Have you ever felt like you are walking through life on old strength? 

That you are doing all of the same things, the same way, and it is all good. But as you walk your feet feel heavier than usual. With each step it feels harder and harder to pick one foot up and put it in front of the other. There may be no reason at all, just monotony, doing the same thing over and over and over again. It can drain our strength and leave us feeling lethargic. This can make the “everyday” feel somewhat overwhelming.  

Or, It may be for a specific reason…you are going through a health issue, someone you love is going through a health issue, you are encountering a serious life change, or maybe a relationship breakdown. Any or all of the above can be overwhelming and drain our strength. Instead of struggling to put one heavy foot in front of the other, it is a struggle to put your feet on the floor and get out of bed.  

I know this feeling. I am by nature a positive, upbeat person. I was taught by my grandma to thank God for the blessing of each new day the minute I wake up. She used to say,

“If you wake up in the morning, it is a gift from God!” Then she taught me to claim each new day for Him! She told me to put my feet on the floor and say to God,

“This is the day The Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

While this TRUTH passed down to me from my Grandma has been my practice the majority of my life, I found myself dragging in strength.  Her precious daughter, my sweet Mom, has been dealing with Alzheimer’s. It has been a rough few years, to say the least, but the symptoms were fairly mild for awhile.

ALZHEIMER’S is defined as:

“A progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to degeneration of the brain.”

Now, beside the fact that it defines it as a brain issue, which is most commonly known, it is the word PROGRESSIVE that rings true.

Friends, the last month has felt not just PROGRESSIVE but RAPID!

This has put my sisters and I in a sad position to watch the mom we know and love, “progressively fade away.”

TRUTH IS, I didn’t just need God’s strength, I needed NEW STRENGTH!

And because GOD IS GOD AND I AM NOT, He knew this!

As I leaned into God, knowing He is faithful and true, He showed me something in one of my favorite verses, that I had never seen before. NEW STRENGTH!

“But those who trust in the Lord will find NEW STRENGTH, they will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.“

Isaiah 40:31

As I was walking on one of my regular trails, spending the morning with God and feeling like my feet were made of cement, getting heavier and heavier with each step, I just kept walking. Why? Because I knew that leaning into God was all that I could do!

I could not heal my mom. I could not return her to her old self. I could not take care of all of the details. I could not even take the pain away from my sisters!  All I could do was practice the only thing that has ever given me strength, lean into God! Walk in His creation, read His Word, and whisper the verses over and over again to myself that I knew to be true!  

That morning, as I was doing that and feeling the weight of my burden with my old strength, I heard something! It was not a bird, or a dog on the trail next to me. It was not the sound of feet walking next to me. It was a loud rush of air being forced into a hot air balloon! I looked to my left and there it was!

The sound was louder than I had ever heard it before. The balloon was very low. It was hovering over the vines of the vineyard I was walking alongside. I stared at that balloon and at first just noticed it’s bright colors. Then I heard it again. This time it was louder! It was the rush of hot air being pushed into that balloon and causing it to rise!

NEW AIR!  HOT AIR!  

What makes a hot air balloon fly?  A hot air balloon soars up into the air because warm air is lighter than cool air. So when air is heated by the fire blowing through the center of the balloon, it makes the heated envelope of gas less dense than its surroundings. In layman’s terms, the air around the center of the balloon is heated to over two hundred degrees and because warm air is lighter than all of the cool air around it, it causes the balloon to rise.

The more hot air that is pushed into the balloon the higher it rises.

Suddenly I knew why God had brought to my mind one of my favorite verses from Isaiah.

God was showing me that He was able to give me NEW AIR, NEW STRENGTH!

That He alone could and would renew my strength and make it new!

He would not magically heal my mom and restore her health, but He would take care of her, carry her through it, and give my sisters and I HIS NEW STRENGTH to walk lighter and soar higher than we could in our Old Strength.

Do you need NEW STRENGTH today?  

Lean into God He wants to give it to you!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD GIVES NEW STRENGTH THAT HELPS US SOAR!

God will renew your strength, make it NEW and help you walk through any and every situation you encounter!

Speak Truth Love