Stepping Up to the Starting Line

Are you a marathon runner?  Do you know what that moment feels like as you step up to the starting line for the big race?  Do you ask youself, “Am I ready for this?  Have I trained enough?”

I’ve never run a race other than as a child at recess against my peers but having a older brother that was an athlete growing up and now having a son that is a three sport high school athlete has given me some perspective to draw from but physically, I cannot relate.

Honestly, I’ve always wanted to be a runner but something always held me back…injuries, uncertainty…but mostly fear.  Fear of not doing well, fear of rejection from others, fear of not being as good as the others…fear of failing.

Its the same fear I am choosing to face today.

Paul says in Philippians 3 verses 13 and 14, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (NLT)

Putting all that is behind…boy, what a load that is!!  It not only speaks to fear, hurt, disappointments…but acheivements, success, good things…putting ALL behind and forgetting the past.  Wow…not only is that liberating but a little awe-inspiring for me.

See…I have stuff that I’ve carried with me for  a long time.  Successes…failures…great accomplishments…dazzling crash and burns…and all have travelled with me like a comforting companion.  Its been a sweet ride but Im also confident of this one thing…those things are no longer God’s best for me and I want nothing less.  And He wants to give me nothing short of His best.

I have some work to do…and its time I get on it….and surrender to a greater extent to His process. One day at a time.  I already see the fruit of it in my life and those around me..and its sweet.  Im not blind to the fact that experiences, events, and those aforementioned items in the “stuff” category might not just “go away”…I’ve got to process through them in the endeavor of walking without fear.

I dont know your first steps to shedding your stuff but for me, I found my first steps at a Marriage Toolbox that my husband and I went to.  The couple that was facilitating are both pastors and licenced counselors here in the NW with 15+ years of clinical work and a couple that has lived outloud their journey to health and wellness in a Christ centered environment…outstanding couple and tremendous examples to me.  So there we were, spending the day learning and gaining tools for our marriage and they tell a story of someone who, in their journey, listed the houses they had lived in and the memories they had of their experience in each one…positive and hurtful.  They began to see where they came from and how it impacted who they are now.  WOW!  That reasonated within me and I now find myself writing the same list for myself…and surrendering to the healing process of “putting all that is behind…”  I dont know where it will take me but I know I’m headed in the right direction.  You will, as you seek Him and ask for guidance and wisdom, find those first steps…and the healing He desires for you and you desire for yourself.  He promises it is so and He is not a man that He should lie.  Trust him, friend…(Prov 3: 5, 6).  I’m tired of carrying this stuff around…arent you?

So I’ve stepped up to the starting line and maybe you have too…its going to look different for each of us as far as the race path…some may have twists and turns in the days ahead and maybe you are the one that needs to walk on the flat surface for awhile before taking the inclines ahead.  Wherever that is, know that God is with you always…He promises in His Word to never leave us or forsake us…He also promises that while we make the plans, it is HE that orders our steps.  In these moments of surrender, confidence may come slowly but have confidence in this, dear friends…that He who began a good work in your will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).  You are a work in progress…give yourself some grace but keep sweeping!!  Dig in…taste and see that the Lord is good and know that God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind! (2 Tim 1:7).

I love you…keep sweeping!

You Love Me Anyway

I am His.

Period.

With all my successes and failures, hopes and dreams, lack of follow through and every “Should’ve”…Yep, still His.

My “Why did I” and “Why didnt I” and especially, “What do I do now that I did.”  STILL HIS.

See..there is a couple things that you must remember on this journey of sweeping the temple, He doesnt move and His love doesnt change.

When Jonah sat in the belly of the fish?  Yep, still loved.  When David sinned with Bathsheba?  Still loved.

It took Jonah three days of sitting in that muck to call out for help…I can tell you I have sat in the midst of my mess for much longer and still He loved me through it.

You are His, friends…dont ever forget it.

Romans 8:38 and 39 says: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Side walk Prophets sing this amazing song, You Love me Anyways…the words are below. I pray it touches your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8BBCYFAYRI

You Love me Anyways:

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me

It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me

I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway

See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life

But You love me anyway
Oh, God… how you love me

You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me

You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me
Appears on Album: These Simple Truths

Keep Sweeping.