Today I want to share with you a word that God spoke to me, that I believe might help some people out on the way to making every effort to grow in maturity.
Over the past couple months I’ve been trying to up my cardio by jogging at the high school track near my house. Every time I would go, it seems like I would always gas out at 2 and a ½ laps. Sometimes I could push it to 3 laps but I would feel completely exhausted, barely able to walk home. I remember having a conversation with Sam, who told me that he can jog about 15 laps now around the track. My first reaction was, don’t tell him how many laps you can do but after hearing the progress he made I was motivated to keep going and to keep pushing in hopes to get close to that.
A couple weeks had gone by and I was still at 2 and a ½ laps. I spoke with Sam again and tried to figure out what was stopping me from going past 3 laps. I thought maybe it was my diet, my breathing, my heart, or maybe it was all mental? At one point Sam mentioned that he wanted to see my pace. We were not at the track at the time so it was hard to show him but it was something I didn’t consider before. I’m the type of person where if I do things, it’s going to be all in. I call it 0 to 100, there is no 25, 50, 75 etc. So when it comes to jogging my natural instinct is to push myself to the limit. Mind Over Matter Baby!!! You Got This!!! 2 and ½ laps in…I’m dying!!!
The next time I went to the track I took Sam’s advice. Instead of jogging at the pace I thought I was supposed to jog at, I intentionally slowed down and guess what??? I jogged for 5 LAPS STRAIGHT without stopping!!! Not only did I jog 5 laps but I wasn’t completely exhausted at the end of my jog. Not being exhausted actually helped me recover faster, which means I could jog more frequently.
Now I’m not here to just tell you about my mini successes. No, I want to share with you what God was speaking to me while I was jogging. After I passed lap 3 and felt like I could keep going, I felt like God was saying “This is how you are to live your life. I want you to find the pace I have graced you with.” God was showing me that in my life I was trying to push myself to do things that God has not graced me to do. I was trying to do things at a pace that God did not intend for me to be at. He said the reason why you gas out so quickly is because you are functioning outside of the pace I have graced you with.
Can I be honest with you? The hardest part of that jog was knowing that I could easily go faster than the pace I was jogging at. Trying to intentionally slow down to find a pace that will allow me to go further than I’ve ever gone was difficult to say the least.
I want you to know that this journey to maturity is not a sprint. There is no amount of years or days attached to it. God has called everyone to run the race of life at a pace they have been graced for.
My challenge to you this week is to Make Every Effort to hear from God. What adjustments do you need to make in your life to allow you to live at a pace God has graced you for. For some of you He might be saying speed up, for others He might be saying slow down but whatever it is we want to make sure we are living in step with the pace God has graced us with.
Father, In a world that tells us how to live and what to do , we ask that your voice would be louder than this world’s. We thank you that your grace is sufficient for us. We ask that you would show us the pace of your grace. Help us to walk in sync with your spirit so that we may be able to finish the race of life you have set before us. Show us the adjustments we need to make to grow into mature sons and daughters. Holy Spirit guide us, we need you! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!