Rise Up and Walk

I always thought of change as something that would announce its arrival.

Like a loud, confident voice saying, “Hey, I’m here! You can’t stay the same. Let’s fix you up!”

I heard a testimony once. A woman, confined to a wheelchair, said she was watching a healing service on Emmanuel TV. In her words, “I was tired of sitting in that wheelchair, watching all those people get their healing. Suddenly, a righteous anger engulfed me, and I got up and walked!”

The entire church rose to their feet, celebrating Jesus.

I still think back on that testimony. Looking at your current situation, when will you develop your own righteous anger and do something about it?

Back to my flawed concept of change. I thought, just like the woman, my change would be loud and visible. Instead, I’ve found that it’s often quiet, internal, and reveals itself through my thoughts, which in turn shape my decisions.

I thought peace would fill my heart every single moment of my life if I worked on myself. However, peace feels like a tiny rope I’m holding onto amid the messiness of life.

I thought victory would look like a change in environment, career, finances, and finally overcoming negative thoughts. But I’ve learned that victory is sometimes just giving myself grace on a fairly good day, while navigating the see-saw of life: one minute great, the next not so great.

Change, they say, is constant. Although, the words “change” and “constant” don’t seem to match, it clearly shows the complexity of life and that someone else’s journey, though it may mirror yours, will never be exactly yours.

So, embrace your own journey. Embrace your change. Keep choosing to rise up and walk, every day.

The Psalmist described it best when he said, “Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life; There’s a future in strenuous wholeness.”
(Psalms 37:37 (MSG))