You all know by now that I am desperately trying to become a runner. You know, I'm not! And I am not sure if I ever will become one. And that's okay with me. I just keep lacing up my shoes and going for it, hoping that one day, if I continue to persevere that I will be transformed from the awkward, clumsy, heavy footed wanna-be runner to the graceful, strong, beautiful runner that I am so envious of.
Last week, while hanging out in the Word, I came across some verses that really spoke to me. You know, sometimes we don't think that God cares about our "silly" desires - you know the ones like "Lord, please let me be able to run gracefully and for long distances someday" or "God, I would really love to wake up in the morning and be able to jump out of bed without my feet hurting and my toes going numb when shoes are worn". But then out of the blue God let's you know that yes indeed he does care about ALL aspects of our lives, including the sillies.
I have been revisiting 1 and 2 Samuel the past few weeks. Evan loves to hear about stories of David, so I thought it might be a good idea to brush up on the details of David's life from an "adult Bible" - ha ha - you know instead of a rhyming preschool Bible.
I came across these verses and I felt God saying, "I have heard you and I do care about your well being" because really as much as I would love to look like a Deer while running, I am more like an elephant. I can get the job done but don't look very pretty doing it, you know what I mean?
2 Samuel 22: 33-34 (NIV) says:
It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of the deer,
he enables me to stand on the heights.
You know, when was the last time I really prayed about my aching feet or my allergy problems or my inability to be a strong runner? He cares about them all and He is the one who gives me my strength. I can try to work out as much as I can and yes, I would get stronger but come on, He is ultimately the one that I gain my strength from. He will make me or break me (I am hoping for the "make" one :-)).
So I am still hopeful that one of these days I will transform from the elephant to the deer. And yes, these verses stay in my mind as I painfully work on becoming the runner that I want to be! When my feet ache and my lungs hurt, I remember that God will give me the strength to persevere!