Setback is not Failure

Usually, one week out of the month I hit a running slump. Sometimes it can even be a few weeks in a row. These are weeks where I am either not feeling good or I don't feel like waking up to run because work is tiring me out, family weighs heavily on my mind or my heart just isn't in it. What do I do? Well, for me, it helps to have a friend that checks in. We meet once or twice throughout the week which guarantees at least two runs a week. Also, when I make a goal, I am one to stick with it to see that goal get accomplished. I made a goal at the beginning of the year to run (or walk) at least a 5K distance three to four times a week. Putting that in writing has helped me get it done. Some weeks I attack that goal with strong determination and other weeks I just go through the motions. It's okay to have slumps. It's okay to have setbacks but we cannot stay stuck there. 

We have all heard the overused quote "You don't fail until you stop trying." We may roll our eyes when we hear it but it's true, isn't it? The weeks that I don't feel like running at all or the days that I have bad runs are not failed running days. The only failed running day is the day I don't go out and stay in bed instead. If I get up the next day and head out for a run, I am instantly back on track. Once I come through the other end of a slump, I feel a renewed love of running and how it makes me feel. What I am trying to get across to you is that God can use setbacks to give us a renewed passion. Everyone wants to know "Gods' plan" for their lives. I think we overcomplicate it. Jesus made it very clear in what is referred to as "The Great Commision" when he said in Matthew 28:18-20 (CSB) "Jesus came near and said to them, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you'."

I have friends and family that have specific circumstances making them feel like they stepped out of God's plan for their lives and now they are stuck dealing with the consequences of bad choices they have made in their past. God does not punish us for sinful decisions that we make as long as there is repentance and a turning of our hearts back toward Him. Yes, of course, there are natural consequences to our actions, but God is not sticking it to us for veering off His divine course. You may go very far off course and feel like you are in a slump as far as your relationship with God. You may even doubt that He is real. As long you keep taking baby steps back to your Creator you have not failed. Once you have set firmly in your heart the love of God and you want to live in a way that you are sharing that with others, even people around you that are currently making your life miserable, you are instantly back on track. You can then move forward in whatever circumstance you face with a God-given passion, a new desire to see those around you as fellow disciples of God, teaching them to observe His commands. With this in mind, every action you live out will allow you to shine as an example of God's love because you ARE living in this plan, His plan, for your life. As the last part of Matthew 28:20 says, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age," God is always with you and eventually you will, once again, be running alongside Him on the path He has set before you.