Last week I wrote a post about “wounds.” The response through email, text, facebook and on twitter was a confirmation that we all walk through seasons of hurting emotionally, physically and mentally. I received stories of walking through divorce, financial struggle, loss of a loved one and medical struggles. The truth is I hesitated to click “publish” on that post. Although I have a blog, I choose to walk through difficult personal seasons quietly and privately. I’m not often a guy that asks for prayer. It’s just the way I am. Yet the response from several that said “I felt like you were talking to me” was confirmation that these posts aren’t written for me. I was reminded to always follow that prompting to post. Always.
In 2009 I did something I will most likely never do again. After running my first half marathon just 2 weeks earlier, I thought I should try to run a full marathon too….without training. I’m not a runner, I run. I’m not some elite athlete that can just get up and go. But somehow I was able to complete all 26.2 miles with my wife running right by my side.
As we turned the final corner and every muscle and bone in my body was screaming to quit, the song “Healer” came on my iPod. I will never forget seeing that finish line and hearing the lyric “For nothing is impossible with you. Nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible for you. You hold my world in your hands” over and over again. Had my body not been depleted of fluids, I probably would have wept like a baby. I left a lot of baggage on those 26.2 miles. Through no strength of my own, I was finishing a marathon of so much more than running.
My healer met me there.
The best way I knew to follow up a post about wounds is to encourage you with those same words. To each of you that are walking through a season of doubt, or hurt, or struggle and you haven’t yet turned the corner to see that finish line, keep going. Keep taking each next right step. You may feel depleted, exhausted and feel like quitting, but victory is in those next steps. In Psalm 121, David expressed his need for a healer too:
I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber;
As you walk through this season, lift your eyes to the hills. Know that the maker of heaven and earth watches over you too. Soon you will “turn the corner” on healing and feel that same satisfaction I felt that day. You’ll know, without a doubt, that nothing is impossible and he holds your world in his hands.
