I Can Do ALL Things Through Christ?

We read it and hear it all the time. That scripture from Philippians 4:13 that is supposed to enable us to do anything: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

It sounds so simple. Just believe that, and you can do anything. It is true, but there is always that one thing. We will say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me except_______.

Yes, that thing. I can't do that thing.

The "except" is not there, but we put it there. God makes no exceptions. There are things that we just think are too big or too complicated or just too scary. Nothing is too big for God, though. When He says ALL He means ALL. I have to keep repeating that verse in my head when I'm making a big decision. A decision that might be life-changing. I have little faith sometimes that it's all going to work out. The enemy will put the negative thoughts in my head. Of course God has a plan, but I'm a planner. I want to have control. I want to see the grand plan, but I can't. Even if we have little faith, He will come through. God said if you just have the faith of a mustard seed. Wow. That's REALLY little. If we just have a little bit of faith, He will help us grow our faith. We can only do that if we are listening to Him, though. We cannot allow the enemy to interfere. The enemy can sound just like God, and he will do anything to keep us from hearing God. The enemy puts the "except" at the end of that verse.

So, this whole triathlon coach leap of faith thing scares me (of course, that fear is the enemy, not God). It doesn't scare me because I have to provide for my family. It scares me because I don't want to fail. It's all about pride. I'm learning to put the pride aside and just do what God is telling me to do. I may have the faith of a mustard seed sometimes, but God helps my faith grow. He does that through people in my life. I call them my earthly cheerleaders. God is my biggest cheerleader, but it helps to have cheerleaders here on earth to keep us focused, get us through the hard times, help us make those big decisions or just say the right thing at the right time. Sometimes our children are our cheerleaders. We often do things for them or because of them. For some reason, those things are easier to do. Right now, my kids are not my cheerleaders. They are at times, but not now. Right now, my husband and my friend, Jen, are my biggest supporters and encouragers through this decision. They both tell me I'd be so good at coaching. They tell me what I should do. I even read things like the membership in USAT has increased 300% over the past 10 years. Why is it so hard then?

On my easy run this morning, I was thinking about the verse from Philippians. I was thinking about REALLY hard things I know people have done. Things that I know they thought impossible at the time. The first one that came to mind was Team Hoyt (picture above). If you don't know anything about Team Hoyt, watch this video. There are other videos if you google it, but this one gives the background then shows the video to the music "I Can Only Imagine" that brings me to tears every time. Make sure you have a box of tissues close by. Even though they state it in the video, I wanted to reiterate: an Ironman triathlon is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. I hope to complete one in 2013 (that's another blog altogether), and it will probably take me 13-14 hours. I can't imagine completing one while pulling/pushing another person!

I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.