(Testimony) More than a conqueror in Christ

I have been wanting to publish this testimony that I had written in early 2009 and emailed to my friends. Now I wish to share it with you readers.

May you be blessed by the goodness of God.

---
Wishing you a blessed 2009.

I executed a project implementation on 2 Jan. Towards the end of the day, I received an email from a senior manager (whom I shall call Cathy) from my client company. She had accused me of executing the implementation without her approval. To add fuel to the fire, another manager from the client company (who was covering for the approvers on leave) had said that no approvals were required since the implementation was not pertaining to any production environments.

I called Cathy to explain the situation. She was furious and adament that I had flouted a very serious offence. Before putting down the phone, she would escalate to the senior management accordingly. Though she was rather rude and aggressive throughout, I responded politely and professionally.

Initially I did not take her threat very seriously until I read her email sent within the next few minutes. It was addressed a very senior vice president in US (whom I shall call Dave). He was the senior project executive handling my client account. To make matters worse, this email was copied to all the senior directors of her company.

I was pretty much in a state of shock. I immediately forwarded the email to my reporting manager lest he gets a call from US. I doubt he could do much since it had bypassed even the technology head in Australia.

It was already close to dinner time and we had already decided to eat out. While driving, I told Selene that whatever the situation, it would be turned into my favour. Somehow God is going to change the bad spotlight into a blessing where my name will be remembered well among the senior management of both sides.

Of course things are easier said than done. My human nature reared its ugly head.

At 4:30am I woke up feeling concerned. How God can save me goes against all human logic and reasoning. How could I sit still and do nothing? I brought out my laptop. Perhaps I should pen an explanation to Dave and copy a few senior managers to back me up.

I felt trapped and hopeless like the Israelites. In front of me was the vast Red Sea and behind me was the marauding Egyptian army. With despair flooding my soul, all I could think of were the 'what-ifs' scenarios. What if I had lost my job? I have a house mortgage to pay and I am the only breadwinner. Already many companies are retrenching their staff. Would this not be a good reason to fire me? Would God bless me with this job and yet take it away from me? I was settling for the best scenario where I would get a stern 'tick-off'.

Admist my fear, God's still small voice spoke. Just a word "Shalom". Peace, be still. My raging sea immediately lapsed into tranquility. "I will be your Shield and Mighty Tower. The battle belongs to the Lord."

And behold, a new mail alarm box popped up.

Dave had replied her email. To summarize he sternly told Cathy off (our client, mind you) and that he did not like her tone. He would not conclude without knowing the facts. Five minutes later, I saw Cathy's reply. I thought miserably, "This could well turn into a open war with each senior director taking sides and pouncing on each other's throats!"

To my astonishment, Cathy apologized. No, you did not hear me - she APOLOGIZED for her tone and will instead better her communication skills. Her email was sent to the same distribution list of seniors. She mentioned that she would also work closer with my company to improve the process. As if it wasn't enough, she sent me a personal note (copying Dave) to ask me to accept her apology. She would like to treat me to a cup of coffee as an apology. Even my manager was stumped! Anyway, he was in the midst of replying to Dave when I informed him the matter was settled.

Woot! Praise God! Imagine if I had tried to explain.

As God told Moses and the Israelites to "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord", God had perform the same miracle and opened up my very own Red Sea! The good news for everyone is - God is still in the business of opening up our Red Seas today. He is the God of the impossible!

Now how victorious can it be? Too good to be true? I beg to differ because I have an awesome Father. If God is on my side, who can be against me? God didn't say there won't be any weapons formed against me. But He did promise that those weapons formed against me cannot prosper, and every judging words against me shall be condemned. Hallelujah!

Now I have an even deeper understanding of being 'more than a conqueror' in Christ. It simply means Christ will fight our battles and all we need to do is rest. Once the battle is over, all we need to do is pick up the spoils of war. We are already victorious through a battle we didn't fight. Now that is more than a conqueror!

Just like a husband who works hard and brings home the money. And his wife gets to spend every single cent of it. The husband is a conqueror while the wife is more than a conqueror. Just joking :P

Remember Simon Peter? Jesus told him to let down his nets. And Simon hauled up a net-breaking, boat-sinking, load of fish. So much that he had to yell for the other boats to help him. Who attracted the fish to the boat? Jesus the Conquerer. Who got the spoils? Simon the more-than-conquerer in Christ.

That's you. That's me. That's for everyone who believes in Him.

There is a catch though: you simply have to REST and TRUST Him who is able.

Jesus + Anything = Nothing;
Jesus + Nothing = Everything