hills
I cannot pretend that, over the next year, I am will not write a lot of things about running.
There is a reason the Lord didn't say,
"Linda...walk." or "Linda Zumba."
Running is something that I spent my entire life until I was 30 hating. I think I mostly just hated it because I thought I couldn't do it.
I'll be real. I am not good at it. I'll never win a race. I saw a shirt today that I probably need to own. It said, "I run slower than the internet in the 90's...but I run."
Word.
Jesus didn't as me to run fast.
He didn't ask me to win races.
He asked me to run.
The reason He asked me to run is the same reason, I'm afraid to tell you, that there WILL be some running posts in this blog.
There are very few times in my life that I hear the Lord speak to me as clearly as He does when I am running. I know that the reason is because running is something very far outside of my comfort zone and the Lord loves to use our areas of weakness for His glory. Running is definitely a weakness for me.
Yesterday as I found myself on my knee (in the shower, lol) because my heart was a little broken after I had stepped on the scale, I felt the Lord beckon me. As I questioned, "Why, after all my obedience aren't there any results? I have eaten well, run the miles, done everything I commit to do."
It was almost immediate that I felt the Lord answer, "Linda, I want more. I want deeper obedience. I want you to follow hard after me. My grace is amazing but you wallow in it some times. Don't use it as an excuse to do just enough to hit the mark. Go beyond the mark. If I strip everything away, I want you to give it...freely."
So...yup.
I can't pretend that I am not a little scared where this road is leading. But where every that is, is right where I want to be.
I immediately knew what the Lord was talking about. I was doing what I commit to do, but many days just enough to be obedient to the letter of what this is but not to the spirit of it. I was checking off my tally mark without deceit but I was already sliding into a place of ease and comfort with it.
Many days, because my commitment is "at least one mile a day," I would do just that. I would run one mile. For that matter, I had come up with a route where I could avoid hills.
I HATE hills.
I hate hills more than I can even begin to put into words.
After I felt the Lord beckon me deeper, I chose on my run yesterday to go a different direction.
I had been running a route that was very close to home. Yesterday I turned the opposite way. Now I have run this way before and it is ok to a point. The fun fact is that by my house there are a lot of rolling hills. By running THIS direction I knew I would encounter more than one.
The first one was not that large, but I could feel the difference.
The second one...well it started to kick my butt a little.
By the third big hill I was BEGGING my Nike Run Club app to tell me I had reached my distance goal for the day. Somehow I knew that it would...the moment I ran over the top of that big hill.
I was right.
You can't tell me the Lord doesn't have a sense of humor.
But here is the thing, I knew right away what He was trying to get across from me.
We will never get strong with out some pain.
People always say, "No pain, no gain" and its true. Its true for running and it's true for life.
As I ran up and down close to home I could convince myself that I was getting stronger and really making a difference in my body. When I encountered a few hills, I was quickly shown how week I was.
In life, when things are going well, we can get to a place where we thing we have got it all together. It's only when we come up against something hard that our true weaknesses are revealed. We don't grow strong in the good times. It is through trial that our character is shaped and strengthened. When we are pressed, when life is hard is when we dig in to the Lord and depend on Him for strength.
Yesterday on my third hill, I thought I wouldn't make it. But I did and at the top although I was tired and I was sore, I knew that I was building my strength.
It's funny. I KNOW now beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the scary number on my scale yesterday was an attempt from the enemy to knock me off course. It was a "hill"if you will, but guess what?
Nothing is wasted in the hands of the Lord. (I will probably say this a lot too.)
You see what the enemy meant for evil God meant for good. The little bump in the road has already made me stronger and more resolved to dig in and go deeper. I am done choosing the easy path, the short path or the comfy path. I want to go where the Lord can teach me, whatever road that may be.
Yesterday it was hills.
Today it was a longer run with some hills and guess what? I blasted through my personal 5k best.
Oh and I got on the scale today...I was 6lbs lighter than yesterday.
Good try enemy, but that hill did just what the Lord intends all hills to do.
It made me stronger.
There is a reason the Lord didn't say,
"Linda...walk." or "Linda Zumba."
Running is something that I spent my entire life until I was 30 hating. I think I mostly just hated it because I thought I couldn't do it.
I'll be real. I am not good at it. I'll never win a race. I saw a shirt today that I probably need to own. It said, "I run slower than the internet in the 90's...but I run."
Word.
Jesus didn't as me to run fast.
He didn't ask me to win races.
He asked me to run.
The reason He asked me to run is the same reason, I'm afraid to tell you, that there WILL be some running posts in this blog.
There are very few times in my life that I hear the Lord speak to me as clearly as He does when I am running. I know that the reason is because running is something very far outside of my comfort zone and the Lord loves to use our areas of weakness for His glory. Running is definitely a weakness for me.
Yesterday as I found myself on my knee (in the shower, lol) because my heart was a little broken after I had stepped on the scale, I felt the Lord beckon me. As I questioned, "Why, after all my obedience aren't there any results? I have eaten well, run the miles, done everything I commit to do."
It was almost immediate that I felt the Lord answer, "Linda, I want more. I want deeper obedience. I want you to follow hard after me. My grace is amazing but you wallow in it some times. Don't use it as an excuse to do just enough to hit the mark. Go beyond the mark. If I strip everything away, I want you to give it...freely."
So...yup.
I can't pretend that I am not a little scared where this road is leading. But where every that is, is right where I want to be.
I immediately knew what the Lord was talking about. I was doing what I commit to do, but many days just enough to be obedient to the letter of what this is but not to the spirit of it. I was checking off my tally mark without deceit but I was already sliding into a place of ease and comfort with it.
Many days, because my commitment is "at least one mile a day," I would do just that. I would run one mile. For that matter, I had come up with a route where I could avoid hills.
I HATE hills.
I hate hills more than I can even begin to put into words.
After I felt the Lord beckon me deeper, I chose on my run yesterday to go a different direction.
I had been running a route that was very close to home. Yesterday I turned the opposite way. Now I have run this way before and it is ok to a point. The fun fact is that by my house there are a lot of rolling hills. By running THIS direction I knew I would encounter more than one.
The first one was not that large, but I could feel the difference.
The second one...well it started to kick my butt a little.
By the third big hill I was BEGGING my Nike Run Club app to tell me I had reached my distance goal for the day. Somehow I knew that it would...the moment I ran over the top of that big hill.
I was right.
You can't tell me the Lord doesn't have a sense of humor.
But here is the thing, I knew right away what He was trying to get across from me.
We will never get strong with out some pain.
People always say, "No pain, no gain" and its true. Its true for running and it's true for life.
As I ran up and down close to home I could convince myself that I was getting stronger and really making a difference in my body. When I encountered a few hills, I was quickly shown how week I was.
In life, when things are going well, we can get to a place where we thing we have got it all together. It's only when we come up against something hard that our true weaknesses are revealed. We don't grow strong in the good times. It is through trial that our character is shaped and strengthened. When we are pressed, when life is hard is when we dig in to the Lord and depend on Him for strength.
Yesterday on my third hill, I thought I wouldn't make it. But I did and at the top although I was tired and I was sore, I knew that I was building my strength.
It's funny. I KNOW now beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the scary number on my scale yesterday was an attempt from the enemy to knock me off course. It was a "hill"if you will, but guess what?
Nothing is wasted in the hands of the Lord. (I will probably say this a lot too.)
You see what the enemy meant for evil God meant for good. The little bump in the road has already made me stronger and more resolved to dig in and go deeper. I am done choosing the easy path, the short path or the comfy path. I want to go where the Lord can teach me, whatever road that may be.
Yesterday it was hills.
Today it was a longer run with some hills and guess what? I blasted through my personal 5k best.
Oh and I got on the scale today...I was 6lbs lighter than yesterday.
Good try enemy, but that hill did just what the Lord intends all hills to do.
It made me stronger.
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