Thursday, December 10, 2015

A Walk To Remember....Amazing Grace

A Walk To Remember....
                      
                                        Amazing Grace

Walking!  Yes… walking!  Think for a minute what that means to you at this time. So much can happen while walking whether it is for leisure or exercise. It’s your time to praise God, pray, be thankful or just quiet your mind as you focus on each foot as it meets with the road or pathway allowing your mind to be free; to be in that moment.  What goes on during this time is between you and the surface on which you walk. I have always loved to walk. It’s a time I use to make a concerted effort to just be, and put away everything going on in the world around me. It’s my time to breathe deep, reflect, talk with God, or give praise, whatever I needed at the time.

But on May 3, 2013 walking took on a different meaning. This was the day I lost interest in many things I once enjoyed, including walking. It was the day my precious Mama was called home. Oh how my Mama loved to walk. But for mama walking was her lifeline to all she wanted to accomplish.  At age 78, after a heart attack, she needed to walk for exercise and she could almost out walk me.  She cherished each and every step she took during her life. She was grateful for each time her feet met the floor, able to walk. In her later years walking took on a new challenge for her due to peripheral neuropathy and other issues with her legs and feet. Mama would say, “If you sit, you rust.”  Being a determined woman, she pushed through leg and foot pain to keep walking so she could live the life she wanted and accomplish as much as she could.  But the last four months of her life ‘walking’ would change her life and mine. After surgery for a fractured hip due to a fall, she met pain she had never met before. Walking became extremely painful and walking and life took on a whole new face and on May 3, 2013 Mama’s walk on this earth came to a close.

Walking now reminded me of Mama and her plight and created precious but bittersweet memories. Walking, such a simple term took on a whole new meaning in this season of my life.  For a long time the sadness rather than the sweet memories overwhelmed me when I walked, so I quit.
As the months went by I still had no desire to walk; but in the fall of 2014, my sister-in-law Linda told me about a bible study called “Run For God” and with a heavy heart I decided to train to run/walk in this 5K.  For the first time since May 2013, I felt it was time to go for it.

For six weeks we met weekly and we trained on our own during the week.  Remember now I said this study was called “Run For God” but sometimes while training to run, I felt like I may be ‘running to God’ instead. My mind reeling in one direction, my heart in another I stayed the course.
November 22, 2014 finally arrived and if anyone knows me, they know I am not a winter person but I was dressed for the weather and ready to go with our team. It was a beautiful day; the sun beaming and actually it was not as cold as I thought it might be. I was pumped up and ready to “Run For God” at the RunWay Run 5K for USO of South Carolina on the actual runway of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

Before the bell rang for the runners to begin, I placed my earbuds in my ears to listen to my music and the first song I played was “Amazing Grace.”  As the bell rang and we all took off, even I, yes I, started out running.  As my running turned into a brisk walk, I continued to listen to Amazing Grace over and over and as I looked ahead what I saw I will never forget.  Many people were ahead of me and the brilliant light of the sun beamed down on them so radiantly.  This big glorious heavenly light glistening upon all the runners was such an awesome sight.  As I listened to Amazing Grace, I began to think about Heaven and the day I sat beside my mother’s bed and she pulled her hand away from mine in those final seconds of her life and her soul lifted up into the glorious light of our Savior. Recalling this beautiful exit by my Mother my pace surged a little as I felt I was getting a glimpse of what it must look like when we leave this earthly place and walk through the gates of Heaven. It was indeed an awesome vision and insight. God gave me some healing that day and the beginnings of grief lifting as the joy of knowing what lies ahead after this life became a vivid picture in my heart and mind.  And little sparkling remembrances gleaned what walking meant to Mama and how she cherished every step she took in her life, every step, even the painful ones found a home in my heart.

1 Corinthians 2:9 tells us, “However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

In this 5k run, God blessed me with a vision that is still with me today!  All those souls running ahead of me, beside me and behind me had all committed and trained for this race as did I. Many were much stronger and more prepared than I was but I was happy to complete the run and come in at 43:52.  This race for me was not about finishing first, it was much more to me and God knew that. One thing I know to be true is that we are to finish this race called life staying the course of the path Jesus set before us. With one step at a time as each foot meets the ground, be thankful and cognizant of what lies ahead for when the flag is thrown across the finish line here, the next step will be in Heaven to walk with Him, the author and finisher of this race.

God gave us His Son Jesus and a book of love letters filled with promises. One of the most beautiful promises being that on that day when we leave this earthly place we will step from this earthly surface into the gates of Heaven into that brilliant light and we will stand before His Throne forever…no more tears, grief, fear, worry and absolutely no more darkness.  He has prepared a place for us filled with peace, beautiful light, eternity and love. I know I will see my Mother again one day. I also know I will miss her every day, will still grieve the loss of her presence in my life and walking will always bring her to mind but I know Mama completed her race here in high esteem and crossed her finish line entering into her eternal life and now resides in this beautiful sacred place we know as Heaven. My mother and I will walk together again one day.

The most important race we need to train for while we are here is the one that will take us to that same finish line which stretches over into Heaven and so we can hear God, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Will you fall into the arms of Jesus today and let Him be Lord of your life? Are you ready to ‘Run For God’ today so when your race is competed here, you will be ready to Run To God?

“When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing Gods Praise, than when we first begun, Amazing Grace.”
“… for we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 but God can graciously show us glimpses of the beautiful things to come when we are hurting or need His presence to touch us in a special way.
May peace be with you on your journey as you walk the path of life!
Always,
Joyce
Miss Me But Let Me Go
Remembering Mama…

12-08-2015



Saturday, January 3, 2015