The Overcomer

 

Good morning.  I’m glad you clicked on this post, and trust your day is going well.

 One of my current friends is a childhood friend from long ago.  Rachel (not her real name) and I went to school together all throughout our elementary and high school years.  She always did just a little better I did in school, constantly out-grading me by just a few points here and there…enough so that I always was in a sort of friendly competition with her…and seldom won.  I also knew her family…her mom and dad, older sister and younger brother.  The whole family was intelligent, hard-working, and successful in life.

 I lost track of Rachel shortly after high school, but maintained a relationship with her mom and dad, as they stayed in Harper, my hometown, and were there when we moved back there some years ago as a young family.  I knew Rachel had become an academic and was in a successful career in that field.  I didn’t know much of anything of her older sister or younger brother, however.

 A few years ago, I heard that her mother had passed away.  Her dad had passed some years before, and her mother carried on for several years on her own.  I found out when the memorial service was to be held, and went to the service to pay my respects to the family.  An ulterior motive was to try to reconnect with Rachel and if possible her sis and brother.

 I arrived a few minutes before services, explained my relationship with the family, and asked if I could go into the area where the family was.  There, I immediately noticed a redhead using a walker, talking to someone.  I can’t mistake that hair…it was Rachel.  I re-introduced myself, we visited a few minutes, exchanged contact information, and attended the memorial service.  I also was privileged to visit with her brother, but didn’t see or visit with her sister.

 Well, to shorten this story a bit, sometime after the service, we reconnected via email…she doesn’t do social media.  My wife and I also visited her and her hubby in Tulsa, and they came to the memorial service of one of our mutual classmates sometime later.  We exchange emails every couple of months or so, or if something unusual happens, we will visit via email about that.  I’ve learned a lot about Rachel’s life and the stories of her family as well in these encounters.

 Her older sister is terminally ill with cancer.  Her younger brother died a short while ago after a stroke and a fall…possibly due to a brain malfunction of some kind.  He had surgery for brain cancer some years ago.  Whether that had anything to do with the fall and stroke, I don’t know.  Her sister has only days to weeks to live.

 Rachel has been battling M.S. for well over 20 years now, and is less mobile than she was at her mom’s memorial service a few years ago.  She had scarlet fever as a child, and has had other maladies hit her during her lifetime.  Her brother and sister were on opposite coasts of the country, and Rachel is in Oklahoma.  She was able to travel to see her sister, but was unable to see her brother before his untimely and relatively quick passing.  She did attend his service.

 Looking at Rachel’s life, I quickly see a woman who has had her share of grief and pain.  Her parents are both gone.  Her older sister is terminally ill, 1,500 miles away.  Her younger brother had a sudden fall and stroke, and quickly passed away.  She has always been less than exceedingly healthy due to the scarlet fever.  And she’s been battling MS and all that comes with it for decades.

 Yet she perseveres.  She continues living life.  She keeps on doing what she can with the physical abilities she has.  And seems to have a decent attitude about it all.  In all of our conversations, the most I have heard her complain is what she said as she contemplated attending her brother’s memorial service, weighing her options and the inevitable difficulties of travel.  I quote:  “All of these factors add to my fatigue, close down my ability to even move, and probably make my walker very difficult to use.  Do I seem frustrated?”

 I don’t know what’s going on in your life.  Nor do I know how well or how poorly you’re dealing with those issues.  And I certainly am not qualified to offer advice.  But what I can do is point you to people like Rachel who continue to persevere even in the midst of what many would consider overwhelming problems and trials.  The human spirit has been created by God to, as the old saying goes, “Keep on keeping on.”  The trials of life and the struggles of living are a part of ourselves and our environment.  We celebrate the Rachels of this life…the overcomers…the perseverers.

 In the Bible, I could point to great people of faith such as Abraham, Elijah, the prophets, Esther, Ruth, the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and of course Jesus Christ as overcomers…perseverers.  And there are countless people in history who have overcome the greatest of obstacles in life to earn that place they occupy in history.

 And there are Rachels even now all around us and among us.  May we always see their examples, emulate their fortitude, and work for their good in all things.  And may God continue to bless not only you who are listening, but all of the Rachels who daily, hourly, and even minute-by-minute, overcome.