Hey chicas! Jana and the band are recording today, so pray that they will sing strong and claim His pleasure over them as they worship and work together.
Jana asked me to post if I felt so inspired, and after her blog about Eric Liddell yesterday, I thought I’d share a recent conversation the Lord and I had about running.
Among the things I’m trying to learn to do faithfuly is taking a walk with the Lord in the mornings. I was out with Him a month or so ago, and on this particular walk, I felt Him prompt me: Run.
I didn’t want to. Felt silly. I haven’t run since I was like, 12.
But He kept saying, “Run.” So I finally did. At least, I attempted a mini-jog.
Then He told me to speed it up. “Don’t jog. Flat out run.”
So I did.
“Don’t you feel more alive?” He asked.
“Yes, Sir, but I’m gonna die…” I huffed back.
When we got to the end of the trail, I said, “I really don’t like that, but I’m willing if You do.”
“Do you REALLY not like it?” He probed.
“Well, I just feel embarassed, and like I look silly. And I can’t do it.”
Then the Lord brought back Graham Cooke’s voice from a CD I’d listened to weeks before: “God never calls us to what is possible. He calls us to what is impossible. The only thing we can do is yelp, ‘I can’t do this!’ and He says, ‘I know.’ ”
“Ha! Very funny, Lord. So, I guess I kind of do like running. I just feel like I can’t and I don’t like that.”
“Those are two entirely different things.” He stated.
“Yeah, they are.”
So, we ran a little more. Got to the end of the street, and I saw a silver chain in the road. Immediately, my mind went to the song, “My chains fell off, my soul’s set free. My God my Savior, has ransomed me…”
“I’m just breaking your chains off and setting You free.” He said.
“Okay, Lord. Got it.” I thought back to all the old baggage He’s been helping me sort through, and the things He’s been teaching me. The running freely – the broken chain: this was a physical picture of a spiritual excercise.
I added, “But while You’re breaking those chains, could you please hold my heart gently, because it feels like my heart is what’s breaking…”
Then I remebered what Corky Shepard prophesied over me in Zimbabwe: “There are things the Lord is going to want to take off. I’m talking about attitudes and things now. And it may be hard because they’ve been there so long, they feel like they’re part of you. But He wants you to just be you and run free.” Run free. Imagine that. Nearly two months had gone by since Corky said those words, and here God had me literally running. And challenging my attidudes and fears.
In my heart, I heard the Lord saying, “I’m taking off the weight.” Spiritual weight. Physical weight. Chains be broken. Lives be healed. Hearts be opened. Christ revealed.
And my soul sang, “Lord, I wanna run…”
I really do. I want to run. Spiritually and physically. I want to be stretched. To be free. To be willing to go hard places and attempt the seemingly impossible without fear. To run to Him. To run with Him.
How about you?