"Lord, help me to forget all that is behind me so that I can reach forward to the future You have for me. My main goal in life is to fulfill Your calling. Help me to do that. Help me to run the race well, to fight the good fight, to not compromise the life You have for me in any way. Help me to not look back into the past where I let fear, doubt, ignorance of Your ways influence the decisions I made. Enable me to rise above all that into the complete wholeness and purpose You have for my life." Philippians 3:13-14 "I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
This was the prayer in my book "Prayers for Emotional Wholeness" by Stormie Omartian on the last day of the year. There's nothing "magical" about this prayer, but it resonated with me. The name of this blog, my goal in life is to run the race well. I've been dealing with a lot of heartbreak and hurt over the past year and a half. God has definitely been working and doing an amazing healing work in me. I know that just because the calendar turned to January 1st doesn't mean that things will magically be "all better". But, no matter the day, I do want to live this life well. This prayer really challenged my heart and I continue to look to God for healing along this journey.
Yesterday at church our pastor gave a great message on Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" He talked about how guys, when in a relationship dread that DTR talk. I had no idea what he was talking about (a sign of my age I guess). DTR stands for "Define the Relationship" Ahhh, yes, it made complete sense now. But he went on to talk about how Jesus, in Luke 9 had that talk with his disciples. We all like the Jesus who does "neat" things: heals the sick, provides food, does miracles. But, Jesus doesn't call us to just like the neat things he does. He doesn't want a casual relationship with us. He asks us to live a life of self denial, sacrifice, and surrender. He wants ALL of me. Lately I've been very convicted about the lack of discipline in my life. I got rid of facebook for a week and got rid of my cable. But, I found that facebook and cable aren't the problem - MY LACK OF DISCIPLINE is the problem. I can ALWAYS find something else to do rather than spend time in His Word or spend some time in solitude and silence just praying and listening. How many times do I just do what I want to do rather than listening to God and what He wants me to do? Too many times! I don't want to just have a casual relationship with Christ. I want a close relationship. I want to live my life in full surrender to Him. Far too often, however, I don't live this way and that needs to change!
I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Most of the time those fall by the wayside after 2 weeks or at most a month. I do, however, believe in each day looking to God and asking what I can be doing better. How can I be loving Him better? How can I love others better? How can I serve Him better?
"I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14
Running the race,
Sherri
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