This was posted on The Round Farmhouse Ministries blog on Friday, July 5th. So thankful to be writing for another blog!
“God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:19a ESV
A few months ago, I was finishing a run when I noticed my left foot turned out in an undesirable way. My leg didn’t hurt, but I felt some tension around my left knee. This pain and foot angle weren’t new to me – they happened often during my bout with an eye disease that impacted my balance and how I walked. I recognized that I would need to monitor and readjust my posture and walking in the coming days. In a way I was learning to walk. . . again. I say again not because I learned to walk when I was little, but I’ve had to relearn to walk correctly a few times during the past few years.
Sometimes that happens with other things in life. We don’t recognize when something changes in our lives, maybe because we’re stuck in routines, or maybe because we’re so busy. Maybe we stopped praying, maybe we stopped reading the Bible, maybe we stopped going to church, maybe we stopped fellowshipping with others. Regardless of how we got there, we may need to learn how to do these life-giving things again.
The good news is we don’t need to even try to make changes on our own. In Habakkuk 3:19 we read that we can rely on God to be our strength and he will make us sure-footed as we navigate tricky and unfamiliar circumstances. If we look at the previous verses, we read what we expect to happen based on our experience and predictability does not always happen: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,” (Habakkuk 3:17 ESV). Yet, verse 18 what we should do in the face of change and fear of the future: “yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
Here are some things to consider as you move forward in making a change:
Accountability: Tell a trusted friend about the change you’re trying to make and ask them to check-in with you in one week.
Diligence: The change might not happen right away, but that’s ok because you’re trying to make a long-term change. It takes time and persistence.
Discomfort: Change doesn’t happen in isolation. A change in your life may impact the lives of those around you, but that’s ok!
Even a small change can make a big difference. But you’ll need to monitor the change and check-in with yourself regularly to make sure you’re maintaining the change. Just remember it’s for your good, so don’t get discouraged! God’s strength will change you!
