We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Hebrews 6:12
Over the past month or two I have been suffering from a syndrome called ITBS. Now I've never been that fond of computers but it's not what you're thinking. But the process has taught me about believing and ultimately receiving God's promises.
There is a muscle band that begins behind your hip, extends down the side of your leg and attaches itself just below the knee cap. It's the ligament that stops us from falling over sideways when we walk - I hope you appreciate it now. It's known as the iliotibial or IT band. ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome) is a runner's injury where this band becomes inflamed at the hip or the knee, becoming painful after a few minutes of jogging.
At first I was happy to ignore it - I had never heard of ITBS and the City2Surf was coming up, which I was glad to finish but not without the pain in the knee becoming excruciating. But this kind of denial wasn't going to get rid of the problem. Pretending there wasn't one wouldn't help me run freely again.
A good mate gave me a clear diagnosis and some advice about ITBS (Thanks, Enoch!). Long runs don't help, stretching does. Even so discouragement was tempting. I could stop running and miss out on something I’ve come to enjoy, or I could keep running long distances with lots of pain and make it worse. I would have to be wise about the way I use it so that it could regain strength and flexibility.
Over the next few weeks I tried a few short runs. Once or twice the pain was so bad that it was better to stop jogging and walk home. This was really disappointing, even disheartening. I couldn’t run for more than 5 minutes without pain. I wondered if I should just stop running altogether. I wondered if it would get better.
I was encouraged to learn more about stretching and that regular short runs could help to rebuild strength while doing no further damage. I did this, hoping and praying that eventually I could run without pain. I diligently stretched, even though it brought on more pain.
Over the last week I have started to be able to do longer runs without significant pain. What a relief! I was really encouraged by the verse above that now that I was seeing the evidence of faith in action I still needed to exercise patience. It is so tempting to try a much longer run but I need to continue with the shorter runs for now.
The passage from Hebrews encourages us to be diligent with our faith so that we can receive what we hope for. It’s lazy to be in denial – to ignore the problems and the promises. But it’s also lazy not to be patient while we wait to receive our promises.
I know that there are bigger and more significant promises that are in your heart (and mine) than the one I’ve described here, but I pray that you’ll be encouraged to keep believing, keep taking action on it and that you won’t give up – that takes patience.
What promise do you need to exercise faith and patience to receive?
PS – Part of the promise that I’m looking forward to is to complete the Six Foot Track (45kms through the bush from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves) in a day as part of WestCare’s Steps of Hope Fundraiser. Check out the link if you want to know more about what WestCare does for my city or if you’re keen to sponsor our efforts!
http://www.westcarepenrith.org.au/events-fundraisers
