"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline."
2 Timothy 1:7
Last weekend, I started wearing minimalist running shoes. Not a drastic change from my original nontraditional running shoes, but enough different that I ran cautiously. My Thursday evening run gave me some seriously sore feet. Yesterday, I was questioning my choice of running shoes. Today, my feet felt better and I got out for a 4 mile run. As I started mile 3, I noticed that my feet were feeling great and I thought, "I'm getting strong feet!" Immediately, the words I want to live by...strong feet, strong heart, strong mind...went through my thoughts. I am convinced that they came straight from the heart of God to me! The words apply to my physical body and to my spirit...they are life giving words that I am going to hold onto and live by!
Strong feet are necessary if I am going to keep running the way I do. (Read the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall...it has changed my life!) There are going to be days of sore feet as I strengthen them. That's the nature of our amazing skeletal and muscular systems...yes, I teach human anatomy and physiology! Isaiah 52:7 says "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" That is what God has called me to do and I need strong feet to be obedient!
I have always desired a strong heart both physically and emotionally. My physical heart has a murmur...I was born with it. My mitral valve opens the wrong direction which makes it harder for my heart to pump life through my body. You would never know it unless you listened to my heart because I am blessed to live with NO symptoms! For years, cardiologists have encouraged me to exercise my heart...and now I am doing that! If you read my blog...or my facebook posts...you know that I struggle with emotional heart pain. God is teaching me how to bring my hurts (and everything else) to Him and to allow Him to protect my heart. My heart is getting stronger every day!
The true battlefield is in my mind! Any runner will tell you that the biggest hurdles are mental. The hardest part of running for me is getting out the door and leaving responsibility behind for an hour. I have to set my mind to running no matter what comes up. We all have doubts, fears, and insecurities that plague us and if I allow my mind to run amuck with them, I will be overcome and paralyzed. I've lived that way for too long! It is time for me to discipline my mind and take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ! (2 Corinthians 10:5) I will believe the truth and run away from the lies!
Strong feet, strong heart, strong mind. That is how God sees me! I believe it! I will live it!
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