Late in 2007 I went through chemotherapy that caused minor heart damage. It was not enough for the doctors to be concerned, but for me it was something I lost which I shouldn’t have. At the time I was forty, and though I often rode my bicycle long distances as a teenager, I hadn’t done much exercise since then. Still, determined to regain at least some of my heart strength, I started exercising by jumping on a small trampoline as my knees couldn't handle running.
The first day I lasted five whole minutes! J The second day I did ten and worked my way up to twenty minutes by the end of the week. Every day I forced myself up on that trampoline early in the morning even though I hated to do it. I had one goal on my mind… a stronger heart. Months later, still working out six days a week, I was doing 45 minutes a day plus (men’s) pushups every 10 minutes and weights every other day. (I finally worked my way up to a treadmill.)
The side benefit for me was I lost the thirty pounds I’d gained in chemo (yes, some people gain weight, and I was one. L) Anyway, it was that determination to regain what I’d lost that pushed me to continue exercising even on those days my body and mind said “just take today off…” Basically, I wouldn’t allow my body to dictate what I was doing or not, and that took solid resolve. I made an absolute decision to persevere and improve my heart and health as much as I could.
Now I am determined to find that same determination for doing God’s will by following the Holy Spirit completely- all the time. I’m not going to give up until it happens. My plan is to keep crying out to God for help, pleading for Him to help me understand Him better, to be one with Him as John 17:21 states, to be in His presence and to learn more about Him any way I can… to press in. My goal is to let that determination dictate my decisions, and not my feelings.
I just love the Lord so much I want to be all in.
How about you?