Getting Up

It’s happened in my running life and now in my blogging life. I have so much enthusiasm, so much drive. Then I get a little opposition and before I know it, I am way off course from where I wanted to be. My well-documented, enumerated and typed (in a cute font) plan never involves getting sidetracked and not completing the task, but that is exactly what seems to happen more times than I’d like to admit. In my running life, it is usually a minor illness or a multi-day rain or extreme weather event- just enough to get me out of my routine long enough to make getting back into the routine hard. In my blogging life, it has been the lack of discipline to carve the time I need to write out of my schedule. A bigger reason though, and the one I’m even more ashamed to admit, is fear- fear that I’d have nothing to say, or worse yet, that I wouldn’t be able to walk the healthy-life walk that I really desire to. Oh, I almost forgot one more: the guilt of all the holiday/stress eating I’d been doing. Nothing says hypocrite more than consuming nearly ALL of the holiday goodies your sweet students bring you in the first 24 hours of Christmas Break! I let all this lack of discipline, fear, guilt and shame keep me silent.

I start my daily quiet time with the First 5 app. (Its free and easy to find in the App store. I love it and highly recommend it!) We are working through the book of Joshua right now. He is the new leader of the Israelites after Moses’ death and has to conquer some territories to finally move into the Promised Land. God gives them very explicit directions and promises that if they obey, the victory will always be theirs. In chapter 7, a guy named Achan messes up, unbeknownst to Joshua, and he is completely confused when they lose a battle. He tears his clothes, falls to his face, covers himself with ashes and begs God for an explanation. God answers Joshua “Get up!” He goes on to explain that someone has sinned and tells them how to reconcile the sin. It was not easy, but they did obey fully, and God orchestrates their conquering of the very same enemy that had previously defeated them.

There’s a time for true repentance of sin- of telling God you are sorry and really meaning it- and a time for prayer over situations, but you’ve got to be ready to listen because God is probably going to tell you to get up! Take some action! Do something to fix the problem or right the wrong. I heard the call loud and clear.

Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we can be spared the wrath that we deserve. Jesus loves us so much He  took the punishment for all our sins, once and for all. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you are forgiven and cleansed. Forever. So, God doesn’t want us wallowing in the ashes, spending all our time on our faces begging for forgiveness and answers. Don’t let fear, guilt, shame keep you down. Confess your sins to the Lord, accept the forgiveness He lovingly and graciously gives, then take the steps He tells you to take. If we ask Him for guidance and wisdom, He will grant it, but it’s our job to act on the direction He gives us.

This lesson was probably just for me, but I wanted to share because it reminded me it is never too late to do what we need to do. Even if we’ve gotten off track. Especially when we’ve gotten off track. Today is the day to get up and get moving back in the right direction.