Free to Run.

Last Sunday at our 11a.m. service, the contemporary praise band led our congregation in the song, "I am Free." It was one of the most moving moments in worship I've ever been blessed to witness. The hearts of the band in their desire to give God the glory, the voices of our students that surrounded me, the musician's instruments...it all came together in such a beautiful and powerful way. God was with us & He was glorified and praised in that moment. That's not to say that He isn't exalted and worshipped in every service and every song we lift up in our congregation. I believe He is & I have come to know each of the people in our 11a.m. praise band and know their hearts to give Him honor and praise & to point us all in the pews to Him in every song they lead. There was just something powerful and special in that moment last Sunday.

I've been thinking about it all week. Especially on my morning runs. The air has turned from late summer to fall in the early mornings. The cold air makes it a little more difficult to run yet so lovely and refreshing at the same time. I'm not a great runner. I'm clumsy and slow. One of the things that I have found that helps my running breathing pattern is to have something to focus on in my head over and over...sometimes it's a prayer, sometimes it's scripture & sometimes it's a song. Over the course of this past week each morning over and over it's been the words from Sunday...

Through You, the blind will see
Through You, the mute will sing
Through You, the dead will rise
Through You, all hearts will praise
Through You, the darkness flees
Through You, my heart screams
I am free
Yes, I am free

I am free to run
I am free to dance
 am free to live for You
I am free
Yes, I am free

Every morning, as soon as I sit down outside my apartment to stretch and tie my shoes, over and over the lyrics turn on in my mind and with each step of my run my heart and mind have been trying to grasp the power of what really living these words mean.

The miracles & the promise found in trusting the Lord with it all. The freedom found in a relationship with Jesus that simply cannot be found in anything else. And even though, I'll never win a race or be the runner I wish I was, what a beautiful gift God has given me in allowing me to have healthy legs and and a healthy heart to run--to clear my head, to begin my day with Him.

There's another song the praise band leads us in from time to time that has a bridge that says this:          The miracle of Christ in me
Is the mystery that sets me free
I'm nothing like I used to be
Open up your eyes you'll see

How I love to sing the words from these songs. How I love to lift them up to the Lord and to know His promise and His truth in them....it's the living them out every day where the struggle lies. In some ways I think that's why God gave us that special moment in worship last Sunday...as a reminder of what to continually strive for through the gifts of the freedom He has given us through Jesus. That most of the times it's easier to focus on the mistakes, the struggles, the sin that gets in the way. In certain moments those things tend to seem overwhelming and bigger to face day in and day out. 

But the Lord is bigger than all of it. The freedom He has given us to run, and live and dance and worship is bigger than the struggles I sometimes feel are greater...they aren't. HE IS. Thank you, Lord for the glimpses. Thank you for the moments when my heart feels like it's stretching inside because of the ways you reveal your love and mercy. Thank you for the hope you give us in the freedom found in you.

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32