Sunday, April 21, 2013

He Speaks

I know there are those of you out there that do not believe that God speaks to us.  I  know He does.  Here is one example.

Sometimes in life, God waits until your most dire moments to reveal himself to you.  Jogging is sort of like that only in short bursts.  I always start out my jog feeling pretty confident.  Thinking, "I'm getting pretty good at this.  I think I could do this forever."  Then four or five miles in my thoughts change to, "How in the world am I going to keep going?  What was I thinking signing up for a half marathon!"

Today I was on my seventh mile thinking all of my post-four-mile thoughts.  My knees hurt, my arches hurt, my toes hurt...pretty much my whole body hurt.  Then, all of a sudden a rock jumps into my shoe.  I'm not kidding, it's like it just hopped right in there.  All of the aches and pains dulled in comparison to the pointy rock poking my foot with every step.  I could hear God telling me that sometimes it feels hard and things are difficult, but it could always be worse.  The rock made me wish all I had to worry about was my aching body. 

In the middle of these thoughts, a car pulls out and waves at me.  It drove by too quickly for me to see who was driving and I didn't recognize it.  On the back window written in the dirt was, "Love U."  I could almost hear God speaking those words to me.  He wanted me to know that even though I was hurting at that moment, He still loves me.

It reminded me of how in life sometimes God doesn't just swoop right in to rescue us in our moments of despair.  Sometimes He wants us to realize how good we really have it and that He loves us in the midst of our trials. 

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

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