Inspirational Message: Designed to Run By Victoria Osteen
A few years ago, I had a friend who had foot surgery and had to stay off her foot for a month before going in for therapy. When the physical therapist first saw her, she asked, “Does your foot hurt?” My friend responded, “No, not at all.” Her therapist said, “Then why are you limping?” My friend hadn’t really thought about it but finally responded, “Well, I guess I’m trying to protect my foot from another injury.” The therapist said, “I understand, but if you don’t begin to walk normally again, your foot won’t strengthen and the ligaments won’t go back into place. You’ll end up always walking with a limp.”
It’s easy to understand my friend’s underlying fear as well as her need to believe that her foot could be strong again and to work through the process of a full recovery. It’s the same as when we’ve been hurt by others, when we’ve been taken advantage of, when we’ve failed, when we’ve been laughed at. When you’re in emotional pain, it’s easy to shrink back in a spirit of fear and allow an emotional limp to become a stronghold in your mind—a wrong way of thinking. The last thing you want to do is to step out in boldness or put yourself in a position where you can get hurt again.
But that spirit of fear is not of God. The apostle Paul says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). You can’t allow a painful experience to trick you into thinking you’re going to have a painful life. If you find yourself shrinking back because you’re afraid you’ll be hurt again, you have to understand that God can heal what hurts. He is the mender of broken hearts. He can make you stronger than you have ever been before. The Most High God has given you the power to walk through the process of recovery. Fill your mind and heart with messages of hope from God’s Word. It will begin to break down that stronghold of fear and build courage and determination. Any defeat and doubt will be turned into faith and victory.
Today, you can rise up in the strength of Almighty God and say, “I wasn’t designed to limp. I was designed to run! I will not be held in a stronghold of fear. I’m going to break through the barriers that are trying to hold me back from reaching the fullness of my destiny. I will walk confidently forward in the things of God.”
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