for when we need our day completely transformed

One day I decided to be a runner. (Well, God led me to that thought of grandeur as I was seeking Him regarding whether or not to keep paying the gym membership.) At the time, I could barely run 50 feet without wanting to sell my children for a cup of water. But one day I woke up and realized that I could lace up my shoes and hit the pavement. If I wanted to be a runner then I could be a runner. I would just need to…run.

So I looked into the “couch to 5k” program, because I could run about as far as the length of a couch. And slowly but surely, I became a runner. Some days I thought I would die. Literally. But I did it. I ran. I run.

I’m now a runner.

 

 

So much in life is like that. We seek God first and continually, He speaks and guides, and then, through His empowering, we put whatever it is into action.

On Monday I wrote about two important choices we get to make everyday (our response to life and how we spend our time). And that post lingered in my spirit. “I get to choose my response. I get to choose my response.”

To be honest, I haven’t liked my heart-response in the last couple of weeks. Life has happened — like it does — and instead of focusing on all the ways God’s blessed or all the things He promises, I’ve focused on what isn’t going like I had hoped. And if there’s ever something to steal the joy of The Lord, it’s a critical, unthankful spirit. So just like my deciding to be a runner, I decided it’s time for a perspective change.

I decided. God decided. We all know Who really instigated that freedom-thought.

True. Sometimes life does sucketh. And we want people to acknowledge that life suckeths. We want to feel validated so we focus on the yuck parts. And talk about the messy. And analyze the injustices until we’ve analyzed the analysis of the injustices. And then we wonder why we feel grumpy and run-down and heavy with burden.

That’s not how I want to do life. And here’s the awesome part. In Christ I get to decide. I get to choose what I think about. I get to choose my perspective. I can choose to think about everything that’s wrong or I can choose to think about all the millions of ways and things that reveal God’s grace and love and beauty.

 

O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:16-17

 

Some days it will feel like we’re only running uphill and can’t catch our breath. Those are the days we need to grab someone’s hand and say, “Please! Pull me up this mountain. Speak some hope to me!” But even in the parts that sucketh and seem to be only uphill, we still get choice as to our heart’s meditations.

So I’m counting (as dear Ann talks about <-- loved this post, by the way!). I'm choosing today to count the blessings, one by one. Because this side of Jesus coming back, life will always always always happen. And God will always always always be grace and good.   Fill me, Lord…

Count with me. Look at the most challenging situation in your life and ask God to show you at least 3 hopeful thoughts around/in/regarding to that situation or relationship.