I used to race bicycles, you know, LIKE Tour de Fance. I was not even close to being as good as they were but I did ok.
We had a saying in cycling, "I hit the wall". It didn't mean that we actually hit a wall, that would be very bad and expensive. It meant that while we were racing, we ran out of energy to the point we could no longer even push one more stride.
Have you ever felt that way?
I work out at the gym now and just this morning, I thought I was "hitting the wall". No, not because the exercise bike got off it's base... My cousin who works out a lot told me that when you are on a "plateau" with your weight loss, while you are working out on what ever machine, sprint as fast as you can, as if someone was chasing you down a dark alley, for one minute straight. I was doing that this morning. I was 20 seconds into my 60 seconds sprint and I was already wanting to quit. 30 seconds into it, I was getting really close to that wall. At the 40 sec. mark I told myself that "You're only 10 seconds away! Don't Quit! Don't Quit!" To say that in itself took 10 seconds. I was relieved, and I was proud, I stuck through it and made it!
Now, that 1 minute is long gone and I can hardly remember how hard it was and it didn't seem all that long after all.
Just as Jesus used parables to teach the common people of His day, He uses every day things to teach me.
Yesterday, I was spiritually "hitting the wall". I've told you before that I am in the middle of a storm. Circumstances in my life, that are out of my control, surround me and have become very discouraging at times but, God has been faithful and has given me the strength to get through. Then there was yesterday...
I got to church and my emotions were overwhelming. As we praised and worshiped God, He gave me strength and joy and I made it home again where my circumstances found me and began to discourage me again. I just had my head above water and I felt like I was being dunked back into the water even deeper than I was in the morning. I couldn't take it anymore, I had "hit the wall".
Emotionally and spiritually weak, I went to my room, my spiritual sanctuary. I got on my knees and prayed, more like pleaded to God for refuge. I wanted Him to take away my circumstances and take away the pain and rejection I deeply felt.
When I had nothing else to say, I listened for a while and got back up to face my circumstance. I made it through the day. He did not only give me strength to make it through but He restored my strength; I was out of the water completely. I know that, not only I went to the Throne of Grace, on my behalf yesterday. My brothers and sisters did also, and God answered.
Today, I can look back, and although I can still remember how much it hurt and how tired I was, that day is long gone. I made it to the other side of that 24hrs. I kept pushing and made it to the end of the day.
Today is a new day and God is still there by my side. He never left, it just got dark for a while and it was scary.
I don't know what you may be facing, but don't be afraid if you are about to "hit the wall". He is there by your side, if you are His child. He is waiting for you to get a hold of Him and "hang on for dear life". He wants to be your refuge, your strength and your peace. He waits for you to just cry out to Him. You might have to keep pushing but, you will get to the other side of that hardship and see that He hasn't moved, it just got dark.
Keep pushing.
No comments:
Post a Comment