Wednesday, February 17, 2010

False Starts

Watching the Olympics, occasionally you’ll see everyone ready to start a race, the gun fires, and then fires again, meaning someone left early. It’s called a false start.

I was thinking how true that is of my life. Maybe yours too. We get all ready to run the race and can’t wait to start, and before God says, “go” we take off. We hope, unrealistically, that God will catch up to us doing our thing so He can bless what we are doing. But it doesn’t work that way. At least not for me.

About two years ago I came through a really tough time that caused me great pain, distress, and despair. Maybe “good Christians” don’t have those moments, but I do. And I did. Many aspects of life cracked and broke. And I was left on the side of the road in a heap. I cried out to God to save me. I wanted to be out of the pain and get back on my feet and back into the race. But God hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. There was more to learn, more exercises to make me stronger and ready for the bigger race that was ahead.

Slowly God helped me up (through some good friends, prayer, and His Word), dusted me off, cleaned me up, strengthened me, and said, “Get ready.” And even still, it was months before the next race would begin. He finally opened a door to a new ministry opportunity that was so much more than I could have dreamed or imagined. He finally pulled the trigger for this new, wonderful, exciting race to begin. And I feel strong, ready, and extremely honored that He chose me to run this race at this time.

What did I learn? Not to be too hasty to ask God to get me out of my hurt. Maybe that’s exactly where He can mold me into what I need to become. Second, trust Him and be patient. It will happen in His time and His way. Finally, when the gun finally is fired, be ready to run with reckless abandon until God tells me to stop running.

What an awesome God we serve!

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