Old Tennis Shoes

I have started a Bible study called " Walking by Faith, Lessons learned in the dark" written by a blind lady Jennifer Rothschild. It caught my attention because of the fieldtrips that God calls us to. I have never done one of her studies before but I can tell already that God is going to use this study in his word to impact my walk of faith in ways that I can't even imagine, so I am excited about that!

One of the lessons in the book that I was reading was about fear. The timing was ALL God! I have been experiencing some of that!

My mother was just diagnosed with a large clot in the main artery of her thigh. She has been undergoing shots and medicines to thin her blood. My mother is my BEST friend in life. I can tell her anything and everything and her unconditional love is something that has given me the strength to continue to walk many times. That is just ONE of the things that I was experiencing fear about.

This is what Jennifer writes. " Fear is a feeling, trust is a choice." My choice to trust God will envitably change my feelings of fear. She says, " When we say that we trust God yet never risk acting on His Word, we really don't trust Him at all. Trust shows itself when it leaves the tip of our tongues and lands on our tennis shoes and we begin to walk-not just talk-our faith."

I am learning that God wants us to have tennis shoes available as well as the hiking boots! There are times that we will have to run with perserverance.

"Let Us Run With Perseverance The Race That Is Set Before Us..." (Hebrews 11 and 12:1,2)

So how do we do this?

We shall keep on running regardless of distractions. We must run singlemindedly; run with a focus, a concentration, a determination that is aware only of the matter at hand. We must run with an intensity that unfailingly announces our steadfastness.

To run with perseverance means we shall keep on running patiently. The race of the Christian fieldtrip isn't a sprint that ends in 9.35 seconds. It's a long race, a lifelong race. We must run patiently.

Be sure to run so as to finish. It is only as we finish -- who cares if we get to our goal with scraped knees and bleeding face? -- it is only as we finish that we find ourselves admitted to the great cloud of witnesses in the company of our elder brother, Jesus. And it is only as we finish that God himself is glorified.

So Brothers and Sisters in Christ keep your tennis shoes ready too because we obviously need those as well as hiking boots, it depends on the terrain and know that there are others cheering you on as you trust God to get you where he wants you!

Dee Ann