Do you remember when you were a kid, and your parents told you to run around when it was cold outside so you would get warmer? I remember being told that all the time! I would think to myself, “I’m too cold to run around. I bet if I just sit on the ground and hug my knees that I will get warmer.” Then when that didn’t work, I would go inside and make a new plan. I would put on another jacket, or another hat, or another pair of gloves. But when I came back outside, I would still be cold. Why was it so cold? Why were all my layers of clothing not making me warm?
I figured out why this was once I got older. I figured out the science of it all. When we run around, it gets our blood pumping, therefore making us warmer. But this was not the only thing I learned from that cold weather when I was a little kid. The same principle also applies to us when we’re feeling down.
When we’re hurting, it’s really easy for us to shut down. And when we feel like that, it’s okay to be sad for a little while. It’s even healthy to be sad every so often. We all get sad sometimes and that’s okay; that’s life. But it becomes a problem when we stop moving, and it becomes a problem when we start trying to cover-up the pain. When we do this we become guarded and we become tired. We start to cut ourselves off from others. Sometimes we get filled with doubt, and sometimes we get filled with insecurities. Other times it can be both.
So we start moving less. We start to do life less. We start isolating ourselves, and we become unhappy. We get in a slump. Then what do we do? How do we do life more? How do we become happy again?
We run around. We keep moving! Even when it seems impossible, we keep moving. We keep on waking up every day, and we remind ourselves that God has a plan. We trust God, even if He is changing the plan we had in mind ourselves. We have patience, and we have faith. We pray about everything, and we praise our God in the midst of our struggles because He is doing what’s best for us, even if we can’t see it yet. We find God in the hard times and let Him warm our hearts. We trust Him, and…
W E
K E E P
M O V I N G .
Life will go on, and God will be there through all of it. Through every passing, through every doubt, and through every sorrow and every storm. Let him lead you, and let Him move you. If our God can move mountains, surely He can move you. He has even overcome the world.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
Ellie Proctor 