When we were preparing for our Europe trip last year, I bought this great pair of mary jane "trekker" shoes from Land's End. They're virtually indestructable, waterproof, and great for walking around. I wore them a ton while we were over there. As with any shoes, the first couple days are usually spent wearing them in. Since my "wearing in" period involved walking about 10-15 miles a day around the cities, I ended up with some bloody heels.
Me in my trekkers in Greece
I don't wear them often since they're not really work attire, but I brought them along with me to camp this weekend. While I was putting them on my feet Saturday morning, I noticed the blood still on the heels from Europe. God used this to teach me three things:
(1) our journey won't always be easy and may result in some "war wounds", but He's faithful and brings great blessing out of any circumstances if we earnestly seek Him. In spite of my hurting feet, I anxiously got up each morning in Europe to walk around the cities since it was such an amazing experience. I didn't really even notice the pain most of the time. The same should be true about our Christian walk. Even when it's painful, we should awake each morning with a sense of excitement about what God is going to do. I feel confident that India will come with its own (likely uncomfortable) wearing in period. That's ok. The experience will be worth it.
(2) in the beginning the shoes that I believed would be so great were the cause of my pain, but ultimately they protected my feet and served their purpose. We look to God to be the ultimate source of comfort and support, so we're confused when He (or what He's called us to do) is actually the source of our pain. Now He certainly doesn't cause us pain just to be mean, but we might feel pain as a result of what He's asking us to do. Our feet need time and practice in new shoes to adjust. Our lives need time and practice in God's will to adjust, and it doesn't always feel good. The difference is that the shoes are the ones that ultimately change to fit our feet. God (thankfully) doesn't ever change to fit our lives. We must change to be a greater reflection of Him. And when we do, our wounds heal and He provides more protection and stability than we could ever need to keep moving forward.
(3) looking back on where God has brought up gives us hope for the future. Seeing the blood in my shoes took me instantly back to that time in my life and the various lessons that I learned during that season. I'm hoping that this blog will be a similar tool that God will use to take me back to this current season somewhere down the road.
Who would have thought that some bloody shoes could have taught me all that? Only God...
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