Still Running

I am never more encouraged than when I see someone I know living out what God has put in them. 

In the last week I’ve had the great blessing of witnessing some such events…

- A friend truly giving up “control” of her own life so that God can do what He does best- take care of everything, and hold all things together.  She has felt free for the first time in a while, and the pure joy I’ve seen in her as the weight of worry was replaced with hope is nothing less than a testimony to God’s goodness.

- A child living through disappointment of great magnitude (not just of kid proportion, but in anyone’s book), and still trusting the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.  Words like- “I’ve prayed and I trust that God knows best” were not just “Bible-eze” for this kid.  They were true to his reaction to and actions following the disappointment.

- The Body of Christ supporting, loving, and encouraging those among them who were hurting.  This was evident as people prayed for the sick in our body, as people spoke truth to their friends-and their enemies, as people became (maybe for the first time) transparent about their needs, and as people chose not to judge, but to love. 

These things encouraged me, and yet…

My week-like many of yours- has not been a cake walk.  I am reminded day by day that this is a long distance race, and although I’m not an athlete, I have great running partners.  The kind of partners that will give me a drink when I need it, will stop and rest with me when I can’t go on, and when the time is right, will then pull me back up to my feet and kindly say- “it’s time to get moving again.” 

And just to make sure I never give up, I have standing at the finish line a Savior.  A Savior that reminds me in His Word that my hope is in Him.

To that, I share with you a prayer that someone shared with me…

“A person with hope does not get tangled up with concerns for how his wishes will be fulfilled.  So, too, his prayer is not directed toward the gift, but toward the one who gives it.  His prayer might still contain just as many desires, but ultimately it is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things…For the prayer of hope it is essential that there are no guarantees asked, no conditions posed, and no proofs demanded, only that you expect everything from the other without binding him.  Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good.   Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the other to make his loving promise come true, even though you never know when, where or how this might happen.”

Amen!