Form Me Further

A Reflection on the Second Reading for February 28th, 2021:
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

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​Romans
8.31b-35, 37

Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?

Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

There are times when we feel hedged in on all sides. Our circumstances continue to worsen. Luck isn’t on our side. All our hard work is about as useful as throwing our computer against the wall. In those seasons when I find myself hitting roadblocks on all sides, there’s a sort of claustrophobic feeling that can overwhelm me. I have lost control. I am cornered. Just breathe through it. This too shall pass.

Burnout from fear. Burnout from distress. Burnout from spiritual famine. It can become my entire reality if I start believing that the roadblocks surrounding me are immovable or, worse, caused by my own weakness.

The reality to which Paul points us is truth, but it is also a battle cry: “[W]e are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” I am more than a conqueror in Christ. I am not my circumstances. I am not this moment of anxiety, fear, and despair. The roadblocks are nothing before the hand of my God.

But God created us with free will – an incredible gift that allows us to choose love. That same gift also allows us to choose fear and distrust. The key to our choice is whether or not we are willing to open ourselves up entirely to receive the love of a God who created us, justifies us, and conquers for us. As terrifying as is the moment of claustrophobic fear that overwhelms me, can I let down the walls I create in my own heart so that God can conquer in me?

We are invited to stand in the face of despair and embrace love. In challenging times such as those we live in, there is something incredibly healing in the knowledge that the thing God most needs from me isn’t doing for Him, but rather being for Him. My efforts are important because they are every day opportunities to accept the Holy Spirit, and in that acceptance be more like Christ and indeed an icon of Christ in the world. But before any of my efforts can root me in God, I have to first throw wide the doors of my heart.

The roadblocks are not always my making – none of us choose to be sick, or to endure poverty, or to experience persecution or all other manners of evil – but how I react in the face of those roadblocks relies entirely on how open I am to receiving God. I am a conqueror THROUGH Christ, not because of my work for Christ. My circumstances cannot separate me from Christ; they are not a punishment or a judgement on my soul. They are an opportunity to invite God in, to allow Him to form me further. 

I am not called to be like a stone in the middle of a stream, being made smaller and smaller by the rushing current. I am called to let God in and let Him increase within me, magnifying His glory. Inviting Him to conquer in my circumstances. I will not be shaped by my hurt and fear, I will be shaped and expanded by God’s love.




​Stephanie Potter

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