I had a thought the other day while running- I hate running uphill.
When I run from my house, it is inevitable that I on the return back home I have to run up a hill at some point. It put stress, anxiety on my body and causes me to say not-nice words. However, one of the things that I discovered in studying running is it isn’t healthy for the muscles in a body to always run on a flat surface or downhill- running uphill while a struggle can actually be beneficial for a runner.
The same can be said about you and me spiritually. In this series of blog posts I want to share to share five “hills” that I have had to face both as a leader and as a follower of Christ that I have had to learn how to run up and get over so that God could take me to the next level.
The first hill that was difficult for me to conquer was the death of my mother.
In November of 1982 my mother went to be with Jesus and while it was very sweet and rewarding for her it was incredibly difficult for me. Here is why…
I had a problem with God – or so I thought. At the time, in the 6th grade, I thought that God was a good God that did good things for his people and as long as you dotted the “I’s” and crossed the “T’s”, loved Jesus, went to church and read your bible (my mother did all of those!)
It made sense to me…God did good things to good people and did bad things to bad people!
In July of 1982, we discovered my mother had cancer and the doctor pretty much said it was too late. So for three months I prayed and begged and made promises to God that if he healed my mom that I would do certain things, and I had a difficult time understanding why a good God would do something this bad to a woman this good.
On November 17, 1982 she went on to be with Jesus and for the next several years I rebelled against God. Looking back now, I didn’t have a problem with God; I had a problem with my theology of God.
I thought God was limited to good things and could never use anything bad for his glory.
I also realized through that entire process that God was trying to bring me face-to-face with my sinfulness and wickedness and one of the things looking back over my life that I can say brought me to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ was the death of my mother. It was incredibly painful, but as I look back it was incredibly useful in the hands of the almighty God to bring to a place where I can meet Jesus and one day be reunited with my mom.
Pain isn’t always a bad thing…the question isn’t whether or not we will experience it…but rather whether or not we will waste it!