God Amplifies Effort
/For a long time I would pray for things and then wait around and get frustrated that no answers seemed to come. It played in well with my own shame story of not being worthy of God’s love and the inaction led to a lot of anxiety and depression which led me to seek ways to numb and dull the pain and frustration. I’d try quick fix workouts, diets, setting goals, etc., but I kept coming back to feeling like a failure.
Recently, an analogy came to mind. I live in Arizona where it is about 78 degrees early in the morning and in the 90s and 100s by lunch time. My wife had some medical issues and is not able to exercise so I got her an electric scooter. At first, I’d try to ride behind her on my mountain bike, but it was too hard to keep up on hills and the heat and exertion would give me a pretty bad headache for the rest of the day. So then I bought an electric scooter for myself and have enjoyed the long rides we take, but am getting no exercise. Recently, I bought an e-bike without a throttle. I have to peddle, but the electric motor kicks in and amplifies my efforts. Now I’m able to keep my heart rate in the 130-140 range while covering significant distances and the hills require more effort, but not an extreme effort.
I have been thinking about this for a week or so. Using the analogy, God will never stop me from getting on the mountain bike and going straight up the hill. I can numb out by getting a fully electric bike and just zoom up the hill, but I don’t exert any effort and I get no respiratory or muscular benefit from it. But with an ebike, I can choose how much of the load to give to the motors and together we are able to cover a lot of ground.
As I look at my life over the past few years, I’ve taken the challenge to do more and be more and each new thing I’ve tried has been really hard at first. But as I call on God to help me, I’ve seen over time that He is able to greatly amplify my efforts and I’ve been able to accomplish things I thought were impossible on my own.
God is calling us all on an adventure. In my experience, He loves effort and steps in and takes my best efforts to heights I didn’t think possible.
What next?
Identify something you’ve wanted to accomplish and take it to God. If no answer comes immediately, get to work in the best way you know how. Maybe reach out to someone who is really good at what you want to do. Watch YouTube videos. Then get to work and put God to the test and see if He doesn’t amplify and accelerate your efforts.
By Pete, Writing Team