I’m not the most ideal of patients. I have too many things to do and think about to be hampered by any sort of malady. At the moment, with a moon boot still decorating my left foot as a result of an ankle injury, I am unable to drive and also find it difficult to walk any great distance. So what’s to be done? I can complain and feel annoyed about the situation—or I can accept it, live in the moment and see what interesting lessons God has for me, right where I find myself, boot and all.
I try to choose the second option—most of the time! As a result, I have gained a new appreciation of the horrors those early convicts must have gone through when they found themselves with a ball and chain attached to one ankle. Granted, my moon boot isn’t anywhere near as heavy or as crippling as this device must have been. But it has made me value more the privilege I normally enjoy of being able to move about free and unfettered—and to empathise with those who have an injury or disability that truly hampers them in an ongoing way.
And I am also learning a lesson of a different kind. As I complain about having to drag my cumbersome moon boot around everywhere and move more slowly than usual, I believe God is showing me that this situation in the natural or physical realm also applies in the spiritual. What sort of other weights am I dragging around unnecessarily? What heavy, cumbersome things am I tolerating in my life that shouldn’t be there at all? At least my moon boot is hopefully helping my ankle to heal properly. But what things am I clinging to that hinder rather than help me live the way God desires me to live?
Hmmm. … Could God be gently highlighting how much time and effort I put into worrying about this and that, even to the point of causing good things to become a burden to me? Could my lack of faith in God be holding me back in certain areas? Could my busyness be stopping me from hearing God’s voice as clearly as I used to and from knowing with deep certainty the way forward in my writing and in my life in general?
In Hebrews 12:1, after reminding us about the wonderful heroes of the faith in times past, the writer states:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Run? I couldn’t physically do that at the moment, with my moon boot. Instead, I plod along. But what about spiritually? Am I plodding through my life when I could run much more freely, unfettered by things that so often consume and entangle me and do not honour God? Why not get rid of them and, instead, trust God to enable me to scale the heights (Ps 18:33) and to provide those straight paths for my feet (Ps 27:11)?
How about you? Are you learning some spiritual lessons too from those annoying little things in your life?
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 
You asked Jo- Anne, if I was learning some Spiritual lessons, it seems you don’t know that if nobody’s Perfect than I must be Nobody! Lol
Seriously though, God has impacted my heart with a longing to be all He wants and asks me to be ( see Scripture below ) I had almost been convinced or should I say deceived that it was impossible but God tells us it is not only Possible but we will be Perfected in Love if we aim for it and not just when we die but now as Paul and other Christians have been through the Centuries before us, this is confirmed in Scripture much more than once, yes we are conformed into the image of Jesus and we walk as he walks. Yes I want to win the prize like Paul did (2 Timothy 4:7-8 )
Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.
1John 4:16-17 And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our Love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.
1John 4: 18-19 There is no fear in Love; but perfect Love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in Love. We Love Him, because He first Loved us.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2Timithy 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
1 John 2:4-6 He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the Love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he bideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.
2 Corinthians 7: 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God.
Philippians 3:12-15 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made Perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 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. Let us therefore, as many as be Perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be Perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in Peace; and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you.
Christian Love in our Unity in Christ Jesus – Anne
Thanks for your comments, Anne. All great, challenging BIble verses you’ve included there. We all need to keep growing in God and seeking to become more like Jesus, for sure. Only when we finally meet Jesus will we see how much further we needed to go–but then it won’t matter anyway! God bless.
These Scriptures are confirming Jo – Anne as you can see, that we are to aim to be perfected in Love while we live not just when we die or are Raptured, if it was impossible God would not have said for us to be perfect like Him and that we will be conformed into the image of Jesus and as we put our flesh to death by The Spirit purified of all unrighteousness so that we no longer sin 1John3:9 and Paul would not have told us to aim to be perfected in Love too or that he had arrived and won the prize in (2 Timothy 4:7-8 ) and he was not dead when he did so.
Blessings Anne