Walkin' in Circles

Walking down a shady neighborhood trail not long ago, I breathed in the air of a refreshing seventy degrees. Starting slowly, I took some time to praise the Lord and enjoy the peace and alone time. I quickened my pace, and anxious thoughts began to jog alongside me. God, please help my Ally on her tests today. Don’t let her fail again. She studied so hard. I’ve got so much to do. I shouldn’t be walking. I’m going to get behind on everything else. Why am I always a step behind on everything?

My worries completely took over my steps, and I’m sure my heart rate went off the charts. Ministry at church. My son’s issues. Not meeting people’s expectations. Emails and phone calls to return. Decisions my husband and I needed to make. Kids and families my heart is grieving for. Not enough hours in the day…

Then, one thought hijacked the others: I remembered something that had recently hurt my feelings. I didn’t think my legs could go any faster, but they did. I bit back at this person in my mind. I defended myself. I informed this person through telepathic communication that her actions were immature and hurtful.

Huffing in mind, spirit and body, all of a sudden, I noticed that I’d passed my starting place and was walking around the same trail again, by a long ways. The thought of going around a second time was quite an exhausting one, so I stopped for a moment, leaned the weight of my body via arms on my knees and caught my breath.

Do you really wanna walk down this path again?

This was the thought that stopped my elevated “worry pulse,” and I’m positive it was from the Lord. He had my full attention, seeing as He had given me a real-life scenario to think it through (not to mention, plenty of time).

It took the rest of the trail (a second time) home to allow the Lord to do some counseling with me. He gave me incredible insight into just how far He had brought me down the path of anxiety. He reminded me that I struggle with it so much less than I ever have before. He recounted instances of situations past where He has worked out each and every problem, hurt, fear or disappointment for His glory. He testified of all the ways He has worked in me to grow me up spiritually.

By the time I got home, my hurts and “But hows” had taken a hike, and the Lord had carried my numb legs through the door. I was where I needed to be: in the hold of His strong and capable arms. That’s when my prayers and praises started me down a new trail—the one they should have veered on about an hour earlier. I had gone full circle, and now it was time for His Truth to speak.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right,

and pure, and lovely, and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—

everything you heard from me and saw me doing.

Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

What trails keep you running around in circles? Are there any issues in your life that you need the Lord to “stop you in your tracks” over today? Take a few moments to remember His faithfulness on the treaded trails of your yesterdays. Do any of those give you hope for your footsteps today?

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,

because he trusts in You.”

Isaiah 26:3 NIV


Lord, we praise You, for You are true and honorable, most worthy of praise. I pray that You would work Your Spirit in and through us, helping us to put your Word into practice on our faith walks. Guard our hearts and our minds with Your perfect peace, I pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

RUN!!!

Have any phrases that repeat themselves over and over in your mind? I have many. One that comes up a LOT is the line from the movie Forrest Gump which his friend Jenny says every time he’s in trouble. “Run, Forrest, Run!”

Often, when I think of running in the spiritual sense, I picture resisting evil or fleeing for cover or safety when I’m in trouble. Verses like these come to my mind:

“…they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31b

“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance…”  Hebrews 12:1b

In other words..."Run, Laura, Run!"
I’ve become a pretty strong runner spiritually, even though sometimes I sprint in the wrong direction, forcing the Lord to help me out of the woods. But lately, He's reminded me to race with a different end in mind.

My friends regularly get a chuckle out of the fact that I call myself a female David. “I’m Davidia,” I’ll joke with them. That could seem like I’m bragging, because after all David is known as the man “after God’s own heart.” But that’s not the part of David's character I'm referring to. I’m talking about his high highs and his low lows. I mean, is there anyone else in the Bible that expresses his gut feelings—praise ones or depressed ones—to the Lord so vulnerably and vehemently? When it’s praise time, the goin’ is good. But when it’s down in the dirt time, it ain’t so pretty. (Bear in mind, though, that David almost always praised the Lord even in the midst of his low moments…this is not a quality of his that I’ve mastered yet).

It’s no wonder I run to the Psalms whenever I need company with my mood swings. Sometimes, Depression surfaces from somewhere within me, and I know I need to run fast and hard from it. The Lord is teaching me, though, that it’s not really about what I’m running FROM, it’s about who I’m running TO. 

I’m not running from my depression, I’m running to the Maker of joy. 

I’m not running from temptation, I’m running to the God of righteousness. 

I’m not running from my own personal prison. I’m running to the One who set me free.

“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32

"Run, Laura, Run!"
How about you? Are you running from or to?

At one point in the movie that I mentioned above, Jenny says something to Forrest as she is getting ready to hitch a ride away from him and her problems for the dozenth time. “Listen. you promise me something, okay?” she begs. “Just if you’re ever in trouble, don’t try to be brave. You just run, OK? Just run away.”

Amen, Jenny. I couldn’t agree more in the context of this message. It’s not about us being brave enough. It’s about Him being strong in our weakness, for “God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” (1st Corinthians 1:25b) So, just run, okay?

Run to Righteousness. 

Run to Joy. 

Run to Forgiveness. 

Run to Truth. 

Run to Grace. 

Run to the Lord.

Run, Believer, Run!

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; 

the righteous run to it and are safe.” 

Prov. 18:10

This is a devotional sent out via email to my lovinthearts.com subscribers. If you would like to receive these in your inbox, simply click here and add your email address. http://www.lovinthearts.com/SubscribeForm.html


All Scriptures are taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted.
Quotes from Forrest Gump were taken from imdb.com.