November 10, 2009 • By Ana Guthrie

Recently, I found myself meandering through the usual mommying, churching, working and hanging out routine when

 

BOOM! POW! CLANG!

 

my throat started to feel as though terrorizing, little ninjas were having it out...or that the Berlin Wall collapsed between my chin and my shoulders (intentional digression, here:how cool is it that this week the world is commerating 20 years since that historical moment?)...or that my tonsils suddenly decided they no longer liked each other and wanted a divorce...or...well, I think I've made my case, eh?

 

A quick visit to an Urgent Care Center revealed that I had Strep Throat. "No big deal," the doctor declared. "It happens all the time. Rest for four days and take your antibiotics exactly as instructed," she charged.

 

One prescription called for a seven-day course. Piece of cake. I took it as instructed. There was also a coinciding ten-day treatment. No problem...except that I carelessly stopped taking it after I finished the seven-day treatment. Eight days later, I found myself at square one: burning throat, fever, chills and so on.

 

Back to Urgent Care I headed. Embarrassed, I explained to the doctor that I didn't take my antibiotics the way I should have and that I deserved whatever health speech was coming because I knew better. After a long but, indeed, well-deserved spiel about the importance of being faithful to our bodies and our medications, the doctor ordered me to restart the treatment.

 

I learned an exceptional physical and spiritual lesson: if you want your deliverance from a problem, you have to complete everything it takes to receive thebreakthrough. Do not, instead, simply do enough to pacify the situation. Against my better judgment, I interrupted my regiment--completely discarding my guard--once I felt better. Yes, it was "pure slackness," as my dear mother would say.

 

In both our physical and spiritual lives, feeling better is far different than being healed. If we are serious about obtaining and maintaining vitality, then we must know that God requires us to complete a full course.

Is there an area of your life where you've let down your guard? Have you settled for just enough instead of fullness and wholeness?Perhaps, you, too, asked God to work on your behalf, yet, once He came through you waned on your commitment.

 

This week, I want to reflect on some scriptures that speak to Believers about staying focused and not waning in our faithfulness:

 

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13b-14)

 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24)

 

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

 

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)

 

 

Visitor Comments (0)

Related Articles · More Articles