So Run

SO RUN

    Each breath feels like I’m sucking fire into my lungs. My heart seems about to burst from my chest. Every nerve in my body screams with pain. I know those around me are struggling as painfully as I am, but that doesn’t make my struggle any easier. What made me think I was cut out to be a long distance runner?

    Where’s my Dad? He encouraged me to sign up for the team, to follow in the footsteps of my oldest brother, the team captain. Dad’s been involved in my training every step of the way—diet, rest, strengthening. He even brought me here today. And now, in the race of my life, when I need him the most, I can't see him anywhere.

    This seems as if it will never end. My oldest brother has run this race before, and he gave me a map of the course. I’ve done my best to commit it to memory, but now, it’s so hard to recall. It feels like my entire world consists of pain—labored breathing, pounding heart, bleeding feet, throbbing joints, and utter, utter fatigue—as I face another uphill stretch, another valley, another bend in the path where I can’t see what’s ahead.

    I’ve watched my brothers and sisters run this course. Dad was there for every one of their races, moving from point to point, cheering them on, shouting encouragement, calling their name with pride. But here I am on the course alone.

    I round a curve and there, in the distance I can see the finish line. If I can just hang on, I can finish the course. Sobbing with exhaustion, I push myself toward the mark that designates victory. Using my last reserve of strength, I stumble toward the gate.

    There’s my Dad! He’s standing at the finish line, calling my name, smiling, and waving me in. And there, at the end of the race, are my brothers and sisters, shouting, cheering, jumping up and down.

    I stagger across the finish line and fall into my Dad’s arms. He wipes away my tears, and my brother, the team captain, gives me a drink of water.

    Their welcome refreshes me, and as the pain fades, my thoughts clear and my memory springs to life. One after another,  images flash through my mind—my Dad! I can see now; he was there with me, moving across my course, every step of the way—every curve, every rocky stretch, every uphill struggle.

    The victory party is in full swing, and as the celebration swirls around me, I hear the sweetest sound of all. It’s my Dad, whispering in my ear.
 
    “Well done, my child. You finished the course. You never lost faith. Welcome to joy.”

A Rock and a Hard Place

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way.
He works in ways we cannot see.
He will make a way for me. (1)

Have you ever been "between a rock and a hard place"? Have you ever been in a situation where you could not find a way out? If you're a follower of Jesus Christ who's in a situation where you can find no way out, that's because you're not supposed to! God wants to do it for you.

When God allows us to face a new problem, an impossible problem, it's because He wants to reveal something new about Himself—something we've never experienced before. (By the way, no problem ever seems impossible, once we've seen God solve it!)

That's why it's important to have landmarks, "stones of remembrance" (Joshua 4:1-7) in a life of faith. Then, when a problem comes, we can look at it and say, "Well, I've never seen God solve this before, but I've seen Him solve that."

After the Great Flood, if Noah ever faced a drought, he probably found it easier to trust. Sure, he'd never faced a lack of rain before, but he knew the One who rules the wind and the rain.

When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac, he probably found some reinforcement for his faith in the fact that, although he'd never seen God give back a dead child to a couple, he had seen God give a child to a 100 year old father and a 90 year old mother. He had never seen God bring a child back to life, but he had seen Him bring a womb back to life. "He had never seen a resurrection, but he had seen a miracle!" (2)

What "impossible situation" are you facing? What landmarks can you recall, that remind you that you are loved and cared for the One who celebrates the impossible? What new thing about Himself does He want to reveal about Himself in your circumstance? 

With love and strength for each new day,
He will make a way,
He will make a way. (1)

References:
1. God Will Make a Way - Don Moen
2. quoting Dr. Tony Evans - The Urban Alternative

...And Nudge Me When....

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...a time to be silent and a time to speak.... (Ecclesiastes 3:1&7)

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone.
As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy wand'ring children, lost and lone. (1)

A close friend is, I believe, very close to stepping into a new (to them) spiritual truth. The kind that will change everything. And therein lies the problem. My friend is scared. SCARED. This truth is so big, once you grasp it, you see things differently—God, people, work, pleasure, life....

And therein lies my problem. I'm beginning to have a small grasp of this truth, and it makes me want to grab people, shake them awake, and drag them to it. Sort of like making kids eat broccoli. It's that important!

But that isn't how God does it. He is patient and kind, and gives us time. He wants me to remember that there is a time to speak and a time to remain silent. I need to strike a balance. While I'm waiting for my friend, I need to follow my dad's advice: "Ask Jesus to come stand beside you, and put His arm around your shoulders and His hand over your mouth."

"Lord, fill my mouth with useful stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough!" (2)

References:
1. Lord, Speak to Me, That I May Speak - Frances Havergal
2. quoting Joyce Landorf

Where Could I Go?

Some days, it's tough to even string together one coherent sentence. That seems to be when God sends a song...or three!

Living below in this old sinful world
Hardly a comfort can afford
Striving alone to face temptations call
Where could I go, but to the Lord


Where could I go where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go, but to the Lord (1)

 ------------

Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus, all the day long,
While there are others, living around us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.


Farther along, we'll know all about it.
Farther along, we'll understand why.
Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine.
We'll understand it all, by and by. (2)

 ----------------


Where do I go,
When there's nobody else to turn to?
Who can I talk to,
When nobody wants to listen?
What do I lean on,
When there is no foundation stable?
I go to the Rock,
I know He is able, I go to the Rock.

I go to the Rock of my Salvation.
I go to the Stone that the builders rejected.
I run to the mountain,
And the mountain stands by me.
When all around is sinking sand,
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
When I need a shelter,
When I need a friend,
I go to the Rock. (3)

References:
1. Where Could I Go - J.B. Coats
2. Farther Along - W.B. Stevens
3. I Go to the Rock -Dottie Rambo

The Potter's Hands

 “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, ‘Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I shall announce My words to you.’ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.  But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.”  (Jeremiah 18:1-4)

Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Thou are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, after thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still. (1)

I am a potter’s wife. As I watch my potter work, I learn about how the Heavenly Potter works on me. There’s a time when the clay lies dormant and unformed, maturing to the stage where the potter can use it in his plan. Then wedging, as the potter pounds, squeezes, and kneads the clay, to work out all the impurities and tiny air pockets that create weak spots in the vessel, or cause it to explode during the firing process--when the heat is on. The potter spins the clay "out of control,” applies pressure, trims off excess, cuts the support out from under the vessel. And that all takes place before the firing, when the potter applies intense heat for an extended time.

There is also the involvement the clay has in the process. It can choose whether or not to cooperate as it is being shaped. Many times, I’ve heard my husband say, “The clay just isn’t cooperating today.” It isn’t all up to the potter.

As human clay, we have a choice. We can cooperate with the Potter, and be clay He can use. Or we can refuse to cooperate in one of two ways. We can be stiff and inflexible--resisting the Potter’s shaping touch as He works His plan for us. Stiff clay breaks off, leaving less for the potter to use.

Or we can ‘wimp out,” and collapse under the touch of the Potter. We decide we can’t handle what He has laid out for us, we choose to quit rather than endure, and we distort ourselves from the Potter’s plan just as thoroughly as if we had stiffened and broken.

There's good news here,“so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.” (Jeremiah 18:4) If we’ve resisted the Potter, stiffened or caved at His touch, we don’t have to feel our usefulness is gone. God the Potter can still shape us, reclaim us, use us. There is never a point in this life when the Heavenly Potter decides He can’t use us. He is the God of the second chance. And the third, and the fourth, and.... He’s just waiting to be asked. Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; 
save me and I will be saved, 
for you are the one I praise. (
Jeremiah 17:14
)

Beautiful Lord, Wonderful Saviour
I know for sure, 
All of my days are held in Your hands,
Crafted into Your perfect plan

You gently call me into Your presence
Guiding me by Your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life 
Through Your eyes
 
I'm captured by Your holy calling
Set me apart, 
I know you're drawing me to Yourself
Lead me Lord I pray

Take me, mold me, use me, fill me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to the Potter's hand (2) 

References:
Have Thine Own Way, Lord - Adelaide A. Pollard
The Potter's Hand - Darlene Zschech