One More Step
I just listened to a podcast about how spiritual discipline was like running a marathon. 
And my mind looped back to a time when I was a teenager, perhaps 15 years old, and on a lazy summer day I decided to run the loop around our oval driveway. It felt good to stretch my spindly legs and I kept jogging down the slope and then up around again. Maybe I’ll try to do ten laps. I accomplished that fairly well so I added ten more laps as a goal and that’s how my personal challenge increased at each success.
There hit a space where my body felt wiped out. I might not hit the goal this time around. I quickly decided I’d just keep going until I couldn’t go anymore. And somewhere after 50 laps my body just maintained an old-lady type jog. Feet barely off the ground, but still moving. After I hit 80 laps, I just decided my goal would be 100. Much like the children’s story of The Little Train That Could I told myself to ‘just keep going.’
As the podcast ended, I realized that challenging myself as a teen had in a way taught me that even though my body said it’s over, it’s time to quit; that indeed my body could sustain itself and go much farther. It wasn’t a pretty run, but the goal was accomplished.
In my life’s journey, I believe that early challenge allowed the mindset that I could even when everything within me said I couldn’t.
There will be moments where we face the unknown, the unfamiliar, and plainly the undesired stumbling stones. And the question always is, ‘Can I do this?” A place where everything within us shouts. ‘NO!’
But be encouraged. Deep within there is a quiet voice that whispers, “Just one more step.” And somehow you get through it. One little step at a time.
I was almost twice that age before Jesus entered my life. I now have a treasure store of experiences where He has carried me through. But I am convinced by this little memory that it was Him way back then, whispering to me to “just keep going.”
Stay the course.
Be blessed and be a blessing, 
~Debbie G
- And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
- I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
- Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, Proverbs 3:13
#wisdomthoughts #strongerthanyouknow #StrengthWithin