Running

Look at this picture, it's ridiculous right?  Who runs in what appears to be a desert?  I hate these stupid ads.  And I hate running.  You may sense a little attitude in my post tonight because the evening didn't go quite how I wanted, and the "little things" have just added up to the point where I need to blog or eat an entire box of Chips Ahoy Cookies.  

This "Made to Crave" spiritual journey is challenging me, and that's a good thing, because that's what I've set out to do.  You know the next step in this journey?....exercise.  I don't even like that word.  Say it with me, exercise.... it doesn't even sound fun.  I mean who wants to sweat (on purpose) unless you're getting paid for it?  Who wants to run unless something/someone is chasing you?  Ironically I have always wanted to be a "runner"--I'm serious, I have always wanted to be one of those girls who gets up in the morning and goes for a run.  I have good intentions, until the fat girl inside me yells, shut up and sit down you're not a runner! Exercise--Eww.

But this is part of the journey, and it's good for me.  It's one of those permissible things that's good for me too.  

I've discovered that I often quiet myself to something that my soul longs to do.  I say to myself I want to be a runner, and in the back of my mind I hear "yeah right you can't do that."  Not just with running, but with lots of goals that I have placed before myself.  

"You'll just get disappointed so don't even try."  
"Why don't you just give up?" 
"You are so selfish"  
"Nobody cares what you do, you decide." 
"You'll never amount to anything."  

Sometimes this voice is recognizable because these words were said to me, and now they echo in my soul, silencing anything worthy of effort. 

What about you?  Have you ever said "I want to change my life." & somewhere hear "You're never going to amount to anything so don't even try?"  Where does this come from?  

It comes from the pit--and it's time we silence it with the Word of God.  The Word of God is our only weapon in the armor of God, and it says things like this: 


"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:17 


"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."  Romans 8:37 


"But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things."  And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained."  Philippians 3:13-16  (what a wonderful image of running!!) 


So...I guess I'm going to start running.  I'm not thrilled.  But I won't feel settled until I've tried.  No more excuses.  No worries, I will start slow...very slow.  When the sun and people are no where to be found.  


"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  Psalm 73:26