Has your mind ever written a check your body couldn’t cash? Mine did. Recently I participated in an endurance run with several men and women from work. It was three miles of mud, river crossings, walls, tight crawl spaces and more mud. Being a kid at heart, my 64-year-old body didn’t respond the way I thought it would. Let’s just say, there is an MRI in my future.
None of us like to admit we have limitations. But we do. Life has a way of exposing them and the only question is, do we have a plan when we reach our limits?
Many of the men and women we serve at our shelters are at the end of their road. They are out of resources. Yes, we can provide the basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing, but we all need so much more. In order to be a thriver and not just a survivor at life, I think there are at least three things we all need:
- Relationships – We all need people in our lives that will not only be there to help us carry our burdens and celebrate our victories, but we also need those who will tell us the truth in love and hold us accountable. Hebrews 10 :24 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” We need people in our lives that will bring out the best in us and sometimes that takes a good spurring.
- Guidance – We need guidance in our lives that is based on the truth. God’s Word is the best and only source that will never let us down. David wrote in the psalms that God’s word is a “lamp for his feet and a light for his path.”
- Purpose – What are you living for today? A paycheck, a hobby, your next vacation. One lady told me, “My whole life became about nothing more than beer and the whole “cooler on a tailgate” lifestyle. God made you on purpose for a purpose. When we realize that, life takes on a whole different dimension.
When you reach your limit, do you just push on through, or do you reach out. God will send people into your life and His Word is there to guide you to His purpose for your life. We weren’t meant to go it alone.
Back to that fateful obstacle run. When I reached my limit on that day, face down in the mud, I looked up and saw a hand. I realized I needed more than my own sheer strength and determination. And together, we made it to the finish line.
