I’m gonna see a victory
For the battle belongs to You, Lord
All throughout 2020 and now in 2021, God keeps putting battles and spiritual warfare on my mind. It began with the Elevation Worship Song “See a Victory” that I started listening to in early 2020.
I’ve talked about this song so much with family and friends that they are probably sick of hearing about it. I have listened to it countless times. The truth in the lyrics, “You take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good,” makes me think. I think about the Garden of Eden and the sneaky serpent enemy and how sin’s entrance into the world was meant for evil. I think about how God sent His Son to die and redeem humanity, how He had turned it for good.
Then I think about my own life. All the pain of infertility, the grief of miscarriage, the sadness of losing my grandparents, how it was meant for evil. But as I look back, all I see is God’s goodness. I see how God held us through it all, had plans for us, and turned it for good. He is such a good, good father (but that song is for another day.)
Several months ago, Brandon and I were heading to an adoption conference and discussing a middle name for Mila. “I’d like to name her after Memaw,” I said.
My Memaw, Eunice Dessie, was the most beautiful woman. Sure, she was pretty, but her beauty came from who she was inside. We tried it.
Milagros Eunice.
Milagros Dessie.
I was disappointed that neither name seemed to fit.
But I was determined. So, we had the thought to look up the meaning of Eunice. As I sat in a hotel room with my laptop, I shook my head in disbelief as a Google search told us that the name Eunice means Good Victory. So fitting. So meaningful. We decided the name Milagros Victoria seemed perfect.
It was two weeks later, on February 15, 2021 that we got news of our official match with Mila. That match meant she was going to be ours. And Mila’s middle name of Victoria was confirmed even more when we realized we were matched exactly two years since Memaw, Eunice Dessie, had gone into the hospital and passed away.
And as I kept thinking, I remembered at Papaw’s death the last verse that had been burning. “O death where is thy sting. O grave where is thy victory?” Victory. Victoria in Spanish. Mila was conceived the day Papaw died. Mila was matched with us when Memaw died. What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned it for good. The song we had been singing all year was true. I had prayed through that song countless times, and God worked it out so that we really did see a Victoria!
Milagros Victoria.
Friends, as dark and sad as this world may seem, death has no victory. Sin has no victory. Those deepest secrets and experiences that bring us pain have no victory. The enemy wants to convince us that he has won and keep us in a mindset of defeat. But once we realize that Jesus won the battle over death and sin on the cross, we can live in confidence that He will win the victory for us over any darkness. We can live in freedom knowing He fights for us and we have nothing to fear.
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