It’s only an illusion!

This morning I went on a short run. I have a really cool phone app that is synced with my GPS, so it can tell me how far and how fast I have been going. Throughout my run it will interject and let me know my progress. Well, this morning I started off–GPS on, music on, and trying to beat the heat. My app interjects halfway through my run and tells me, “You are at your halfway mark, you have gone 0.0 miles, at a pace of 0.0 minutes/mile, with an overall distance of 0.0 miles.” I was like, “WHAT!?!?”First thought that came to my mind right after that was–It is only an illusion! I knew I had already gone over a mile, obviously! I had made progress, but the voice app was telling me I had not moved! Hmmm…. Then I remembered an experience as a kid–riding in the backseat of my parents car going down the interstate. We would pass a huge semi truck, and as you passed the slower moving truck, you had the illusion that you were actually moving backwards, even though you were going at high speeds forward.I felt like Holy Spirit was saying–“Keep GOING and DON’T STOP!!! It’s only an illusion.” As we go through seasons of refinement and purifying; the places of pain, places that have been hidden, and things that have held us back, become brought to the light. It is brought to the light so true freedom, healing, and restoration can happen.

Sometimes we discover and come face-to-face with things we thought we had overcome. When that happens it can feel like you are going backwards or at a standstill, when actually you are still going forward. Refinement is a process and it will only go as deep and as fast as we are willing to be vulnerable. Thankfully Holy Spirit knows the speed and what we are ready for…haha. But don’t stop, keep going because your Heavenly Father is moving you forward into another level and another depth of freedom.

Philippians 3:13-16 states, “[Focused on the Goal] I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back…”