Running and Getting up early

I have to get up early in order to run before my husband leaves for work in the morning. Well, lately I’ve been praying for the Lord to help me get up early because it is really hard to get up at 6am to go running. God is so good! He has been helping me wake up (even if I don’t always get up) and this morning He woke me up extra early around 5:15am. When I woke up, I didn’t feel tired at all! It was awesome! So I laid there and talked to God (and fell in and out of sleep twice) until 5:45am.

Then a strange thing happened. Right after I got out of bed Mike says to me, “Don’t run the same route you always take.” I ask him, “What do you mean?” He replies with added emphasis, “Don’t go the same way you always do.” I’m thinking, “Is he awake?” But I couldn’t tell. Then it hit me that this could be from the Lord. It has crossed my mind a few times in the past weeks that it might not be the safest thing to go running in the dark at 6:00 in the morning.

So I get dressed and start warming up and all the while I’m thinking, “Lord, do you not want me to run the same route I normally take?” I wasn’t particularly thrilled about the notion because I had a route already mapped out that was exactly one mile and it was easy for me to measure how far I was running. Then I remembered a dream I had that night. In the dream, I was walking through the Shop ‘n Save parking lot at night when a man attacked me. That pretty much did it for me. I decided to run a different route altogether in the subdivision next to mine. I always run with a flashlight so I can see my watch and so cars can see me. About eight minutes into my run, the batteries went dead.

I didn’t “feel” like I was in danger to run the same route I usually took. I thought that I was probably being paranoid and the Lord wasn’t telling me to run a different route. But I decided that it is better to be safe than sorry so I took into counsel the dream and I heeded Mike’s advice. Right now I am safe and sound back at home and just maybe the Lord saved my life today. Maybe I could have been attacked or kidnapped. Maybe I was going to be hit by a car. I guess I’ll never truly know. However, I really liked my new route! I think I might keep it and alternate routes. God is so good!

The Word of God

Occasionally, during my quiet times, I will hug and even give my Bible a kiss. I know that probably sounds odd; however, at times, the swell of affection inside my heart is so great toward the Word of God and God Himself, that this is the way I feel compelled to express it.

Sometimes reading God’s word is wonderful! It is literally thirst quenching—like taking a drink of ice water on a hot day. Sometimes reading His word is like wrapping oneself in a blanket—peacefully safe and secure. Sometimes when we open the word the verses jump of the page piercing like knives and we just want to cry. And sometimes we read God’s word and we are bored and distracted. Sometimes we read His word and we don’t feel much of anything.

Regardless of our experiences in the Word, there is one thing I know for certain. His Scripture is just as powerful in the times we don’t feel anything as it is when we experience its sharp double-edged sword. God’s power is not limited by the way we feel. We are still being taught even if we are bored or walk away feeling like we didn’t learn anything. His precepts reach down to the inmost parts of our soul even when we think we feel nothing.

This is why we must be faithful to persevere in dry and difficult times and stay in His Word! Because through the Holy Scripture, His Truth does things for us that we don’t even know! In His Word is our life saving subsistence. Without God’s nourishment and care, we die slowly—becoming shriveled, sickly, and weak. We are pale and fading without Him, the Giver and Source of all life.