Dreading and Treading.....

If you all are like me, each year starts off with some resolutions. The first one always being that THIS is THE YEAR where I will actually stick to the resolutions and do them. Ha!!!! Many more follow, often mimicking the years before it. Oh how I LONG to have the stamina to keep it up this year...To see it through...to accomplish something great. Just this once. Any of my thoughts resonate with yours yet?

Each year I start off with not only the resolutions but a word for the year. Last year was OVERCOME. The Lord did and is doing mighty things. Never let me understate that this and everything is ALL about HIM.
Later in the week (prior to Christmas) I was speaking with a sweet pastors wife. We were discussing kids, fun, and just laughter when someone lovingly told her that I was a cancer survivor. "Great," I thought "here goes another one." You see, most of the time when others find this out about me, they do one of two things....turn around and walk away as if I have the plague, or they treat me as if I am a burden.

This sweet woman stopped abruptly and looked me in the eye and squeezed  my hand so hard and said these words I will never forget: "Erin, I have a message for you that I have often told my children. I want you to never be like Lot's wife and look back. Don't forsake the deliverance of the Lord. DON'T LOOK BACK!"

I will NEVER love exercise, but it is something that I have had to discipline myself to do for life. It is good for me, it fights cancer, and it helps prevent the return of cancer as well. So, I walk, waddle, run, jog and often trip my way on the treadmill, and I dispise it but NEVER have I regretted finishing my workout- or any workout. The rewards are priceless.

That being said, I often use the time I am on the treadmill to pray and seek wisdom from the Lord. To risk sounding overspiritual I will admit that I have to have scripture or something in front of me because I become distracted as time wears on. Well suffice it to say that one day I was walking...every sound and object captured my attention and before I knew it I had hit the side of the treadmill floor- the part that WAS NOT MOVING- and well, you understand the picture.....not pretty.

This candid reminder brought back the words from my sweet pastor friend, about not looking back. For some that is a no brainer, but for this wandering woman of faith I often need these heaven touching earth moments to realize just what the Lord is saying to me.

As this year begins I am filled with hope, because I am learning (through painful experience) to not look back. Realign my focus to what HE is doing. To not forsake the deliverance of the Lord, like Lot's wife.

To spare you a bruise or two and some awesome road rash I would encourage you to do the same. Lot's wife became a pillar of salt. Don't believe me? Check it out...her story starts and ends in Gen. 19. This year, resolve to keep your eyes and your heart focused on Jesus, not paralyzed on something from the past or allow your current situation to hold you captive.

Deliverance is one decision and one step away....Don't look back.