Fosterhood :: Listening for Gods Direction During The Quiet Sadness

"I am after Love that last, not more religion. I want you to know God not go to more prayer meetings." 

Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 in the Bible had me asking myself, "did I know God enough to recognize His work in my life?"  You see, I had no doubt that God lives and works, but I was wondering if He had time to live and work in me. After finding out I could not father a child through natural means, I started asking God for a supernatural intervention. 

I started running in 2011; the turmoil in my life had caused me to gain a lot of weight and not only did running help me start to lose the weight, but it became therapy for me. It started out with me running around my block, one time around and then another and then another. I still had a lot of questions and I felt like I needed the answers before I could move on. Regrettably, I felt there was no one in my world that could relate and could be a sounding board. I have come to refer to this feeling as "The Quiet Sadness." 

It is the feeling of sadness you carry not really knowing that it is in fact sadness. It is the frustration and doubt in your spirit even when your intellect is trying to rightly convince you of the truth you know. It is the most curious of feelings and emotions and it can consume you unless you begin to do something to refocus.

Running became my time to refocus and talk with God. It became a time for me to listen for Him (see my very 1st blog Runners High). I will admit, sometimes I do wish God would speak louder. I don't think my wife actually knew how therapeutic running became in my life. All I can say is that I did not want to burden her more. Our home was going into foreclosure, the bank kept preventing us from short selling and we still had not fully recovered economically to make needed repairs on our roof. Our home was broken into and not only did we have to deal with the loss of things but also the loss of security.

It seemed like with every new stress and strain, my runs got longer and longer. I started to run the Rickenbacker Causeway. I'd get there before sunrise and time it so that just as I got to the summit of the bridge I would see the sun coming up over the horizon. Every time I ran, my thoughts, my conversations with God would go deeper. 

My request before God, for Him to supernaturally heal me, make me well and whole so I could become a father, had yet to be answered by the close of the 2011. So as 2012 started, I was inspired to have one of the longest conversations with God I had up until that point. On January 7th I had my wife drop me off at the southern most point of South Beach and I began to run.

The first three miles took me through great moments in my city. Beautiful moments filled with beautiful architecture, beautiful people and beautiful weather, yet Quiet Sadness was still with me... almost chasing me. As I began mile four my sadness turned to anger. At first I thought my anger was towards God. "How could He be doing this to me?", I asked.   Then my anger shifted.  As I crossed into mile 8, I ran and I realized I was angry at me.  I was upset at myself for being scared to trust God, for the fear that I had allowed to consume my thoughts and for the lie that had become my shadow: that I was less than a man, broken. 

Each mile a new moment with God, a new revelation into me, a cutting away of the quiet sadness. 14 miles run a little less than 1 to get home and I was done. I was tired of the quiet sadness between me and God. I reached out to God, He listened to me, and I felt Him. By the end of my run, my feet hurt, my legs hurt and I was tired, but I had never felt so at peace. 

I could stop running... I was ready to see all the doctors I needed to see and do what ever it took to become a father.  I was determined to have a "Go Plan" for 2012. 

This was not the last time the quiet sadness would come into my life, but when it does, I know what to do...

Runners High :: In 3 Pics, The view is not enough.

     I so enjoy running the Rickenbacker Bridge on Saturday mornings. Since the beginning of this year, I've run it over 20 times. In truth I started as part of a New Year's resolution- loose weight and get healthy. What I did not expect was the transforming perspective running would give me.

     Each time I'm out... I have these moments of intense focus and sublime clarity. I now refer to them as gifts from God. These moments either help me understand something that has been happening in my life or as preparation for something about to happen.

Today was no different; Have you ever thought about your future?

     My run is 5 miles long and broken up into goals. From my car to the top of the W. Powell Bridge, from WP to the Miami Seaquarium (half way point) back to the top of the WP Bridge and off to my car. Today as I ran I had this thought; just because I can see my goals does not mean I have reached them. I could see the the bridge, but that wasn't good enough. 

     When I got to the top of the bridge, the view of the Miami sky line to my left, the bay to my right was amazing, in fact, distracting. In the distance, I could see the Seaquarium, but the view was not enough. My goal had yet to be reached, I was not done!

     I feel like sometimes we are so enamored by the view of the goal before us that we stop striving towards the goal... And that's a true shame. I believe God has a plan for us all! The prophet Jeremiah declared on behalf of God "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." (Jeremiah 29:11 MSG)

     I hear the cry of Paul the Apostle "...Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win."(1 Corinthians 9:24 MSG) or even better, in The book of Timothy "This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way." (2 Timothy 4:7 MSG)

We are on God's mind, if only we would keep Him on ours.