Running the Race

As a child, we often found ourselves in a foot race with another child, whether on the football field, basketball court or playground. In life, we are called to run the race God has planned for us but sometimes life just trips us up or we allow someone else to trip us up.

I was reading in Galatians 5: 7-8 where God’s Word says, ” You were running the race so well. WHO has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for He is the one who called you to freedom.”

I have read this verse many times before, but I never really noticed the word WHO before. I think we often stumble in this life because of others speaking words of doubt, discouragement, disbelief, hate, anger, abuse, fear, on and on, we have allowed ourselves to get sidetracked from what God originally designed for our lives. This verse says that it certainly isn’t God that has held you back because He is the one that has called you to freedom.

Do you have freedom today or are you still living on the sidelines waiting for someone else to tell you how to reach your full potential? I certainly know where you are at because I lived in fear most of my life. From as early as 4 or 5 years old, I have known fear, anxiety and agoraphobia as well as many horrible tragedies in my life from multiple suicides to the murder of my grandmother. All of those instances of “life” only hindered me more and more. I knew that I wasn’t living up to God’s potential but I just didn’t know how to get from point A to point B because all I had ever had spoken to me or about me was negative. Doubt and discouragement were my best friends along with fear. Nothing I did seemed to break through the bondage of fear and anxiety. I kept pushing forward but never made much progress.

I totally believe that often God uses the simple and the mundane to help someone else see the next step in their own lives. Often God uses the Word that I have previously read but then one day it is like I have totally new eyes. My eyes and heart are open to a new way of reading and understanding that Word from God.

Listen to your own heart. It knows the next step to take and all God asks of us is to take that next step. He understands our fears and our anxiety. Of course, He wants us to be free but HE is not the one holding us back. Often it is the WHO or WHAT that is keeping us held back. Why do you think that is so? Because the enemy uses all things to keep us from fulfilling God’s destiny in our lives.

Today Friend, I want to offer you a word of encouragement. Freedom is possible; even in small, bite size pieces. You don’t have to go to the top of the highest building to beat your fear of heights. One step at a time. One day at a time. You know the way that works for you and no one else can say that they understand your struggle because every person is different. Each of our stories may be similar but there are no two exactly alike. I am praying for you daily. Please leave me a comment or connect with me on FB.