He Told Me I Couldn’t so I Spit in His Face

There’s a hill. Just around the corner from my house.

We drive up and down that hill all the time. And  I’ve walked it a handful of times. Believe me when I say the incline will work your backside and make your legs burn something fierce. Mind you, it’s nothing like climbing Mt. Everest or Mt. Kilimanjaro in the least, but for me, it’s a challenge.

I’ve wanted to run this hill for quite some time. I’ve stood at it’s bottom looking upwards, longing to make it to the top victorious. But, I’ve been too afraid. And, he told me I couldn’t do it. So, I settled for just…walking.

Ya know, he’s pretty good at telling me I can’t. He’s done it all my life. The enemy. Satan. He’s a jerk! He has this nasty habit of whispering things in my ear like…

“You’re too stupid.”

“You’re fat! Nobody’s gonna ask you to the prom!”

“He married you, but he doesn’t really love you.”

“You’re a horrible mother!”

“You’ll never have any “real” friends.”

“Go ahead and take those pills…no one will even notice you’re gone.”

“All these skeletons in your closet? They make you who you are.”

“You’re worthless. Ugly. A loser.”

“God? He doesn’t love you. Never has, never will.”

So, when he told me I couldn’t run up that hill I believed him…until recently!

God has been speaking into the deep places of my heart. Loving on me. Esteeming me. Showering me with much grace. A truth I knew (in my head) for years, and one I’ve shared with others, became embedded into depths of my being on the first day of this new year and at that moment I had NO doubt I was going to run up that hill.

“I am Yours and You are mine.” And because I’m His, God’s, I CAN do all things because He gives me the strength to do it.

So one Wednesday, I called out to my 3 kids to get their tennis shoes on because we were going for a run.

We stood at the bottom of the hill. I was confident. I was going to do this.

Then he, Satan, began whispering in my ear, “You will never make it to the top. You can’t do it!”

I ignored him.

“Alright guys, we’re gonna run to the top.”

“You’ll stop halfway there. You can’t do it.”

“It’s going to be hard, but we can do this because God’s gonna give us the strength.”

“God isn’t gonna do anything for you. You’ll never make it.”

He was really starting to make me mad.

“Everybody ready?” My kids screamed, “READY!” And we were off. Me jogging. Them running, skipping, laughing, having a great time.

We jumped over the speed bump, then the incline began.

I could still hear that creep. He was laughing, “You’re gonna stop. You’re not gonna make it.”

I was beyond mad. Furious.

I pushed harder. And his voice got louder, “You will never…”

“I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST YOU CREEP. LEAVE ME ALONE!” And I spit (literally) in his face because I was sick of his crap.

His voice began to fade and I pushed even harder. It hurt. I couldn’t breathe very well. My legs were on fire. I saw the stop sign. It was in reach. We were almost to the top. I KNEW I could make it. I KNEW WE could make it, God, me, and my kids.

And, we did. We made it to the top, VICTORIOUS! And you know what? We did it again. Yep! We all ran up that hill again. And I never heard the whispers of the enemy saying I couldn’t do it.

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Hills. Mountains. They’re a past, present, and future thing. We’re all going to stand at the bottom of a hill at some point in our lives and be faced with the climb. Let’s not stand there doubting, allowing the whispers of the enemy to convince us we can’t make it to the top. Because, here’s the truth…

We are God’s and He is ours and we CAN do ALL things through His strength. ALL things!

It may be painful. It may burn something fierce. But we CAN make it through, up, and over. We can. And if we need to spit in that creep’s face on the way up and scream and yell, there’s no shame in that. Go right ahead and do it; it’s just may be the most freeing thing you’ve EVER done!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13, NKJV