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My new cross-trainers pounded on the pavement. My lungs were burning in the forty-degree air and my legs felt like they were on fire.
There it was in front of me. The stop sign. My goal for the first day of training.
I didn’t think I could make it. The weeks of running inside on
the treadmill during the arctic winter months helped somewhat, but
training outside on the uneven ground and in the wind was a new experience. Each step brought me closer. I don’t think I can make it. Yes, I can make it. No, I can’t. Yes, I think
I can. And so my thoughts went, in a manner reminiscent of the little
engine that could.
I can. The
possibility was there. I realized in that moment I definitely had the
capability to reach that stop sign, but whether I was going to turn I can into I will was the question. The further I ran, the more I was tempted to stop short and give up. I had to resolve to reach my goal.
I can = possibility.
I will = resolution.
As the stop sign grew bigger in my line of vision, my
thoughts continued to run at a similar pace. What about Philippians 4:13?
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
There it was again. I
can.
Christ’s strength, His grace, and His power are all right
there. Available. For me. 24/7.
“Ah, Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the
heaven
and the earth by Thy great power and
stretched out arm,
and there is nothing too hard for Thee.
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh:
is there anything too hard for Me?”
–
Jeremiah 32:17, 27
Christ will strengthen me, but I have to let Him work
through me. He does not force His power upon me. I have to choose to do all things through Him.
I am plugged in to His power source, but, like a conventional light switch, I
have to flip the switch on to let the power flow.
Lord, please help
me to accomplish what I set out to do today. Give me the strength and willpower
to finish well. Help me to turn possibility into resolution.
I made it to that stop sign. By His grace, I resolved to
achieve what I had set out to do and through His enabling I did. Is there something hard staring you
in the face? A massive rocky mountain right in your path that shouts
impossibility? A little bump in the road, but you are so weary that you fear it
might be the straw that breaks your back?
“But be not Thou far from me, O Lord:
O my strength, haste Thee to help me.”
–
Psalm 22:19
Be determined. Be resolved. Don’t give up. Don’t get
discouraged. Let Christ help you. He eagerly waits to bear your burdens for
you. He wants to help. He will give you the strength to lay aside the weights
and sin that so easily besets you and run your race well.
“The Lord will give strength unto His people
the Lord will bless His people with peace.”
–
Psalm 29:11
