With winter fading out here in the southeast and with my foot healing more and more we have gotten back to our family walks more! We try and walk together 3 - 5 times a week on a mile and a quarter route we've trekked out. It's mostly downhill the first half and, you guessed it, mostly uphill on the return!
A recent walk proved to be more fruitful than just the obvious benefits of the physical and the family time together. God really spoke to my heart and I just wanted to share of His goodness!
Here is Gray flying past us on our decent, a lot more aerodynamic than we were!
This is what he was racing to...
He likes to beat us down to the these large tubes that are on our "walking path" to hide in them. We try and see who is first in finding which one he's in!
As we were beginning our "Gray-man hunt" God spoke to my heart. I felt as if He was saying, "How much do you seek to find Me in My Word?" "How much are you seeking Me when you read my Word?"
This was especially close to my heart as I had just finished reading through the Bible a couple weeks ago. I had begun with a schedule that would have me finish in a year, then felt like God wanted me to slow down and really absorb it. It was more enjoyable to soak in the parts of familiar stories and find new meanings! As a result it took TWO years to get through instead of one year. Oh, but the nuggets I discovered!
When God prompted my heart about how much I was truly seeking HIM I felt like I needed to race back to the house and get into the Bible at that instant! How precious that He wants us to know Him more, the Lord wants us to "find" Him! When we obey His Word and live by God's ways He gives us just that, more of Him! That Holy Bible is the fundamental of knowing Him and how to live out His ways. After all, if we are "little Christ's" shouldn't we desire knowing more of Him and less of everything else?
"Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you..." Jeremiah 29:12-14a
Ah Ha!!
God continued to speak to me on this very same walk. I'm so grateful that He loves me, that I am His and that He cares enough to do a work in me! Anyway, as we were on the incline back home (pic below) I always get slower and have to put more into getting up that hill (sad but, just being honest). =) I began to feel the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart about the struggles (that are all "up hill" too) in my life that He placed there. "How much are you taking these circumstances with my grace?" "How much are you resting in me and trusting my will?"
God has been telling us "No" on a prayer request for some time. We don't know when or if or how He will answer it later but, for now His answer is "No". He is building character in each of the Adams' crew through this time. How grateful we are for that.
"Lord, remember this situation and that situation? Wasn't I willing to wait on you then?" I petitioned.
"Maybe yes," I answered to myself, "However, not always with this one." I recalled "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" Is. 40:1 (This is one of Gray's favorite verses in the Bible.)
I deeply desire to be found faithful and I want to please my Lord. Clearly I have more lessons to learn! I am praying that I will "be content in whatever situation I am in" so that my spirit is humbly accepting what God has for me now and always. I will see it as the challenge that it is!
Walking and not fainting - Kelly
Here it is...the challenge:
