Moving Forward...

I did not want to get up this morning. I was sooo warm nestled in my bed under three blankets. Just moving the blankets to turn off my alarm clock exposed my arm to the frigid September air that filled our house overnight. Brrrr...

But despite my feelings, I knew I needed to get up or I would be late to work. I crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day, only to find out that my girls had taken longer than alloted on their morning shower. Now freezing even more that I was out of bed, I had the pleasure of standing in the hallway and banging on the bathroom door to alert my daughter that her time was up.

A few minutes later, I came out of the bathroom in a clean pair of pajama pants and a robe...ready for my work day! Ahhh...the benefits of working from home!

Mondays. Ick. Even working in pajamas while wrapped in a blanket wasn't enough to make me glad I was out of bed. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I am refusing to turn on our heater until at least October.

As my morning progressed, I kept thinking that I really needed to go running on my lunch. It had been 3 days since I last ran...which is highly unusual for me. But as I gazed out the window, that was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do. It looked cold and cloudy...the ground was wet from a recent rainshower. And boy, I was just soooo comfy wrapped in a blanket, typing away on my computer.

I could've easily given into my laziness and spent my lunch break warming up on the couch in front of the television. That was tempting, let me tell ya.

Instead, I decided to make myself go running. Of course, I spent half my lunch break getting ready for the big run (no I don't run in my pajamas) and psyching myself up to go do it. But once I got out there, I realized the weather wasn't as bad as I thought. It was actually a wonderful morning with the cool, crisp air!

My several minutes were spent running. Now, months ago I use to run a 5K (3.2 miles) every day...but since our move to Wisconsin, I have just had a hard time getting past 1.5 miles. Today was different. I felt motivated. I suddenly felt like I was ready for my breakthrough.

After my normal turnaround spot, I decided to go farther....so much farther that I ended up running 2.2 miles. I felt so good! But what felt even better was that I knew I could've done an extra mile with no problem! Had I not wasted so much time getting ready, I would've had more of my lunch break to run. I am determined to run the full 3.2 miles tomorrow...rain or shine....
Well...maybe not in the middle of a thunderstorm.

I felt empowered. I felt like I accomplished something. I felt so good about myself. I broke through my pattern and I moved forward!

Moving foward. Interesting that my husband just kicked off this as our theme at church yesterday.

Isn't it so easy to get stuck in the same rut? It's so easy to get caught up in our patterns...our habits...even our sin. And it's so incredibly easy to get wrapped up in the lie that we cannot move out of that rut...or that sin....thinking that we are trapped...or we can never do any better.

The enemy wants us to believe that we can't do better...that we can't get out from the sin that has entagled us...that we can't move forward. He wants us to believe that we are stuck, slaves to the sin that we deal with...

But you know what? That is a LIE! With God's help, we CAN move forward. In fact, to not move forward, is to be stuck...stagnant...not growing. The enemy wants us to think we can't get anywhere...that we can't grow.

Move forward in God. Don't get stuck in the same place...push yourself to get deeper in your relationship with Him...no matter what the cost. Run that extra mile. Leave your past behind and move into the place God has called you to!

"I'm not going back...I'm moving ahead...I'm here to declare to you, my past is over...in You, all things are made new...surrender my life to Christ, I'm moving, moving forward."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PilfgFt-S4