If there is one thing I’m good at its being unsuccessfully self reliant. I mean I’m so good at it that if given the chance I could win a gold medal. The course that I would have to run would just be a replay of my life and all that I’ve gone through and attempted to govern and rule on my own. There would be some pits, some hills, mountains and valleys and by the end of it I would be covered in dirt, mud, grime and defeat would be the medal I would wear around my neck.... so why do I sign myself up for this? I mean if anyone knows me they probably know that I LOVE to work out and that I run almost every day but is this really a fitness exercise I want to conquer or train for? Why do I continually enter this race just to be the winner of the WORST marathon ever? Why am I not CONTINUALLY "running with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." ( Hebrews 12)? I am continually putting my hope in things of this world that will fail. I know this and yet I find myself racing after them, trying to fix things, manipulate things and make them work to my advantage. Again let me repeat, I am a gold medal winner in "unsuccessful self reliance". Has 28 years of cuts, scrapes and bruises not taught me anything? Well yes it has taught me something. That my hope is to be in Christ. The pioneer and perfector of faith, my sweet Lord who knew that I would continue to fall and yet still loves me and pursues me. Sweet Christ, my Savior who, as he hung on that cross, hung there as my sins, my mess ups, my self reliance, my pride were the nails that kept him up there. Wow how undeserving am I of this? And yet his salvation is freely given DESPITE me. And yet I am continually trying to be in charge of my life and win the prize daily for the marathon from H-E- double hockey sticks...
At church we are going through an Advent series of devotionals each week. Something that the Lord laid on my heart, a question that hit me right in the heart and was reinforced by a sweet friend last night was where I am putting my hope? And it was compounded by the fact that the Lord ALWAYS PROVIDES. The Lord is a promise-making and promise-keeping God. While reading through Genesis 22 it talks about the promises of the Lord and those made to Abraham. Abraham had his hope placed in the Lord, nothing came above that, the Lord was all he needed. The Lord will provide, the Lord does provide.... why do I forget this? What good thing would the Father withhold from uys if He has given us His only Son? Knowing this why do I run to the next fix, the next person, relationship, event, product, to fill the void that only he can fill? Ecclesiastes tells us that he has placed eternity in the hearts of men. So i will never be fully satisfied until I am in glory with him. So as life twists and turns what is my life saving device? What keeps me afloat? What is my hope anchored in? My God, my Savior, my promise-keeping God whose time table is so much better than mine. I was reading the other day that our lives can be explained like this, " as a person who has their nose pressed up against a stain glass window. From their point of view all that can be seen are blurry images and splashes of color. But the Lord views and leads our lives looking at the entire stain glass window that is full of grace, beauty, pictures and color. So again the Holy Spirit whispers, " Follow, place your hope in the Lord, he sees the beauty, the vision the plan,.Abide, follow" And my response? "Oh no Lord, you see I’ve got it all figured out, I can only see right in front of me and I really enjoy running this brutal race but don’t worry, I can figure it out." All this as I fall, fumble, stumble, and face plant through the obstacles of life.... Spoken by a true gold medal winner.
Here is something I’m finding though, as doors open and close, as seasons come and life moves on, He is working, He is always working. He always keeps his promises, and He always keeps them perfectly. It says in our devotional that trust in these facts changes the way we endure seasons of waiting. We can know that God uses times of waiting to increase and strengthen our belief, longing and boldness of our asking. So what if as I start to let go, place my hope in Him become successfully reliant upon Him and wait? Then I will see that he is working and he is keeping his promises. All around me He is guiding my path, he is walking me through this marathon of life, he is what I race after. And that my fellow racers, my friends who are beat up and bruised, that is a race worth training for and worth running daily!
At church we are going through an Advent series of devotionals each week. Something that the Lord laid on my heart, a question that hit me right in the heart and was reinforced by a sweet friend last night was where I am putting my hope? And it was compounded by the fact that the Lord ALWAYS PROVIDES. The Lord is a promise-making and promise-keeping God. While reading through Genesis 22 it talks about the promises of the Lord and those made to Abraham. Abraham had his hope placed in the Lord, nothing came above that, the Lord was all he needed. The Lord will provide, the Lord does provide.... why do I forget this? What good thing would the Father withhold from uys if He has given us His only Son? Knowing this why do I run to the next fix, the next person, relationship, event, product, to fill the void that only he can fill? Ecclesiastes tells us that he has placed eternity in the hearts of men. So i will never be fully satisfied until I am in glory with him. So as life twists and turns what is my life saving device? What keeps me afloat? What is my hope anchored in? My God, my Savior, my promise-keeping God whose time table is so much better than mine. I was reading the other day that our lives can be explained like this, " as a person who has their nose pressed up against a stain glass window. From their point of view all that can be seen are blurry images and splashes of color. But the Lord views and leads our lives looking at the entire stain glass window that is full of grace, beauty, pictures and color. So again the Holy Spirit whispers, " Follow, place your hope in the Lord, he sees the beauty, the vision the plan,.Abide, follow" And my response? "Oh no Lord, you see I’ve got it all figured out, I can only see right in front of me and I really enjoy running this brutal race but don’t worry, I can figure it out." All this as I fall, fumble, stumble, and face plant through the obstacles of life.... Spoken by a true gold medal winner.
Here is something I’m finding though, as doors open and close, as seasons come and life moves on, He is working, He is always working. He always keeps his promises, and He always keeps them perfectly. It says in our devotional that trust in these facts changes the way we endure seasons of waiting. We can know that God uses times of waiting to increase and strengthen our belief, longing and boldness of our asking. So what if as I start to let go, place my hope in Him become successfully reliant upon Him and wait? Then I will see that he is working and he is keeping his promises. All around me He is guiding my path, he is walking me through this marathon of life, he is what I race after. And that my fellow racers, my friends who are beat up and bruised, that is a race worth training for and worth running daily!
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