Are you giddy with expectation of me gushing over a new man
and telling you every bit of detail from the first flower he gave me to the
ridiculous endearing nicknames we have made for one another? I encourage you to get EXCITED! Keep reading! The love story is at the end!!!
;)
I have
been reminded recently of how sometimes God has to knock me down, flat on my face, to grab my attention. I was
venturing out on my longest run of the year feeling completely pumped and ready
to go. I carb loaded at breakfast,
gulped down enough water, even dug through my closet to find my fancy Nike
official running tank top, and downloaded some new tunes to my I pod. Running to me has always been a stress relief
and a time to put on some Christian tunes and just get out there with God and
be free. But I did something on this
particular day that I’ve never done before.
I got out about 100 feet and turned off the music and prayed. I said, “Lord, I want this run to be about
You. I know there’s a lot of things that
happen during my day where forget to think of you or don’t think to include
you, but I want this run to be dedicated to You. I pray that I may have the strength to
complete it but also the willingness to let you be a part of it. I give you this run to use to show me who You
are.” (Warning: don’t pray this prayer if you want a nice calm boring run).
I turn
my music back on and start enjoying the run.
I’m about a half a mile in when before I know what even happened, I’m
laying flat out on the sidewalk. I
literally tripped over a sidewalk and bit the dust…hard! Maybe there was a little rise up in the
concrete but in all honesty, I may be thinking that just to make myself feel better
for tripping over a subdivision side walk! I seriously have never tripped
before on a run. I instantly felt
humiliation, then recovered with laughter. I can only imagine how awkward that
fall must have looked. I wipe off some
blood from my scraped knee and continue on when suddenly a picture of the
fallen Jesus, cross in tow, surfaces in my mind.
The
Bible tells us that after being scourged, beaten, and mocked, Jesus was forced
to carry His cross to Calvary. During
that journey, He fell. This is extremely
significant. As I recently learned, it’s
humiliating to fall. Our God, who in an
instant could have had the strength of a hundred men if he wished, humbled
himself to be a bruised and broken man falling under the weight of some wood
that would serve as His execution framework.
Our God fell. I love that. I have a God who is so powerful He can move
mountains and calm seas, and yet He allows himself to fall so that we can have
a God who knows exactly how heavy the weight of the world can be on His
shoulders. We have a God who knows probably
even better than most of us, what it feels like to be humiliated, betrayed and
what it feels like to be so worn out that He can’t even keep himself
upright. He chose to fall because He
needs us to know that no matter how far down we get, He’s been there.
Do you
have the weight of the world on your shoulders right now? Do you have something you’ve been hiding…maybe
you are ashamed and think no one would understand. Or maybe you think you have fallen so far
down that you don’t think even a miracle could pull you out of the hole you’ve
dug. Maybe it’s an addiction, a bad
relationship, a past hurt, a family member, a friend, a grudge or just plain loneliness
that keeps tripping you over and over and over again. I need you to know that You are never
alone. You have a God who knows what it’s
like to fall, and the best news is, you also have a God who knows what it’s
like to rise. I promise you that He
wants you to rise and I promise that He will help you do so. He loves you so much that he would fall for
you and die for you. His love is so vast
and perfect and beautiful that He wants to take you by the right hand and wrap
you in His blanket of peace. You must
make the decision to turn to Him.
But
that’s not all! There’s even more good
news. I absolutely believe the first
step is establishing a personal relationship with Jesus and calling out to
Him. I also believe He doesn’t call us
to do this completely alone. You see,
after some falls, the Romans assign a man named Simon to help Jesus carry the
cross the rest of the way. Our own God
didn’t choose to carry the cross completely alone. What better way to show us how much our God
values the idea of “carrying our crosses” together. He has a desire for us to be in fellowship
with other believers. He knows He is all
we need to go on, but He also knows the limitations of our physical and
emotional bodies and has felt the concept of “strength in numbers.”
If you’re
thinking right now, that’s good and all, but what if you don’t have any friends
that would love me like that. All my
friends have betrayed me and left me here alone and afraid. You know that church you keep passing on your
way to work? Or that nagging thought in
your head that keeps asking you to google search churches in the area? You know that co-worker who keeps asking you
to tag along with her to Sunday service?
That’s God. He’s asking you to
turn to Him. He knows you are fallen and
He knows that this probably wasn’t the first fall and it most certainly will
not be the last. He may even use a random literal fall on an ordinary run to make You think of Him! He promises that “ this momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight
of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17. The weight of your burdens and the pain
they cause will be transformed by His most holy love. What are you waiting for?! Run into the most loving arms of Jesus…..but
watch out for those pesky sidewalks! =)
Ok,
ok, back to the love story I mentioned in the beginning……I moved to Sandwich,
IL not knowing quite what to expect. I
knew no one, but during my time with God I felt Him telling me I was coming
here not only for work, but for the people.
I listened to the “nagging” in my heart which led me to attend 2
churches. In the beginning I took the
first step alone. Since my initial “move”
towards God’s nagging, I have met some pretty amazing people who not only add
to the enjoyment of my life with friendship, but also hold me accountable in
and strengthen my walk with Christ. He
has also helped me strengthen friendships I already have! My love story is this; I have a God who loves
me enough to say, “Heidi, if you listen to my still small voice and follow
where I call you to go, I will provide for you more than you could ever
imagine.” So that first flower He gave me, was the beautiful first daisy I noticed which reflected his awesomeness. And that nickname He calls me is "beloved". He surprises me every day with
the love He pours out for me. One small “yes”,
turned into a huge Hallelujah! =)
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