No matter how small, we must continue to fuel up in the spirit and continue the race.

Getting your eyes on other things or other people, looking at the world and what it has to offer, always leads to trouble for us as children of God. We must learn to be content, instead of worrying about what we don't have or what we may need and getting stressed out. If the devil attacks you, reminding you how you have failed the Lord before, the best way to respond is to forgive yourself for your past mistakes. You know God has forgiven us even before we ask. But He wants us to say it. John 5:4–5 states, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I am an overcomer who follows God. I hold fast to God's faith until the end. I depend entirely on God for the direction he wants me to go and, on his strength, to get there. I want his plan and purpose for my life and family and the ministry that God has entrusted to me. I want to carry off the victory because God sacrificed himself for me on the cross. I'm carrying my vision like a pregnant woman. Sometimes I overeat. Sometimes my physical body hurts. Sometimes I'm uncomfortable. Sometimes I am tired. Sometimes I want time to hurry so I can deliver the baby (the vision) before it's due. But I know I must wait for nine months (maybe years?) to provide the healthy baby (the vision of God). I can't have a miscarriage or abort the vision. So, in the meantime, I must overcome the negative and try to thrive and immerse myself in positive words. We must be more than survivors. We must learn to succeed spiritually by trusting God to protect our hearts. See, when we think our lives have ended, that is when we have just begun. That's when we discover the secrets of thriving spiritually: dying to self but living for the Lord.

The real power is Jesus in us. Because of him, we can conquer any negative thing. When a demon comes along, we can say, I know who you are! But you must bow to the name of Jesus! I understand your past, and I see your future. Both times you will bow to the name of Jesus. God is setting us up every time we have an obstacle. He is setting us up for a miracle and a more significant place. We have to obtain a rock-hard faith. Here on earth we get tested. Transformation takes place with victory!

Paul wrote in Romans 8:37, In all things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. I have been able to endure all my trials up to this point because I am one of those who will follow Him. I plan on staying to the end.

Jesus promises the great reward to those who overcome. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise