Recovery - Day 99!

My running shoes are still laying in my closet. It's hard to believe I haven't run yet. It has been longer than I thought, but it's all good. I am indeed running in the spiritual and I'm so excited about what the Lord is doing in me, in my family, and in my church.

But before I blog about some of the things God is doing, I am continuing to cross train with biking and swimming. I did have some sickness that actually has also gone through several of my family members and so I had about two weeks off. This past Saturday when I biked I actually found myself feeling a lot more confident and less apprehensive. Usually I'm concentrating on maintaining balance and watching the road for rocks and holes. This time I found my thoughts more free and realized that they were drifting off to think on other things. It kind of caught me by surprise when I went around a turn while keeping speed without even thinking about being careful not to fall out of balance or have the peddle hit the pavement. It has been similar with swimming. Usually I'm having to focus on breathing and how far I am from the wall before I have to do my flip turn. This past Sunday I found my thoughts less on my swimming and on other things. To me those are good signs. To multitask in exercise is a plus - the body is being trained and the mind being disciplined to meditate, pray, and reflect.

My exercise regime may be interrupted this week due to being called to the spiritual discipline of fasting. There are some interesting things going on not to mention some pressing needs that call for not just prayer, but fasting too. My call to fast began after church on Saturday and has been open-ended thus far. I am just fasting from solid food at this time. There are others who are fasting too. It comforts me to have others fast with me.

Two nights ago, the Lord woke me from my sleep and I began to pray for some urgent life and death situations involving two young girls. One is contemplating abortion. The other one is anorexic and bulemic and in the hospital with heart and kidney damage. Satan wants to bring death. The Lord wants to bring life. When I began to pray for them I could not believe the emotion that ensued. I began to weep very loudly. I didn't want to wake my husband so I proceeded to go into our bathroom to pray. I did wake my husband and I just told him I'd been strongly prompted by the Lord to intercede for those two girls. I had an amazing time there with the Lord. His presence was powerful and I was in awe. Three words kept coming to my mind - gap stander, bridge builder, and wall mender. As I have thought about these words I believe the Lord is calling His people to see three great needs. One is our need to stand in the gap and to pray, pray, pray, and pray. The other is our need to be a bridge builder to the lost. We have the gospel and unless we go to them and proclaim it how will they come to Christ - Romans 10:14-15. Wall menders are about fixing the breaches we have in our churches. The breaches in our walls have brought in compromise and thus we have neglected to be set apart and wholly devoted for God's purposes. What is powerful to me is not that any of this is new but that it seems to come with a sense of urgency and timing. "Wall up our breaches" it says in Amos 9:11. And that is one thing I am praying that God would "wall up our breaches!" How can a compromised and prayerless people who are called by the name of God have, know, or see any power to go and fulfill the great commission? These are my recent reflections in my days of recovery. I am anticipating God to pull down strongholds that I cannot see - strongholds captivating young girls to see death as their only recourse. I am choosing as I cling to the grace of God to be a gap stander, a bridge builder and a wall mender as I am led deeper into the surrendered life.