| On My Feet Walking
by Joni Eareckson Tada |
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| “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”
Romans 8:23-24 |
| Recently, when Ken and I were back in Maryland, my family showed 8 mm home movies. There, larger-than-life on the living room wall, I saw me at the age of sixteen. I had the same basic hairstyle and hair color, but my head was attached to a walking body—my body! I watched my hands hold the reins of my horse and pat his neck. I watched how I put one foot in front of the other. It gave me goose bumps.
Later on Ken asked me how I felt as I watched myself walk. “There was a time I would have sighed and said, ‘Aww, that’s the way it used to be. I wish I could go back to that,’” I said. “But now, thirty years later and having spent almost as many years sinking my heart and head in the Word of God, I can say, ‘Oh, wow, this is the way it soon will be. I can look forward to having a body that works. And I’ll do so much more than walk!’”
I am closer to this side of gaining my heavenly body than to the other side of losing my earthly body. Philippians 3:12 says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” The past is the past. The future is much more interesting to think about. Watching home movies doesn’t make me sad; it makes me happy to think of all I will gain back—and more!
What are you dwelling on today? The loss of something or someone in your past? Let your groanings be not for what once was but for what will soon be! Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Count the years. You just might be closer to the future than you think.
Lord, help me to set my heart and mind on things above! |
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| Taken from More Precious than Silver
By Joni Eareckson Tada
Copyright © 1998
Published in Print by Zondervan, Grand Rapids
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. |
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For More Inspiration…
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