Give up!

Recently, I have embarked on a journey to lose weight and get healthy. If you aren't familiar with my journey, check out my "Rebuilding" blog. (It has been a while since I've updated, but that will be remedied soon.) I am making progress and it's going well, but it's definitely not easy. 

Just before I started, we were given a stationary bike. Actually, it was given to my son because he enjoyed playing on it when we visited my aunt and uncle. So much for my excuse that I don't have time to go workout. God brought the workout to me.

When I first started, I did 5 minutes on the bike every morning, only 5 minutes. It doesn't sound like much, but when you haven't done any intentional exercise in years, it was A LOT. I was so sore the first few days! Over the first couple of weeks, I worked up from 5, to 6, to 7, to 10 minutes. Each time, it would get harder and my muscles would be sore all over again. But only for a couple of days. By the end of a week, it was a piece of cake. 

I am now up to 30 minutes and almost 7 miles a day. It isn't especially easy, but it's doable. It feels so good when I'm finished to know that I stuck with it and didn't quit when it was hard. And it's paying off. The weight is coming off. Slowly, but it is happening. My perseverance is paying off. I didn't give up.

One night last week, I was sleeping and having a dream. I don't really remember the details of the dream except one. It was the moment right before my alarm went off and I opened my eyes. I was running or walking down a path of some kind, a hallway maybe or a road. I looked up and right in front of my face was a sign that looked like this.

 

A simple, but clear message. That was the last thing I saw in my mind before I woke up. 

Visual images are powerful. Once you've seen something, it's hard to get rid of it. My kids make jokes about needing "mind bleach" when they've seen something they didn't want to, but in reality, there is no such thing. 

That image followed me around for the rest of that day and, honestly, most of the rest of the weekend. It affected my attitude, my actions, and my relationships.

Until...

I looked at it for what it was, a lie. An attempt to shake my confidence and keep me from accomplishing the things God had planned for me. God tells me over and over again in His word to not give up, to persevere, to keep going. He speaks words to me that build me up and point me in the right direction. 

He wasn't the one telling me to give up. That was a distraction. I had to choose to change my focus from the lie that tried to stop me, to the truth. This is what God tells me.

 

So, when everything around me, including my dreams, tells me to give up, I will lift my eyes and look to Jesus, who tells me to keep running my race to the end. He will not let me fail!