Running the race set before me!

   I love to run.  Yes, I can’t run long distances yet…  But whether it’s running to the mailbox at the end of our driveway, running from a restaurant to our parked car, running up our long flight of stairs two steps at a time, or running to our couch to read my Bible or a good book, it fills me with PLEASURE!  You may think, “What’s so fun about running a little?”  Well, it’s because I was on crutches for 6+ months last year!
   Before I had my SCS implanted, I went through grueling months of physical therapy, “learning” how to walk again.  It was painful!  At my first PT appointment, that’s what I had to learn to do.  WALK.  I was like a toddler learning how to walk.  I had to walk for 1 minute, 3x a day for the first week…then 3 minutes the second week…then 5 minutes…8 minutes…until I could walk for 25 minutes at a time!  It wasn’t a fast walk, though, because the CRPS pain was so severe.  And I couldn’t do one tip-toe with my right foot no matter how hard I tried because it felt like a knife was stuck in the ball of my foot!  But now, after my surgery last September and still more months of physical therapy, I can now run, jump, AND tip-toe 20x at one time with my right foot!  God is good.  And He was good even when I couldn’t walk, even when I couldn’t tip-toe.
   So THAT’S why I love to run.  And when I run, I feel so free!  When I was thinking about that, I thought about how it’s the same with my life as a follower of Christ.  Because Jesus washed away my sins when He died on the cross for me, the chains of sin no longer keep me in bondage.  I have been set “free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2)  “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
   On this journey, I don’t want to “run aimlessly” (I Corinthians 9:26), I want to “run with endurance the race that is set before [me], looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of [my] faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)  My friends, join me in this race!  Keep looking to Jesus!

P.S.  This coming Monday, Jan. 30th, I will be having my third stellate ganglion block done.  I would greatly appreciate your prayers once again!