Five Minute Friday one-word prompt: Action
My heartbeat was sporadic, breaths shallow.
Suffocation or my heart exploding seemed like real possibilities.
I had woken early to nurse my newborn daughter, but an elephant sat on my chest; Crushed under the weight, I couldn’t fill my lungs, could barely ask for help. An ambulance ride and emergency room visit didn’t provide solid answers, and they sent me home, hours from the nearest clinic or hospital, terrified of dying.
Never wanting to experience that nightmare again, I became inactive. I didn’t exercise, or, if I did, I didn’t exercise hard. The slightest sense of my heart beating out of my chest drove me to inactivity again. This wasn’t a healthy choice, and it didn’t strengthen my heart muscle, so years later, I summoned the courage to take up running. I took it slow, built up my endurance, and reminded myself every time I ran that fear of death was a lie.
Inactivity and activity affect our physical bodies; they also affect our spirit.
As a new Christian, I often felt humiliated by the Bible knowledge of others. I quickly believed the Bible was for smart people, and a simple-minded person like me would never understand it. So, I stopped reading it. I heard God’s word in church, but I didn’t read it on my own.
More than a decade later, something stirred in me, prompting me to take action in my spiritual life. I started going to a precept study on the book of Romans. When I began, the lie hissed, “What do you think you’re doing? You’ll never understand this. Why try?”
I still remember the day God silenced that lie. I sat on my couch, Bible study binder open on my lap, highlighters and colored pencils beside me, Bible in my hands. The study said to read Romans chapter one; I did. The study said to read chapter one again; I did, and somewhere between verse one and verse thirty-two, I understood. I understood what God was saying through Paul. I understood God’s word was for me!
The proverbial light bulb went off; If I slowed down and actively read God’s word, not just skimmed over it, I received understanding from the Holy Spirit.
Both instances were life changing and include action.
Active verbs fill the pages of Scripture. God tells us what we must do, not what we might want to consider.
Today, what’s keeping you from taking action to improve your body, mind, soul, or spirit? What fiery lie can you extinguish to propel you forward?