Pray and Keep Walking

I woke up feeling great and went through my normal morning routine which always involves a quick look at my in box.  I prefer to answer any time-sensitive work emails before leaving the house each morning. I have a bad habit of doing that while sitting on our bed with the puppy snuggled up beside me.  Upon getting off the bed and standing up to head out for my day, my back began to scream at me.  In pain that is.  Unable to stand up straight without an excruciating stab in my lower back, I began to pray and stretch and moan a little bit.  After contemplating calling my chiropractor and canceling my morning plans, I heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit in my heart, “pray and keep walking.” I’ve learned the hard way to obey His whisper so in a rather uncomfortable Jeep ride, I bounced my way over to where our staff was meeting to pile into a couple of vans together and head up to the Penn State campus to prayer-walk. 

A bit like an 80 year old lady I grabbed the door handle and arm rest to pull myself up into the van trying desperately to not wince nor give into the sharp pain threatening my body.  Once on campus, and while walking to meet the others, I asked my faith-filled friend, Lynn, to pray for my back.  She did, short and sweet then off we went. Now, I could go on and on about my spinal predicament and God’s mercy in healing me, and the two plus miles I walked in an effort to obey the whisper but the moral of the story is not Sherilyn’s healed back.  Smile. The moral of the story is a life principle that I couldn’t help but notice as the day wore on; pray and keep walking. 

All too often when something hurts.  When I'm injured on the inside, emotionally or spiritually, I’m tempted to do almost anything other than talk and listen to God. Let alone keep pressing on.  Much more often I opt for sitting still and nursing the wound so as to not feel the pain ... or medicating the pain ... or running to the doctor to deal with the pain. And all are wise and viable options, at times.  However, when life hands me an unwanted trial, a disappointment or even when someone hurts or offends me, if I would but pray and keep walking instead of the alternative responses of choice, things might be set aright more quickly.  Maybe more completely.  And very likely, more accurately.  According to what God has on His heart for me in any given situation, on any given day.  When one of those difficult times or seasons come along in life, I tend to ...

• sit and keep worrying
• pout and keep resenting
• fret and keep working
• isolate and keep blaming
• stew and keep complaining

And on and on the choices go that seem to never set things aright.

Pray and keep walking.  A good rule to live by whether your back needs divine healing, or your heart does.