Worldview, mindset, and heart beat

It has been three months since the onset of the tendonitis in my foot.  It has been two full months since the marathon.  I am still limping.

At first I assumed that after a couple weeks of rest, I would be good to go.  I rested, I iced, and I wore sturdy tie shoes.  No change.  After a month, I went to the doctor.  He told me to immobilize it with a boot.  I clomped around for two weeks.  No change.

And now, physical therapy has been prescribed.  And my therapist defied all previous advice.  Rest has only caused the tendons and ligaments to tighten up even more.  Move, move, move, she said.

One of her prescriptions is walking on the treadmill.  The treadmill was stored and ignored in a corner of the basement.   It has been months since it was even turned on.

As per her advice, walking on the treadmill warms up my muscles and strengthens my legs and foot for the day ahead.  Its effects go before me long after I finish and move on into my day.  

But there was another strengthening for my day, impacting my vision, my mindset, and my heart beat.  For above the buttons, a row of verses stood in line, ready to sink into my mind and heart and prepare me for the day.  I had been memorizing those scripture verses one by one.  The little cards were marked:

His Peace
His Spirit
His Faithfulness
His Strength

His Word strengthens me, enlarges my vision, tenderizes my heart, and fills me with His peace that passes understanding.

It is the best way to start my day.
It is the best way to live His day for me.
It is the best way to live.
                               Period.

His Word changes me.
His Word works in my heart.
His Word invades and impacts
              everything around me.

Its effects go before me long after 
I finish reading and memorizing
                                     and move on into my day.  

The Bible is not just words on the page,
         but the very words of God.

The physical therapist told me that
walking on the treadmill will strengthen me
               and heal my wounded foot.
But walking in His Word strengthens me even more
               and heals all my broken places.


Strengthen me
              according to Your Word.

                                Psalm 119.28

Beyond the realm of possibility

Praying for God's mighty work in the life of  a dear friend,
"O God that You would intervene supernaturally
            in her desperate situation."
I stopped mid-sentence,
       realizing that supernaturally is the only way God works.
       That's what He does.
And so my prayer changed from
       "O God that You would...,"
into a prayer that began with
       "Thank You, God, that You are working."
Do we believe,
       really believe what God can do?
Do we go about our days without His intervention
           as even a consideration
      like a house closed up and locked?
Or do we leave the back door key under the mat
      for the mere possibility
      that God might sneak in
      like an embarrassed schoolchild
                  with a third-grade project?
Is the front door unlocked
              in anticipation?
Or is it wide open
              to indicate someone is home?
Or am I standing on the front porch,
waiting with eyes scanning the horizon,
listening for a rustle of leaves
                or Your still small voice,
watching,
living room ready, my heart prepared,
       not to entertain Your Presence
       but abide in You?
You intervene supernaturally in all things.
Am I ready for it?
Am I even asking You?

Now to Him
who by the power at work within us
is able to do
          far more abundantly
than all we ask or think...

                     Ephesians 3.20


   
   

Dog-eared Pages

The only thing harder than waiting on God
                   is wishing that you did.

                 --Crawford Loritts
                      pastor, author, speaker

True love, evil villains, and dreaded rodents of unusual size

In the 1987 classic film The Princess Bride, Westley and Buttercup are forced to flee into the horrid Fire Swamp to escape the venomous Prince Humperdinck.  Their means of deliverance was to trek through that fearful place, marked by flame spurts, lightning sand, and dreaded rodents of unusual size.

"We'll never survive," Buttercup laments.
"Nonsense," Westley replies. "You're only saying that because no one ever has."

Sometimes life feels like that.

But it doesn't have to remain that way.
God empowers us to see those hard things differently,
...to fear not a dismal position,
           but grasping an opportunity to rely on Him,
...to initiate not a walking away,
           but walking with Him,
                              freely in the midst of it,
...to see not a God-forsaken place,
           but trusting God far beyond my own strength
                              for what only He can do,
...to realize that it is not a time to quit,
           but allowing Him to deepen me
    even through a fearful place.

LORD,
     show me how to navigate
this tumultuous relationship,
this impossible work situation,
this Fire Swamp
       with rodents of unusual size.
And to know
               that I do not travel alone.
      You are with me.

The difficulty of the task
       reveals not Your absence,
but my need for You.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
          who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved,
          He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
          will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
          the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not smite you by day,
          nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all evil;
          He will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
          your going out
                        and your coming in
    from this time forth
                        and for evermore.

                            Psalm 121


May we go forth abiding in the LORD.
       wasting not our focus or strength
       on phantoms of  fear and anxiety,
but instead,
living impossible lives
                  thick with His grace
                  and dripping with redemption.

Construction zones and uncertain roads

What is that in the middle of the road?

I was zipping down the street for a quick trip to the library.  My way was blocked about a hundred feet ahead.  It appeared to be a kind of large scaffolding, sitting point-blank in the right lane.  I began to veer to the left, when quite suddenly, I saw the construction worker with the sign, "STOP."  Oooops!  I was so busy trying to figure out the what and why of this object, that I almost missed my necessary obedience. I did not have to know all that was going on.  I just needed to stop my car and wait.

Sometimes on my path of life,
              there are what appear to be dead ends.
Other times, those nasty speed bumps.
No one ever expects a detour.

I don't always understand what is going on.
             But I still need to obey.
And when the road or my plans
           take an unexpected turn,
          is this just a re-routing,
                the going around an obstacle?
      Or a whole new direction?

Construction ahead.
God at work.

There may not be a trail,
but that does not mean
           that He is not guiding me.

May I not be so locked into my own measured route,
   based on my own myopic vision,
but quick to listen,
ready to turn,
willing to stay,
prepared to sprint,
                 or stop.

There may be something different going on here.
            There probably is.

Am I set on where I am going?
           Or where God is leading me?

We expect the unveiling of God's intentions to be sudden
                 complete
                         in a BIG box,
        with all the components,
                instructions I can decipher,
     or even better,
                            pre-assembled at my front door.

But more often,
God provides me with clues to a mystery
 piece by piece,
               step by step,
follow,
follow,
follow,
   that as I seek Him through it,
    I will know Him more.

We anxiously inquire of God,
        "What about tomorrow?
                 Next week?
                    A year from now?"

And God asks,
         "What about today?"

A short obedience
           for a long enduring.

No obedience is ever too small.

Has the LORD as great delight
     in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold,
      to obey is better than sacrifice,
  and to listen than the fat of rams.

                      1  Samuel 15.22