We cry out for a transformation in our lives.
We long to be more like Jesus.
We want answers to our prayers.
We contend for change in our lives, our marriages, our families, our finances, and our relationships.
We wonder when we will ever be out of the pit.
We wonder when it will become a new season.
Yet, it seems like things stay the same. A battle rages within our minds: Will it ever be different? Will we be stuck with the same issues all our lives? Will we ever be free? Is there hope? Is anything actually going on?
There is hope
I know many people who have been going through serious things in the past several years. After months, years, even decades of struggles, we can be tempted to succumb to the belief that things won't change. We wonder if there has been any progress. We wonder if God really will change us. In the midst of the battle, our faith becomes weak. We can only see from our own perspective, which is probably not the best one. Recently, as I was out running, God allowed me to see a different perspective.
I was running along, and it was a challenging day. I was a bit discouraged because it didn't feel like my running was any easier. Here I've been running quite a bit for many months, and yet almost every time it is a challenge. I can feel the strain on my body, I can feel tired, I am continually wanting to just quit, I have to push through the challenge of my body just wanting to sit on the couch. Many times, a few miles into it, I have the temptation to just stop running for the day. So, this day as I was running, I was questioning why it is constantly a challenge, wondering when it would ever get easier. Surely by this time, I should just be able to glide across the ground, mile after mile, smiling and not even breaking a sweat. I should feel like the wind is gently whispering through my hair, birds are singing, the world is cheering me on, that I could just run the entire distance across the USA, that I could talking easily while running, not even breathing heavily. Right? No. It is not that way.
I use an app on my iPhone that keeps track of all of my runs. It tracks my speed, my mileage, my minutes per mile, and even gives monthly totals and averages. It was then that God reminded me that I am making progress. As I look at my performance statistics, I can see that I now run a few minutes per mile faster, I run further, I am less tired, I have quicker recovery, I have lost over 35 pounds, and I feel way better than I used to. What God showed me is that as I have gotten in better shape, my body allows me to push for new challenges. My body takes me to another level. I continue to challenge myself, as I overcome one obstacle, I immediately strive to attain the next. At one point it was all I could do to run one minute, then 10, then a mile, then 5k, now I'm up to seven miles and continuing to push myself to new levels.
Spiritually speaking
Then God began to encourage me about my life. Just as I felt like things were not improving while running, when in fact they were, other things in my life were also improving. It didn't mean that all challenges just went away. It didn't mean that now life was all grand and wonderful. But in the midst of opposition and challenges, I was being strengthened. I was getting in better "spiritual shape." Challenges continue to be there, pushing me to be even more reliant upon His grace.
For all of us
May this be an encouragement to us all. In the midst of our storms of life, I would wager to say that things actually have been happening. It may not be fun, it may be painful, it may be that God is stripping away layers of our own righteousness, it may be that now we are feeling less spiritual. But it is all a process. The goal is not for us to be happy. The goal is not for us to be rich, good-looking, and on top of the world all the time. Christianity is a mess. It messes us up. It makes us not even recognize our old selves. Jesus comes in, and rearranges the house, tearing down all that is not of him. The goal is for Him to be King, for Him to increase and us to decrease, for us to reflect His true love. And that is a painful process. He wants to beat the "crap" out of all of us. So the stripping away, the circumstances we go through, the loss we suffer, the anguish in our souls, are all part of the "training program." We are being changed! We are making progress! We are being strengthened in the very core of our beings!
In the midst of it all, our perspective says nothing is happening. But that it not true. God is doing a good work in you and He is faithful to complete it. He will make a church that is a glorious bride. He is always with us, never forsaking us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever - not just "being nice" to us sometimes and "abandoning us" or "being mean" to us at other times. Just like the running challenges I face, He continually places challenges before us. Eventually, we learn to rely upon Him, allowing Him to carry us - broken and humbled - through the storms.
Don't give in to the lies. Things are changing! You are being transformed into His likeness. You are overcoming! You are not alone! God is good - all the time - in the "good" times and the "bad" times. The church is become stronger. You are victorious. In the end, we win.
Keith
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