So many changes have occurred in my life during the past few weeks. Necessary changes to my work schedule have affected my daily eating schedule as well as my sleep pattern in a good way. It’s taken me this long to update my blog as a result!
When changes occur, sometimes it’s easy for us to lose focus and wonder if we will ever accomplish what we set out to do. God continues to show me every day that He is the One Who accomplishes in me what He chooses to do, and He does it in His Way and His Time. For instance, my running and gym schedules have changed as a result of the change in my work schedule. I wasn’t sure how my running was going to be affected (see the photo above . . . one of my best running times yet), and my weight leveled off for a while as well. As Christians, we are to remain faithful to what God has for us. The same goes for fitness and weight loss. I am determined to do whatever is necessary to get all of my workouts in each week. I have knocked off over a minute and a half of running time, and I finally lost another pound this week.
I love it when God whispers in my ear, “Just sit back and watch Me work.” As Christians, we have to remember that our understanding about life is finite; it is limited to only what we have seen and experienced. It is very easy for us to make judgments based only on what we see in front of us. However, God’s understanding and wisdom is infinite!! His wisdom covers everything!
Going back to my theme in previous posts of “can” and “cannot”, the next Bible verse which includes the word “can” falls under the category of God’s infinite power.
The story of Abraham has always been interesting to me. In Genesis 12, God commanded Abraham to leave his current dwelling and to follow wherever God said to go. God had promised Abraham that He would make a great nation out of him, and “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” With a promise like that from God, one would think Abraham would have known to trust God at His Word. However, the subsequent verses tell us otherwise. Abraham decided to take matters into his own hands. Instead of trusting in God’s infinite wisdom, Abraham followed his own finite thinking. He decided to tell Pharaoh that Sarai . . . who was Abraham’s wife . . . was his sister! Abraham was so fearful of what Pharaoh would do if he knew Sarai was his wife that he chose to lie about it. He hadn’t considered the fact that his lie could have caused his own wife and Pharaoh to sin against God . . . not to mention the curse it would have brought to the Egyptian people! When Pharaoh forced Abraham and his entire family out from Egypt, they returned to their homeland of Bethel. Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew, went one way. Abraham went the other. The interesting thing is that the direction Abraham chose was less pleasing to the eye. Most people, only trusting in their finite thinking, would not choose the direction that Abraham did. However, God in His infinite wisdom had other plans. Genesis 13:15-16 says, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” Notice how God did not give all of the details regarding how He was going to give the land to Abraham. He simply said that a great nation would come from him, and that the land would also be given.
God tells me every day that He will help me . . . whether it be in my running, my job, or whatever situation I am facing. He doesn’t provide the details right away . . . not because He’s trying to keep me in the dark about everything . . . but because He wants me to trust Him for everything. If I am running races for myself and trusting only in myself for protection, everything I am doing is in vain because it is done for the wrong reason. However, if I am running races to help me become a better and healthier servant for God, and if I am truly trusting in His infinite wisdom instead of my limited understanding, only then will I fully understand the joy of “sitting back and watching [God] work”!
Until next time . . . let’s keep on running!
This week has been all about slowly getting back to a new sense of normal. It feels great to return to my running routine. I didn’t pack any exercise clothes when Mother and I evacuated from Hurricane Florence since we only thought we would be gone for a few days. I was also unfamiliar with the terrain where we were staying, and there was a lot of mental and emotional unsettlement going in inside me regardless of what I did to try to ease my mind.
I decided to take a slight detour this week from my usual theme of running, workouts, etc. A lot has happened since my last post. I think I speak for many (if not all) in my community when I say my emotions have been all over the map during the last two weeks. Just a few days before Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington, NC, she was still a category 5 storm. My mother and I had already made the decision to evacuate about 300 miles away to the western part of the state to be with other family members. When Florence finally arrived, she had downgraded to a category 1 which was a relief in many ways. However, what no one expected was the drudgingly slow speed at which Hurricane Florence travelled, the six or seven tornadoes that hit, nor one of the worst tropical storms that came afterward. The majority of our entire community was flooded like none of us had ever seen. Due to the huge amount of rain, the road structures on the interstates and highways crumbled in many places so that those of us who evacuated could not get back in. The state department of transportation could not update its website fast enough since road conditions changed daily. Flooding in my neighborhood occurred right around the corner from my street to the point where people had to be rescued by boat. Even though Mother and I were safe in the mountains 300+ miles away, my stomach was in knots. I was so concerned about what was happening to my house, but I had no way to get to it.
This Race Called Life 