How easy it is to speak of the action of trusting God. We sing about it, talk about it, pray about it.... Trust is an easy thing to feel when you're in one of those flat stretches of your journey. We proclaim it from the mountain tops when we feel we are in the center of God's will and everything is going our way. We also wave it like a talisman to ward off the devil when we begin to feel that something might be amiss. "Well, I'm trusting God so none of that can go wrong!"
The time that the rubber meets the road, so to speak, is the time that our path suddenly takes a sharp turn into a rocky crag and steep uphill climb or drops unexpectedly into a dark and muddy valley - it might just be an unexpected pot hole in the road. Our loved one is ill, our job is lost, our finances are desperate, our spouse hurt our feelings that same way again... Is our first reaction an exclamation of "I don't know what I'm going to do?!!" or an outburst of anger? Or do you pull close to God, trust his will and listen for his heart?
Is trusting God your first reaction?
I know I am typically several minutes, hours, or days into reacting in some form of panic, fear, frustration, or anger before I remember where my hope lies. Delayed trust is still trust, but couldn't I have avoided all of the emotion and panic by just starting with a reaction of trust?
Psalm 56:3-4 "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid...."
When I am afraid. I love that. Not two weeks before I am afraid or a month after I figure out I can't walk through this hard time in my life by myself. When I am afraid. I also love that David is being honest about his emotion. There is no false strength or bravado. David doesn't try to sound tough. Simply, I'm scared but I will trust God.
Trust is defined in the hebrew lexicon (old testament language) as having confidence and being bold and secure. It's definition also refers to feeling safe to the point of carelessness. The greek lexicon (new testament language) defines it very similarly but adds to the definition, "acknowledgement of fact" and "intellectual faith."
An intellectual is defined as an extremely rational person; a person who relies on intellect rather than on emotions or feelings, and intellect is the power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from that by which one feels and that by which one wills; the understanding; the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge. (dictionary.com)
Trust is not blind faith or crazy irrational emotion, but rather a statement of fact. God has been proven to do these things in the past, he has promised to do these things in the present and future, so therefore it is a fact that he will do the needed things for me. I can center my trust soley in him and his direction for me.
I love the fact that the word trust is used 38 times in Psalms in the NIV. Over and over again, David is reminding of the faithfulness of God, the importance in trusting in God, and the folly of trusting in anything or anyone else. The repetition speaks to the necessity of knowing God's history, both from the bible and the lives of others, and the ingraining of the knowledge of the power of God in your own mind.
Isaiah 50:10-11
10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on their God.
11 But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.
One of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Album, includes this quote from Morrie Schwartz, "Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too — even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."
It is most important to trust when we feel like we're falling.
As a paramedic, I spend an above average amount of time literally carrying people. It is easy to carry a still and calm person that is confident in your ability not to drop them. "Keep your arms in and we won't drop you," I say more than 10 times a day. It is very difficult to carry a person who is flailing about, reaching out to try to steady themselves on the walls, stair rails, and door facings. The person trying to reach out and "help" make sure they don't fall throws the stretcher off balance and at minimum causes us to stumble and themselves to rock. Sometimes they throw the whole process off balance and end up causing themselves and those trying to carry them safely to fall and become injured.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
The wonder of obeying God's word is that you don't have to calm your emotions with your own strength. It is not a matter of willing yourself to ignore your circumstances and wait for some unseen power to whisk you away to Calgon land.
Reactive trust is a two-way interaction between you and God. You invite him to be in control, and he takes over. The evidence may not be visible in your circumstances immediately, but it will be felt in your heart and soul. God does not ask us to do anything that he has not empowered us to do!
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our job is to turn to God and not our own plans. In return, God promises joy, peace, and overflowing hope! All given by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We do have one more responsibility in this exchange. When I memorized the verse from Proverbs 3 (above) I memorized it from the NKJV rather than the NIV. Verse 6 is translates a bit differently. The NKJV says "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
The word acknowledge (translated as submit in the NIV) has a dual meaning and therefore a dual command for those of us trusting in God. It means to learn, know, find out, discern, to know by experience, to know as a person in a carnal (human) way, to reveal oneself.
We have a responsibility to get to know God, to learn about him, find out about him, experience him, spend time with him, and reveal ourselves to him.
That word also means to recognize, admit, acknowledge, and confess.
We also have a responsibility to recognize and acknowledge God's work in our lives. Simply blowing off God's work by saying that everything worked out or all's well that ends well isn't going to cut it. The passage above from Isaiah talks about the anger of God toward those who walked in the light of their own torches.
Matthew 10:32-33
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."
Romans 8:34
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
What an amazing trade off. I get to know God on a personal level and give him credit for his work in my life. In return, He gives me the confidence to feel bold and secure in any situation and makes me so fearless that I don't have a care in the world because I know, not just in my heart but on an intellectual (academic) level, that God has always kept his word and that the fact is he will do it again. My recognition of his work in my life ensures that Jesus is talking to God about me.
I can hear a favorite preacher of mine saying, "Somebody better shout!"
In closing:
A few excerpts from Romans 8 (The entire chapter is applicable if you have time to read it!):
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Sunday, July 31, 2011
On the road again
Setting the stage
Today was my first day back running after recovering from tendonitis resulting stress fracture.
I should begin by explaining that I've never been a runner. I ran a mile for the first time around Christmas last year, 2 miles for the first time in the spring, and I completed Couch to 5K in the early spring. Running 3 miles was a huge milestone for me, and I loved every minute that I spent running, even if it was kicking my tail! I'm not very fast, and I don't run very far, but I think that coming back to the sidewalk post injury allows me to begin to call myself a runner. The fast and far will come with time.
Preparation
The first day of running back in the winter was a spur of the moment plan. A google link, my old trusty athletic shoes, and a stretch of rode that I thought was flat.
Today, however, followed several months worth of research on injury patterns and causes, new insoles, research and procurement of KT Tape and several weeks of plyometrics to rebuild some lower body strength and cardio.
Ah.. preparation. I've settled into a snail's pace and my mind begins to grow quiet and listen. Preparation. How often do we run headlong into a difficult time in our lives unprepared?
I'm reminded of a Sunday school lesson about the armor of God. It seems I remember making armor out of a lot of cardboard and random household products, covering it in foil, and walking around clothed as a spiritual knight! Funny memories for sure, but grown-up life requires a little more that tin-foil and duct tape.
Ephesians 6:10-20
The word armor, according to Stong's greek lexicon, is the compound of a word meaning "everything" or "whole" and another word meaning "instrument or implement for warfare." Interesting that we aren't preparing in one area of our lives but in every single area. Everything... that thought alone could occupy several miles.
So much of my focus on preparation for this run, and so much a cause of my failure before, was focused on my feet - insoles, tape, stretches. I remember that the "armor passage" said something specific about feet but I needed to look more closely at what exactly. Ahhh.. there's that word preparation again. Ephesians 6:15 says to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. How do you wear preparation?
That word in the greek is a noun that refers to "the act of being prepared". Wow. A noun that is an action? Exactly. We should be so continuously preparing ourselves that the action of preparation occupies a fixed place in our lives. It is a constant. (Remember a noun is a person, place, thing, event, or quality.) Preparation should be a thing or quality in our lives. When I think of other nouns that reference actions, I think of words like breakfast, lunch, dinner, work, sleep, school....... things that are integral parts of our daily routine without even a thought.
So we are to put on every available instrument of war and the very foundation of our lives is the act of being prepared. Prepared with the gospel of peace.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of the word gospel, I always have this mental image of someone saying, "that is the gospel," with the insinuated meaning that whatever was said is positively fact. The word in the greek, however, has a much different connotation that I was aware of but hadn't focused on in a while. The word gospel means "reward for good news". The word peace means peace! It means a state of national tranquillity, exemption from the rage and havoc of war, and peace between individuals.
So our foundation should be continuous preparation to share the reward for good news: a state of tranquility, exemption from rage, and peace between individuals. I'm paraphrasing, but that is a wonderful foundation.
1 Peter 3:15-17
Another reference reminding us to "always be prepared" to defend the "hope that is within us" and reminding us that if we do so in a right and good (I like to think peaceful) way, there is no reason to be slandered.
I'm not sure what preparation means to you, but I know that for me it means spending time in prayer, time reading, time listening (more of this one), and time following the little nudges and feelings I know I should heed (like typing this now).
Why are they struggling? Their road looks flat.
For years and years I thought that Union Street was flat. Driving up or down it hundreds of times, I never noticed any hills. That thought struck me about halfway up the gradual incline that was slowly stealing my breath and kicking my heart rate into high gear and made me laugh.
I slowed my snail's pace down to that of an inch worm and began to listen again. Hard to do anything else when you can't breathe!
I have to admit that I've talked to friends who were vocalizing difficult times in their lives, or observed anothers struggle from a distance and thought, "what's the big deal?" Funny how other's roads, when the situation isn't dramatic, tend to look flat.
I'm reminded of my first couple of 2 and 3 mile runs back in the spring. My husband came to run with me, and, in the beginning, ran on ahead because I was slow and he was in great shape. I was fine with running alone, and totally understood the aggravation of my creepy pace, but the run felt so much harder watching him run ahead and leave me. A mile or two in, he realized I was struggling, and came back to run alongside me. Nothing change about the incline, and, if anything, he pushed me to pick up the pace a little, but having someone beside me, someone running with me, made it so much easier to push past my comfort zone and cover new ground.
Another "aha!" reminder. Run beside them up their hill. If it feels flat to you, you can help pull them through it and encourage them to pick up the pace and cover new ground.
Why don't I just drive?
By this time, I'm feeling this invisible hill and the sunshine baking down. Cars are flying by and I'm pondering how much quicker and easier this stretch of road is to cover in a vehicle. They're achieving the same short-term goal as I am.
I wonder how much of life's lessons and opportunities for growth I miss by flying up hills the easy way and not taking time to experience the moment and learn the lesson?
In pounding the pavement, I build endurance, strength, and even increase my body's ability to use the oxygen that it takes in. I take time to be quiet, time to listen, and learn something from each step. No matter how slight the incline, I can turn around at the top of the hill and see how far I've come, and I can look ahead and see my goal - or at least the next bend in the road.
Obviously it isn't practical to sell my car and walk or run everywhere I go, but the metaphor is strong. Taking the time to live and learn is so valuable to building endurance, strength, and to increase our soul's ability to take in energy from the world around us. So many of us live on fast-forward, looking straight down at the ground in front of our feet and speeding toward our next obligation. Perhaps it's time to change that.
Today was my first day back running after recovering from tendonitis resulting stress fracture.
I should begin by explaining that I've never been a runner. I ran a mile for the first time around Christmas last year, 2 miles for the first time in the spring, and I completed Couch to 5K in the early spring. Running 3 miles was a huge milestone for me, and I loved every minute that I spent running, even if it was kicking my tail! I'm not very fast, and I don't run very far, but I think that coming back to the sidewalk post injury allows me to begin to call myself a runner. The fast and far will come with time.
Preparation
The first day of running back in the winter was a spur of the moment plan. A google link, my old trusty athletic shoes, and a stretch of rode that I thought was flat.
Today, however, followed several months worth of research on injury patterns and causes, new insoles, research and procurement of KT Tape and several weeks of plyometrics to rebuild some lower body strength and cardio.
Ah.. preparation. I've settled into a snail's pace and my mind begins to grow quiet and listen. Preparation. How often do we run headlong into a difficult time in our lives unprepared?
I'm reminded of a Sunday school lesson about the armor of God. It seems I remember making armor out of a lot of cardboard and random household products, covering it in foil, and walking around clothed as a spiritual knight! Funny memories for sure, but grown-up life requires a little more that tin-foil and duct tape.
Ephesians 6:10-20
The word armor, according to Stong's greek lexicon, is the compound of a word meaning "everything" or "whole" and another word meaning "instrument or implement for warfare." Interesting that we aren't preparing in one area of our lives but in every single area. Everything... that thought alone could occupy several miles.
So much of my focus on preparation for this run, and so much a cause of my failure before, was focused on my feet - insoles, tape, stretches. I remember that the "armor passage" said something specific about feet but I needed to look more closely at what exactly. Ahhh.. there's that word preparation again. Ephesians 6:15 says to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. How do you wear preparation?
That word in the greek is a noun that refers to "the act of being prepared". Wow. A noun that is an action? Exactly. We should be so continuously preparing ourselves that the action of preparation occupies a fixed place in our lives. It is a constant. (Remember a noun is a person, place, thing, event, or quality.) Preparation should be a thing or quality in our lives. When I think of other nouns that reference actions, I think of words like breakfast, lunch, dinner, work, sleep, school....... things that are integral parts of our daily routine without even a thought.
So we are to put on every available instrument of war and the very foundation of our lives is the act of being prepared. Prepared with the gospel of peace.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of the word gospel, I always have this mental image of someone saying, "that is the gospel," with the insinuated meaning that whatever was said is positively fact. The word in the greek, however, has a much different connotation that I was aware of but hadn't focused on in a while. The word gospel means "reward for good news". The word peace means peace! It means a state of national tranquillity, exemption from the rage and havoc of war, and peace between individuals.
So our foundation should be continuous preparation to share the reward for good news: a state of tranquility, exemption from rage, and peace between individuals. I'm paraphrasing, but that is a wonderful foundation.
1 Peter 3:15-17
Another reference reminding us to "always be prepared" to defend the "hope that is within us" and reminding us that if we do so in a right and good (I like to think peaceful) way, there is no reason to be slandered.
I'm not sure what preparation means to you, but I know that for me it means spending time in prayer, time reading, time listening (more of this one), and time following the little nudges and feelings I know I should heed (like typing this now).
Why are they struggling? Their road looks flat.
For years and years I thought that Union Street was flat. Driving up or down it hundreds of times, I never noticed any hills. That thought struck me about halfway up the gradual incline that was slowly stealing my breath and kicking my heart rate into high gear and made me laugh.
I slowed my snail's pace down to that of an inch worm and began to listen again. Hard to do anything else when you can't breathe!
I have to admit that I've talked to friends who were vocalizing difficult times in their lives, or observed anothers struggle from a distance and thought, "what's the big deal?" Funny how other's roads, when the situation isn't dramatic, tend to look flat.
I'm reminded of my first couple of 2 and 3 mile runs back in the spring. My husband came to run with me, and, in the beginning, ran on ahead because I was slow and he was in great shape. I was fine with running alone, and totally understood the aggravation of my creepy pace, but the run felt so much harder watching him run ahead and leave me. A mile or two in, he realized I was struggling, and came back to run alongside me. Nothing change about the incline, and, if anything, he pushed me to pick up the pace a little, but having someone beside me, someone running with me, made it so much easier to push past my comfort zone and cover new ground.
Another "aha!" reminder. Run beside them up their hill. If it feels flat to you, you can help pull them through it and encourage them to pick up the pace and cover new ground.
Why don't I just drive?
By this time, I'm feeling this invisible hill and the sunshine baking down. Cars are flying by and I'm pondering how much quicker and easier this stretch of road is to cover in a vehicle. They're achieving the same short-term goal as I am.
I wonder how much of life's lessons and opportunities for growth I miss by flying up hills the easy way and not taking time to experience the moment and learn the lesson?
In pounding the pavement, I build endurance, strength, and even increase my body's ability to use the oxygen that it takes in. I take time to be quiet, time to listen, and learn something from each step. No matter how slight the incline, I can turn around at the top of the hill and see how far I've come, and I can look ahead and see my goal - or at least the next bend in the road.
Obviously it isn't practical to sell my car and walk or run everywhere I go, but the metaphor is strong. Taking the time to live and learn is so valuable to building endurance, strength, and to increase our soul's ability to take in energy from the world around us. So many of us live on fast-forward, looking straight down at the ground in front of our feet and speeding toward our next obligation. Perhaps it's time to change that.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The only time I'm quiet enough to listen...
God always talks to me on the trail. Perhaps it's the only time I'm quiet enough to listen.
When I began running last winter, I knew it would be beneficial for the body, but I had no idea what an investment I would be making in my soul. It seems that every step brings a thought, a prayer, a lesson, something gained in addition to exercise and decompression.
For a while now I've been feeling that gentle tug to sit down and put some of those lessons and thoughts on paper, or, to be more accurate, screen. Perhaps it's because I always process thoughts and feelings more thoughoughly on paper, or perhaps, it's because someone else would be blessed or benefited by sharing my journey.
A dear friend of mine describes blogging as, "verbal vomit," and in a way, I suppose he is right. The beauty of a blog, or someone elses vomit for that matter, is that you can choose to scroll right by or look away! If you choose to share in my typed upchucking (smiling as I write that), I hope that you will be uplifted and encouraged or perhaps challenged and prodded.
When I began running last winter, I knew it would be beneficial for the body, but I had no idea what an investment I would be making in my soul. It seems that every step brings a thought, a prayer, a lesson, something gained in addition to exercise and decompression.
For a while now I've been feeling that gentle tug to sit down and put some of those lessons and thoughts on paper, or, to be more accurate, screen. Perhaps it's because I always process thoughts and feelings more thoughoughly on paper, or perhaps, it's because someone else would be blessed or benefited by sharing my journey.
A dear friend of mine describes blogging as, "verbal vomit," and in a way, I suppose he is right. The beauty of a blog, or someone elses vomit for that matter, is that you can choose to scroll right by or look away! If you choose to share in my typed upchucking (smiling as I write that), I hope that you will be uplifted and encouraged or perhaps challenged and prodded.
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