“When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalm 94:18, 19 ESV).
I know I've written before about living intentionally. However, I don't always follow my own advice! So it is good to have reminders now and then. Recently, I heard a sermon on taking intentional steps in your Christian walk. The holy spirit will certainly guide and help us but we still must make intentional decisions to follow God and this is true for any area of our lives. I remember hearing a testimony from a lady who has now passed away about considering the consequences of decisions before we make them. Even blessings can become curses, if we make wrong choices.
I feel very blessed in many ways, some of which has resulted from our move, however, ease and convenience has made me very lazy (at least I think so)! Living intentionally requires making decisions AND follow through. It takes a great amount of self-control. When I say I'm going to clean, then I need to stop trying to do all my other chores before doing that. When I pray and prepare to study God's word, then I need to not allow myself to be distracted by a text or phone call. When I say I'm going to exercise, I need to stop looking for excuses to bail out! When I say I'm inspired to write something I need to set aside whatever I’m doing, if possible, and start writing, even if that means pecking it out on my phone at 5:30 in the morning as I am now since I'm away from home and don't have a real computer with me. I need to be as intentional with my follow through as I am with my initial decisions.
I’ve found, much to my chagrin, that exercising really does help my knee feel better. I’m sure my physical therapist would say, “I told you so!” if she could hear me. I really dislike exercising. I don’t like feeling weak or tired as you do when you exercise. However, I’ve also found that if you exercise consistently that the weak feeling will lessen. BUT should I take too long a break in-between workouts it will return and I’ll be back almost at square one. Will power is a funny thing. The more you exercise it the more you seem to have. But if you let it relax... That muscle seems to recess just like my physical muscles.
So take a few minutes each day to pray for God to set your mind on making not just intentional decisions but intentional follow through. He will help you stay strong. And should your foot slip, He will be there to lift you up again. Don’t give up! You may even impress yourself with how your life can change. It is exciting! The potential possibilities are really endless.