“Mountaintops are for views and inspirations, but fruit is grown in the valley.”
~ Billy Graham
With my gym being closed, I have settled into a great morning routine of reading God’s word and studying using various books, sermons, and podcasts. In my studying earlier this week, I heard Pastor Louie Giglio talking about how God is good. He said, “Life is hard…God is good.” There aren’t too many things in life that are 100% “for sure”, but these two are! While Mr. Giglio talked about the life of Paul and how his life has been used to shape the lives of every Christian over all these years, something jumped out at me. He said, “We know more than Paul.” You see, Paul didn’t know his boldness, endurance, and words would become holy scripture and inspiration for generations to come. We DO know the story! PAUL faithfully ran HIS race…and WE need to run OUR race. We can’t always see the big picture and cannot understand all the things God is doing “behind the scenes”(in good times and difficult times). But…if we let God work on our hearts, He can make us into someone FAR greater than we could ever dream to be. The thing about Paul…he KNEW Jesus. He had an incredible gift to SEE the end of his journey. He KNEW that at the end of the race he was going to see Jesus face to face. My friends – it MATTERS what we do with the call on our lives. I’m convinced of this more and more each day. The truth is, EVERY day…we are one step closer…to seeing Jesus. I left that day of studying with these questions we can all ask ourselves: How are we running our race? Where is our focus? Do we know him? Do we look to the finish line…to see him face to face? It must become personal. We must KNOW Jesus! When we do, then He’s in our journey. And I believe this allows us to accept and understand grace. We start to understand there is no condemnation from Jesus – there is love. And from there, hopefully I…and you…can become bold, joyful, strong, and confident in sharing our story…our journey…and how Christ has walked with us along the way. If you don’t know Him, I pray you’ll read this and know He is pursuing you because He loves you. I pray your heart will open and you’ll feel that love cascading over you. I also pray for fellow believers that we stop and look in on our own race…that God gives us a renewed vision of our finish line…of His face. I pray for refined focus with boldness and strength to tell people how He saved us with such clarity that it opens eyes and hearts to the miracle of the gospel! Thank you Louie Giglio for the good word and for feeding my soul! Thank you all for reading as I share my story, growth, and the things I’m learning! I love you all! God Bless! – Anthony
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” ~ Hebrews 12:2
