Crushed to Conquer

Today I want to share a word of encouragement with my sisters who are going through what could be described as a ‘crushing season’.

During my coaching and conversations with women I have often noticed the recurring theme of looking back with regret rather than looking forward with Hope.

This cycle can come at the point of her ‘crushing’; the state of pain that is so mentally and emotionally intense that it obliterates the memory of every past triumph and success and instead magnifies the losses, failures, and current adverse circumstances she finds herself in.

Despite achieving so many highs in the past, the impact of a misplaced trust, failed relationship, collapse of a business can create in her feelings such as self-doubt, abandonment, and overwhelming loneliness, that if allowed room to play out will cause her to stay stuck for years at one stage of grief, frankly where she laments at the disappointments and failures of her past which are presently screaming much louder than the provable truth of her countless triumphs to date.

Even women of faith! They cry out to God day and night, night and day firmly believing that their present circumstances automatically disqualifies them from ever again living a full and joyful life but instead believing that this season is a harbinger of a bitter future.

Hopelessness and disappointment weighs them down in shame and despair; the heaviness of shame keeping their shoulders hunched and their eyes focused downward.

If you are experiencing such a season I do not intend to sound trite or belittle the pressing weight and pain of your experience but please know that the crushing is often the processing for transformation. I therefore encourage you to use your present crushing season to deepen your dependence on God, increase prayer, strengthen your spiritual muscles, increase empathy and prepare to rise again!

Yes, the crushing process is very painful but God uses every crushing season to be our healing season.

To be crushed is to suffer intensely.

To be crushed is to be turned inside out.

To be crushed is to be converted from the common and predictable to the principled and authentic.

When we are crushed we no longer fit into the spaces and places that were once our every-day habitat.

For us to change shape, form, and substance spiritually, mentally, emotionally and otherwise we have to abandon the comfort area and move into the unknown area where we are now called to break down barriers, inspire change, and create space for others to emulate and occupy.

I know you might not feel like that woman; the one who was ‘Crushed to Conquer’ but remember; every crushed woman in the Bible was the same woman who conquered despite, and because of the crushing, and the stories of their journeys from personal pain to triumph still inspire us thousands of years later! Here are some examples to help encourage you:

• Leah – The wife who longed for and waited in vain for her husband’s love but became the mother of Judah (“praise”), the tribe from which Jesus was descended.
• Naomi – Widowed and renamed herself and her future “Mara” meaning “bitter” according to her current circumstances, but she left a legacy of faithfulness, wisdom, and loyalty in the story of her pivotal role in Ruth’s link to Jesus.
• Hannah – Childless and mocked by Peninnah her husband’s fertile second wife, turned her pain to prayer and praise and became the mother of Israel’s last judge, and anointer of its first two kings.
• Hagar – Having accomplished her ‘assignment’ to have a child for Abraham and Sarah, she was thrown out into the wilderness along with said child but it was there that she encountered and saw “El Roi”, (the God who sees.)

The stories of these four women demonstrate how their crushing was the means by which their power was extracted to influence, impact, and change their circumstances and/or others for good.

As the proper crushing of grapes is vital in producing the desired wine and the olive is crushed to produce oil so is every crushing season initiated by God as part of the process to prepare you to conquer in your unique Purpose, for His Glory!

So if you are currently experiencing your crushing season take hope in the knowledge that even now your spiritual muscles are being developed as in the cases of Leah, Naomi, Hannah, Hagar and many more Bible characters.

The crushing has a determined end so be encouraged and personalise the truth of Romans 8:37 which promises “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Jesus identifies with our crushing; He endured His season in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46) and on the cross at Calvary (Matthew 27:45-54) just so YOU can be ‘Crushed to Conquer’.

Pray this week: “Father, as I surrender my pain to You in this season of crushing please help me to remember Hagar and those other women who conquered because of their crushing and may I be encouraged to fully trust You knowing that You are using this experience to strengthen me to Arise to my Season of Significance for Your glory. Amen.”

Be blessed!

Paulette Morgan

Coach with me, and Arise!
Book your 15-minute 1:1 Clarity Call with me at www.womanarise.co.uk

Reflections by Paulette Morgan (Author | Speaker | Coach to Widows and Women 60+) based on her book Woman…Arise! Pearls of Wisdom for Woman Power, available on Amazon at https://amzn.eu/d/0aqVT83f