Easter Sunday was the end of my fast and so I woke up early, spent time in prayer and then decided to take a run before my family got up. Running and cycling is my time alone with God. That is my one on one time with Him without distraction. As much as I don't really enjoy running I love the time it gives me alone with Him in prayer and praise. God definitely uses my running and cycling as a time to minister to me.
I live on a 1.2 mile circle and it is perfect for training because it has plenty of gentle ups and downs, but when you leave my driveway the first part is the hill. I normally run in the direction that lets me run down the hill because its long and its hard and I really don't like running uphill! As I stopped at the end of my driveway I felt the urge to go the opposite way, to turn right and run up the hill. I didn't entertain the idea because that meant I would run up that hill 3 times and that seemed like a lot of work. I had not run this week so I turned left and headed on my run.
At about the second mile my knee started to get tender which is always very frustrating for me because physically my heart and lungs can take on just about anything I ask them to but when my knee starts to hurt and then lock up no amount of will power can push me forward. I was at the bottom of the hill and I was praying and I felt God say, turn around, run the other way. Again I said "no thanks God, that is going to be way too hard, I'm nearing the end and I'm tired." I kept running and was in the last half mile again going down the hill my knee screaming and God said a bit louder, "TURN AROUND!" He didn't say stop, He didn't say give up, He said turn around and run up hill! I stopped, turned around, and ran up that hill.
The instant I began running up the hill the pain began to diminish. Yes, it was harder for the rest of my body, my lungs and heart had to work harder but my knee didn't hurt nearly at all. I was able to finish running my 3 miles all because I listened to God and took the hard path. God knew all along that if I listened to Him and ran up that hill that not only would it not hurt my knee but it would make me stronger!
There is so much to see in this illustration and it was a perfect message for some decisions that we as a family are trying to make right now about our future and where God wants us. Its so easy to turn and take the "easy" road, its not scary it looks simple and for the start it can be simple. Then over time that easy road begins to cause you pain, you are not going the way God wants you to go and He wants you to go a certain way for a reason. The easy path could be calling it quits in the 11th hour even when God is asking you to hang on, or quitting a job just before the fruits of your labor begin to show. The easy path could be doing nothing when you see someone on the path of destruction because "its not really your problem" or not reaching out a hand to help someone because you are too busy. The easy path could be remaining silent while innocent children are killed in the womb and lives are destroyed by abortion because you are too scared to face opposition. The easy path could be direct disobedience to something that God has laid on your heart, that you choose to defy and continue to make sinful choices. The easy path more often than not leads to pain and injury. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but when you choose the easy path, the path contrary to the one God has asked you to follow there is no blessing to be had, and God wants to bless us all. Easy often seems safe and comfortable, but its also a place of lost dreams and broken futures. He calls us to trust in Him in trials and to lean on Him when we just don't understand. He will never leave us or forsake us, He loves us too much to do that.
Making the choice to take the hard road, the scary road, is huge. Its one giant leap into the unknown much of the time, but don't you know that He will be there to catch you. Often if we are honest with ourselves the pain, the hurt the struggles, most of the time stem from taking the easy path, the flesh path, the path of sin and destruction. I know, I've chosen that path far more times than I can count. It led to pain and regret. But when I finally gave up all my "fight" and trusted God and turned onto His path I was filled with Victory and Hope. We face trials in life, all of us do, but these trials are meant to refine us, to grow us, to teach us and make us stronger. Often after you come to the end of a trial you can see just how much it changed you, many times all of the pieces fall into place and we get a glimpse of what God was trying to accomplish with our faithfulness.
Romans 5:3-5
And not only that , but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed
The path is in front of you, which way will you turn today....
I live on a 1.2 mile circle and it is perfect for training because it has plenty of gentle ups and downs, but when you leave my driveway the first part is the hill. I normally run in the direction that lets me run down the hill because its long and its hard and I really don't like running uphill! As I stopped at the end of my driveway I felt the urge to go the opposite way, to turn right and run up the hill. I didn't entertain the idea because that meant I would run up that hill 3 times and that seemed like a lot of work. I had not run this week so I turned left and headed on my run.
At about the second mile my knee started to get tender which is always very frustrating for me because physically my heart and lungs can take on just about anything I ask them to but when my knee starts to hurt and then lock up no amount of will power can push me forward. I was at the bottom of the hill and I was praying and I felt God say, turn around, run the other way. Again I said "no thanks God, that is going to be way too hard, I'm nearing the end and I'm tired." I kept running and was in the last half mile again going down the hill my knee screaming and God said a bit louder, "TURN AROUND!" He didn't say stop, He didn't say give up, He said turn around and run up hill! I stopped, turned around, and ran up that hill.
The instant I began running up the hill the pain began to diminish. Yes, it was harder for the rest of my body, my lungs and heart had to work harder but my knee didn't hurt nearly at all. I was able to finish running my 3 miles all because I listened to God and took the hard path. God knew all along that if I listened to Him and ran up that hill that not only would it not hurt my knee but it would make me stronger!
There is so much to see in this illustration and it was a perfect message for some decisions that we as a family are trying to make right now about our future and where God wants us. Its so easy to turn and take the "easy" road, its not scary it looks simple and for the start it can be simple. Then over time that easy road begins to cause you pain, you are not going the way God wants you to go and He wants you to go a certain way for a reason. The easy path could be calling it quits in the 11th hour even when God is asking you to hang on, or quitting a job just before the fruits of your labor begin to show. The easy path could be doing nothing when you see someone on the path of destruction because "its not really your problem" or not reaching out a hand to help someone because you are too busy. The easy path could be remaining silent while innocent children are killed in the womb and lives are destroyed by abortion because you are too scared to face opposition. The easy path could be direct disobedience to something that God has laid on your heart, that you choose to defy and continue to make sinful choices. The easy path more often than not leads to pain and injury. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but when you choose the easy path, the path contrary to the one God has asked you to follow there is no blessing to be had, and God wants to bless us all. Easy often seems safe and comfortable, but its also a place of lost dreams and broken futures. He calls us to trust in Him in trials and to lean on Him when we just don't understand. He will never leave us or forsake us, He loves us too much to do that.
Making the choice to take the hard road, the scary road, is huge. Its one giant leap into the unknown much of the time, but don't you know that He will be there to catch you. Often if we are honest with ourselves the pain, the hurt the struggles, most of the time stem from taking the easy path, the flesh path, the path of sin and destruction. I know, I've chosen that path far more times than I can count. It led to pain and regret. But when I finally gave up all my "fight" and trusted God and turned onto His path I was filled with Victory and Hope. We face trials in life, all of us do, but these trials are meant to refine us, to grow us, to teach us and make us stronger. Often after you come to the end of a trial you can see just how much it changed you, many times all of the pieces fall into place and we get a glimpse of what God was trying to accomplish with our faithfulness.
Romans 5:3-5
And not only that , but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed
The path is in front of you, which way will you turn today....
