Faith Over Circumstance

Another grueling workout… I have just finished leg presses with 10 plates. As I grab the sides of the press machine to steady myself as I get up, I can feel my legs shaking. It is not the normal shake of someone who has worked out hard. It is the shake that comes from the nerves in my body struggling through multiple sclerosis.

I look around the gym as I try to get my mind to coordinate my legs to move and I see the other bodybuilders working out. They are all healthy. They stand strong and steady on their legs. They don’t hold onto the machines to keep from losing their balance. There is no effort in walking from machine to machine.

“Wow,” I think to myself, “this is a tough circumstance to be in.” But here I am. I cannot feel my right leg or foot, other than the tingling. My mind has trouble getting my extremities to cooperate. The symptoms of MS seem endless and unpredictable. I could be frustrated right now. I could even be depressed. But where do I look in these times? Do I look at my circumstance, or do I look to my God? I choose to look at the Lord. My faith in God, and the victory He is bringing me to is bigger than what I am facing.

When we are in the middle of challenges, we need to search our hearts and find our faith. The faith we have that is beyond understanding. The faith that tells us there is a reason we are going through what we are going through, and that God will deliver us to a better place if we have faith in Him. We might not be able to see where He is taking us but we know it’s going to be good!

First Kings 2:4 (NIV) says, “…and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'” We might not be preparing our descendants for a seat on the throne of Israel, but by walking faithfully despite our circumstances we are ensuring God’s promise to bring us to a place of victory.

Today, find that faith and make sure it is BIG, for God is bigger than any mountain in your way. Let your faith be so big that you don’t climb the mountains in your life, you walk right through them. That’s what I’m doing. I’ve stood on stages and competed against healthy bodybuilders (despite what the doctors said) as a testimony to God’s promise to those who faithfully walk with Him.