Walk It Out

I love walking! Walking involves movement. Walking involves taking steps forward. It is an easy and fun way to exercise. I love walking laps by myself in my yard. I love walking with my cousin. I love doing indoor walking workouts from YouTube. All keep me engaged and going! They can leave me tired and needing breaks too! There are definitely times when I have to discipline myself and be more intentional. There are times I have to tell myself, "Okay- you've been sitting too long. It's time to get up and moving." But, I am learning to become more consistent in my walks and I feel so much healthier and happier about it! Once you find what works for you, stick with it. Your workout may look different than mine and that's okay. As long as you're up and moving and get some type of physical activity in, that's what counts. When we sit too long, our muscles begin to get stiff and tight. We start to get sluggish. And I don't know about you, but I need to be healthy for what God is calling me to do! Not only do we need to be healthy physically, but spiritually. Every day, we need to walk out our life. We don't always know what's going to happen. Can we say that 2020 came in and hit us in many unexpected ways?! Let's took a look at Matthew 14:24-32 for a minute where we see walking that took place. Jesus' disciples were riding along in a boat when it starts to get windy out on the water. The waves start to get rough. That's what Jesus decides to start walking on the water towards the boat. Now the disciples at this point are panicked, scared and worried of the approaching storm (sound familiar?!). So when they see Jesus walking, their first thought is he's a ghost. Jesus then spoke to them and said it was him and not to be afraid. One of the disciples, Peter (who was known for his boldness) wanted to know if it was really Him to tell him to come walk to him. When Jesus told him to come, Peter stepped out of the boat and start walking on the water! As soon as he looked at the wind though, he got discouraged and started to sink. Hmm..he was feeling confident and then all of a sudden he looked at something that caused him to doubt. Jesus reached out to him and they both got back in the boat. As soon as they did, the wind stopped just like that! 2020 has brought us some windy situations with rough waters that may have caused us to doubt who we are and who God is. We may have been like Peter and begin to sink. It's okay- I've been there too! Perhaps you started walking and doing something you never did before, but it didn't quite work out. Get back up. As the Lord leads, go back at it and try again. We're not alone, Just like Jesus reached out to help Peter, he's reaching out to help us. Every walk is not always pretty and there are stumbles along the way. I remember walking on the trail with my cousin and stumbling. I remember I stumble on some of the moves in the indoor walking workouts. But the key with all of them- I kept going! I had to stop for a second and regain my balance, but then I came back at. Life has moments when we sink and stumble, but we have to keep walking it out and take steps forward. My cousin and I did get to the end of the trail (as never-ending and tiring as that was- another story for another day!!), but I'm glad I was walking with her and we encouraged each other through. I do finish my indoor workouts and laps outside. Sometimes God will send people to walk alongside you like my cousin and other times you may be walking by yourself. But either way, keep going. Stay determined. There's too much on the inside of us to stop now. Keep moving ahead. Keep walking it out!