As I look around, I see people going places… some far, some near, all at different points along their journey…
Some will start strong, only to realize the journey was harder than they imagined… and they will quit their travel, giving up hopes and dreams and sinking back into a rut of complacency.
Some will start slow, gaining momentum as they navigate their paths, intrigued by every step along the way.
Some will keep an even pace, building wisdom and stamina as they go, leaning from past experiences how to apply their newfound wisdom to new experiences.
Some will experience all three, in various ways, for different rules of life’s journeys.
I recognize that I journey best by using the Bible and prayer to help me navigate the tough things.. the more I read it the more I feel like I know God the Father and His Son…and the more I pray, the more I feel my friendship with Jesus as a real force in my life.
No matter which applies to you, my friend, I wish you well as you journey through life. May you find all you are looking for and become who God intended you to be.
Over the past few weeks, in various discussions with various people, I have been asked how I’ve known then God has spoken to me. Over the past ten years, I can point to about half a dozen or so times when I very clearly heard the inaudible yet unmistakable voice of God give me a specific command. Very clearly… very articulate, “Do X” kind of things.. Other times, it’s been more of a “thought” that came into my head that I can’t say I immediately thought, “oh, this is God speaking” but in hindsight realized His guiding hand on that process.
September 15, 2015 was one of those “thought” times… and the thought was this.. “today is the day you’re going to start to get back in shape… and, in order to success, you will need support. Gather that support around you”. … and that day, I reached out to a small group of people… people who I knew loved me for me… and/or people who were either already great in this area or headed in that direction – I knew I needed mentors, and I knew I needed people who would be honest with me and encourage me when I felt like giving up… I knew all of this because I have failed so many times at so many things.. and, in life, we learn by those failures (hopefully).
As it happened, we were planning to take our youth group kids to a conference the following summer and had just begun fundraising for it.. .so I dubbed my journey the “biggest loser” contest, and actually asked people to sponsor me, either with a monetary pledge for the weight I intended to lose or with prayer. In return, I promised to keep them updated on my progress, and so I started a weekly “newsletter” wherein I documented my mileage of exercise and weight lost, and then eventually began adding some quick little anecdotes of my experiences along my journey. I got such positive reviews that I used a similar approach when going through the publishing process for the book, Masquerade. I enjoyed writing and my friends seemed to enjoy reading about my journey… and… the publisher encouraged me to “build an audience”, so thus, this blog was born.
The journey of my fitness in 2015-16 was successful, and I not only lost the weight I intended to (and felt great!) but I helped to fund the trip for my kids… and, I think, inspired people along the way. I know how to do this journey… lol.. the problem with it is that, if you’re not careful and consistent, it can creep away from you.. lol
In late 2018, one of my dear friends was told by her doctor that she needed to lose weight.. Immediately, I jumped in to offer my support… after all, I’ve done this.. I told her I’d work right along side her, and began, once again, to don my running shoes and head to the gym… and then some crazy things happened in my life, most notably, an opportunity to open a studio (a lifelong dream), and I failed my friend.. Truly.. and she and I talked about all of the things going on in my life a year ago, and her advice to me was this… “don’t change everything at once… focus on succeeding at a few… and then add things”.. and so I focused, quite frankly, on making the studio a success.. and I’m still doing that.. but I’ve learned a great deal over the past year and am ready to add some other things….
As it happens, I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks, and got just the right bit of loving motivation from one of my very closest friends yesterday… and so.. this morning, I, once again donned my Brookes… and dusted off my treadmill!
There was a lot going on in my mind this morning as I walked a quick pace (walk before you run… I learned this long ago)… music very loud in my ears, and my thoughts, racing, just as loud…
I would like to ask my dear friend who I failed last year to forgive me for not being as good a support as I should have been to her…
…and I would ask you, my precious readers, to do two things for me.. 1). Pray for me as I start this…. again… that it truly become a lifestyle once and for all.. 2) encourage me when I’m sucking wind…
Psalm 37: 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. 11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Who could have ever envisioned the way in which 2020 has played out? Here in my part of the world, we are re entering yellow phase due to uptick in Coronavirus cases. Restaurants are closing left and right, some temporarily and some permanently. Our local economy has been devastated by the decisions that have been made. Lives are literally being turned upside down. Drug and Alcohol abuse is up, suicide is up, physical abuse is up… society is crumbling before our eyes, and people are watching it happen because they have bought into the fear that the media wants us to feel.
Our media local government has lied about statistics, and created division among citizens in bot racial issues and health (to wear a mask or not). Evil prevails across our entire nation. My heart is broken I’ve the ugliness I see in people…
… and in my daily devotion today, I read Psalm 37. it is David’s acknowledgement that Gods got this under control. “In just a little while the wicked will be no more”
God will take care of His people. I am His People and trusting that He’s got me covered. I doing my best to refrain from anger and forsake wrath because I know it leads to bitterness… the same bitterness that makes me sad.
I don’t know how long “a little while” is in Gods timetable, but I continue to Pray and Trust in my Heavenly Father and will keep doing what I believe He’s called me to do until he returns.
As you know, I’ve chosen my word of the year 2020 to be PRAY, which somehow seems oddly appropriate for all that has happened in the first half!
A few weeks ago, I told my friend Rob that I had been given a burden to pray for him. He was taken aback and told me he didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. I thought about my choice of words, and said that maybe I had chosen them poorly… that a “burden to pray” for someone was more of a privilege or special assignment from God.
I thought about the phrase I had used, somewhat cavalierly, and wondered where it originated, so I googled it…. because, of course, google would know…
What I came across was this blog post by Stephan Neilson, an excerpt from the book, Principles of Prayer.
The blog articulated what I could not… I am blessed by the burden to pray for Rob that it’s hard to describe. When he faced uncertain medical issues last summer, I literally became prostrate and cried out to God because I had absolutely no control over anything that was happening and the ONLY thing I could do was pray.
Turns out it really was the only thing I could do… and the most powerful. God heard my prayers, my pleas with Him to show the doctors what was happening, to remove roadblocks, to heal Rob… and then I watched it happen. Rob began to heal… it wasn’t instantaneous it occurred over several months, with some relapses along the way. And then again in December and January, I found myself prostrate once again, begging God for healing as Rob once again faced uncertainty…. and I knew my word had to be PRAY.
Over those months, God would tell me my job was to keep moving Rob and praying for him, allowing him room to continue to grow… and God reminder me that it was His desire to use Rob. At times, I felt my “control” creep in and I would begin interjecting my opinion, God would remind me that’s not my job… my job is to love and encourage growth, even if I feel it’s not fast enough… not my gig… God’s gig.
Because I am a very take charge type of person, I have a hard time relinquishing control of things I can affect. I learned a very valuable lesson in that experience, where I literally had no control… it is in those times that we can be most open to seeing God work.. for me, it was spiritual growth… for Rob too, as he began to see that God had truly answered my prayers.
As I look back over the past year, I see all the things that have happened, I remain convinced that my prayer life is a privilege… my time communing with my Heavenly Father… asking does guidance, for healing, for salvation, and more.
I absolutely love the God of the universe… and am so very blessed to be able to talk to Him as my best friend every day. My mind is blown all the time at the things I see happening, where His hand is so clearly evident.
“Are you going to trust Me when things get ‘really bad’”? I heard my Lord say…. yes, Lord, I will trust You… because I’ve seen what You do… am I know I’m Yours.
We are all called to be used by God, and we learn to do it by learning to trust Him… for me, the way that happened was first by me being obedient to step out of my comfort zone to do something for Him… then by continuing to seek Him by reading His Word and listening to sermons and praying… then, as I began to see answers to prayers, I grew deeper and deeper… I don’t know where God is taking me… all I know is wherever it is, I am going. 100% committed. 100% vested. 100% trusting that He will guide and provide. 100% praying.
Be blessed today my friends, and rest assured in the promise that God hears your prayers.
Journey-For-Life 