No Pain no Gain

The Lesson God is teaching me today is...no pain, no gain.

We left home about 1:30 am.  After a few hours sleep I was rested and ready to go.  We drove to Atlanta to check in our 5:30 flight.  We had a two and a half hour flight and arrive in Colorado.

The train to the concourse was closed.  So we had to carry our luggage down stairs and to the C Concourse.

Once arriving we then went to a bus to get out rental car.  We were taken straight there.  We got our car and drove around Denver until things opened.  We shopped awhile and then had a great lunch.  The 2'oclock breakfast was gone.

We continued in a two hour breath taking drive to our condo in Key Stone, Colorado.  The mountains are beautiful here.

The 12 hour trip here was not easy.  I went to sleep soon after we got here.  Thought about how sore I would be today.  But after waking up at 7 am I am rested and ready to go.

We had a great breakfast about 9am.  Some are skiing and others hunting.  I want to do something while here rather than site see but not sure what yet.  I feel a little daring for me.

God is so full of surprises for us.

I am learning to step out of my comfort zone.  Leaving being controlled by fears and anxieties and take a risk.

To depend on Gods grace, His strength and wisdom, to do the hard thing.  It is not easy because we want what we want.  We have desires and fleshy cravings that bring us to an end instead of life abundant.  I am getting a taste of this and I am blown away by Gods willingness to meet my needs and to give me the power and desire to do what I cannot do.

Grace is not passive.

I love spending time in the presence of the Lord.  But when you have been there and experienced His glory and love it just has to go somewhere.  It is a fullness and it has to overflow.  This is what the Father did for us in Jesus.  The love of the Father, Son and Spirit overflowed to us.  When something is shared there is so much more joy in it.  God did not lack anything but had so much love it was for the joy the Lord endured the cross.  Spilling over to us was that joy.

This joy comes through surrender, trusting God and stepping out and being will to do the hard thing.  It all is a work of the Spirit.  But it is not easy always.  It is giving up our lives in order to find it.

Enjoy!

It was not easy getting here but oh so worth it all.  I would do it all over again.  It is the majesty of God, the blessings of good friends and family and enjoying beyond what I could not imagine.  Thank you for coming along with me.

Paul said he beat his body into submission.  That to live by the Spirit you do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Years ago some of the Saints actually beat their bodies.  This is not what Paul is speaking of but he compares it to an athletic who trains to finish the race for the prize.