This morning I fought. I went for a run, and I ran and I walked, and I praised God for who He is in the middle of green rolling hills, and boulders, blue sky and white and gray clouds and all the splendor of His creation. My run started slow, and I believed I wouldn't get very far. It's been a while, and I got winded more quickly than I used to, but I kept going. The weight fell off about half way through, and the tenseness was gone. Stress is a deceiver. If someone would have asked me if I could get out there and enjoy the run and go as far as I did this morning, I might have laughed. This morning I was victorious, and yeah, I didn't conquer the world, but I didn't stay inside and get dragged deeper into the realm of worry, fear, and hopelessness. Right now I don't know where I'll end up, I'm unemployed and in the process of starting a business. There are real fears, there are real worries, I've made real mistakes, but this morning they didn't stop me from living. Life is scary sometimes, and sometimes it's painful, and sometimes it just sucks, but each day you and I have a choice. Even when it doesn't feel like the choice is ours, it is.
If you've been stressed remember stress is a deceiver. It will leave you feeling like you can't go on. Like you have nothing more to give, but there is more in you than you believe, and there is a God who is for you, and for me and He is calling us to lay down our burdens, and just believe. He's calling us out of the darkness and into the light, but we've got to get up and go.
