Building My Strength

In an attempt to maintain some normalcy, I decided to establish a routine around here.  I gave myself some grace and just allowed my body to wake up naturally.  The day wouldn’t start until I was fully rested.  Then after I got out of bed, the plan was to workout using YouTube.  I assigned myself a room to deep clean daily.  I would then work on my book for a couple of hours.  After all those things were completed, I would have free time.  Beautiful plan, don’t you think?

Of course, my plan got derailed.  I did great last Monday and Tuesday.  But honey, I was over it by Wednesday.  Completing full body workouts using all this body weight took an unprecedented toll on me.  I worked out faithfully four times a week before COVID-19.  And those workouts were decent.  I would burn anywhere from 500-600 calories.  But they had nothing on this full body routine.

When I would go to the gym, I would hit up the elliptical and power through the weight loss program.  The hills would get high and hard.  But I knew that if I pushed through the interval, I would get some rest.  The forward motion I created on the machine would offset some of the pressure that I felt.  Remaining in motion made the workouts endurable.

Not so when I’m working out at home.  There is just me.  No forward motion to help me along.  I’m pressing against myself and all this weight that I’ve allowed to build on my body.  It’s hard.

This makes me think of my present spiritual condition.  I thought that I was fully trusting and depending on God until this past two weeks.  My forward motion, my dependable income, has been removed.  I’m left with the full weight of life.  Thankfully, I’m not overcome with sadness and “woe is me.”

Just the way that my physical body needed rest after trying to tackle this full body workout, my spiritual side needed to learn to truly rest in Jesus.  Some people may get bothered by the repetitive nature of my blogs, but every day I’m determined to rest in Him.  I would be lying if I said that resting was second nature for me.  As you can see by my schedule, rest is something that I must be intentional about.

Does that mean I lay still and do nothing all day?  Absolutely not.  We only get stronger when we work out our faith muscles.  I may not follow my schedule to the “T”, but I’ve seen great progress in the cleanliness of my home and the strength of my body.  My muscles may scream out in pain when I initially workout, but this is what’s best for them.  I want to be prepared for whatever lies ahead.  This is the season to build my strength.  #wepreach