Blog

Running With God

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

I like to run. I may even call myself a runner. I run a little over 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. So I guess that constitutes being a runner.

But then I met thousands of people who descended upon our area to run a marathon or a half-marathon. In case you don’t know, that’s 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles of running – at one time.

After two days of talking with and watching these runners, I began questioning my abilities, wondering why I don’t run at least a half. I was in awe of them and a bit jealous of them as well, I will honestly admit.

We get like this in all areas of our lives, don’t we? We notice Super Christian at church and wonder why we didn’t get those gifts and talents. We see our past and think that God could never use our messiness to further His kingdom. We respectfully speak with the men and women who have served the Lord faithfully for decades and hope that we can be as strong.

The writer of Hebrews says that since we are surrounded by a large crowd of faithful witnesses, we can just run! Others have paved the course for us. This “race”, our life with God, is not a competition to see who comes in first. God simply wants us off the bench and in the race, living our life as a witness for Christ’s saving power and doing our best with what God has given us.

And we begin running when we let God into our lives. And our endurance comes from allowing God to lead us and direct our steps. We let go of our past that holds us back, we drop the guilt that adds extra unnecessary weight on us, we start living for God and embrace the life He has for us.

And we run.

We run when trials come. We run when we are exhausted and feel that we will never get through this pain. We run when it’s raining and we run when the sun is shining. We run and keep our eyes on the prize – eternal life with God.

And we recruit others to run with us. We show how much fun running is, how abundant life is when God is in it, we embrace grace and give it freely. We love, love, love others.

I’m not the fastest runner, but I intend to stay in the race my entire life. Will you join me?

Cracked Pots

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

Do you ever feel like a cracked pot? Do you fear that if everyone actually saw you as you really are, they would run away as fast as they can and who could blame them? Do you spend your life covering up your flaws, your scars, your messes so people can’t see all of your yuckiness?

Most of my life has been spent hiding my messiness so people only see what I allow them to view. I chisel a smile in place so everyone thinks I have it all together. I laugh frequently so people think that life is crisis free. When people try to get close I deflect their attention to something else.

Because who in her right mind would want to be friends with me? I am a flawed woman with a messy past and my mess might just spill onto you if you get too close.

But Jesus chooses to get close to me, to all of us, and not only allows our messiness to spill on Him, but takes it willingly so that we can be free from it.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” God takes our mess and makes something beautiful out of it. Everything we have done can be used to bring God glory and to make us better and to encourage others.

We may have made wrong choices, but God can use those to make us stronger women. He can take our story and help other people in their walk – if we are willing to live it out loud.

God can shine through the cracks in our lives, but only if we’re brave enough to allow them to be seen. If we cover them up, then His light can’t shine through. Our weaknesses make us real. Our victories are more powerful when others view them through our flaws. Because then and only then can people see that it clearly wasn’t us that fought the battle and won. God’s power alone can make us victorious.

I have a group of friends who have dared to let our messiness spill over onto each other, to unveil our flaws, to risk appearing weak so that Jesus can shine brightly through us. The more open we are, the more real we become, and the more we grow in Jesus something extraordinary happens: Instead of our yuckiness, Jesus begins to spill over onto others.

Now that’s amazing…grace.