1.03.2012

WE were born into the fight…..it is never going to be easy (moving into 2012)

My life has two things in it because of the obedience of others to their callings in their lives. Brian Hardin and Mitch Potterf and the communities surrounding them. So many times I have heard this metaphor of working out compared to heart work. I can honestly say I am doing both as of 2011. In 2008 I began a journey in a dark time in my life. I began reading God’s word in community every day and completed my first year of reading the Bible cover to cover. I had no idea what was happening to me. I didn’t recognize myself anymore, things were changing in the landscape of my heart and I couldn’t get enough. In 2011, I began working out in community. Again, I had no idea what I was in for; so much more than a workout. Just like reading the Bible cover to cover is more than just words, working out in community is more than just getting your heart rate up!

I wouldn’t be doing either one in the same way if Brian and Mitch would have brushed off obedience to their callings. Brian heard God’s voice to podcast the Bible in 2006. He started without knowing where it was going or what God was up to. Mitch was tired of coaching people who didn’t want to put it all in! So he answered his calling and built a community where people don’t settle for easy anymore.

Both men’s obedience has made a difference in my life and countless others. I am now blessed with two communities I can call family. Both are global and both are close to me in my everyday life. Both challenge me in my life. Both are good for me and keep me from staying in a comfortable way of life. I don’t want to be the same me tomorrow; I don’t want to be numb while I am here on this earth, physically or spiritually. I desire to be a new and better me. I never want to settle.

I have now read God’s word four years in a row, cover to cover, by opening it up daily with Brian Hardin, a record producer, leading the way as the Founder of the Daily Audio Bible. He and all of the DAB listeners are now my family. It isn’t always easy to carve out 30 minutes a day, but it’s always worth it, because God speaks to me and I have clarity of mind. I am a better version of me every day.

I have been a part of Mitch Potterf’s Cross Fit community at Ohio Fit Club since June 2011. It is not always easy to show up to the workout of the day (WOD). The WOD always pushes me to places I never thought I would go in my physical abilities. It is Me vs. Me. What I bring to the WOD matters. I need to be all in for me and my community at Fit Club in order to succeed. I am a better version of me after every WOD.

Today I can say I honestly don’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore. This is because God’s word every day for 4 years has changed deep agreements I had about me that were lies. I was living out things I had been told about Leslie. Things that were not true. Through God’s word I realized these agreements needed to be rejected and I needed to begin to replace them with God’s truth about Leslie and God's truth about God. During 2011 I could hear God asking me to give Him more of me. My community at Ohio Fit club was the next thing. God reversed the negative agreements in my life, exchanged them with truth, so I could walk into Ohio Fit Club ready to act on more healthy changes in my life. These are the pieces of Leslie being changed from the inside out.

I pray that you will not settle. I pray that you will get out of your own way in order to be the best you, you can be. It’s a process, a journey. Always obstacles, challenges, defeats, victories and all the rest in between. These are not excuses to give up on the better version of you, these are reasons to be on the journey, wide awake! I extend an invitation to you to listen to the Daily Audio Bible. Just give it a month and see what you think. I can promise you won’t be the same. I hope you can hang around for the 12 months and then you can say you finished the Bible with the community. We need each other.

I also extend you an invitation to my Cross Fit community, if you are close by and if not look for one in your area. There truly is nothing like working out with a group of people that are like minded and never settle for easy. We need each other.

We are all in different spots in our lives. We are at different physical health and different spiritual health. This year in our Daily Audio Bible Community our word for the year 2012 is Shift. In our Cross Fit community we have a saying, “Make Shi(f)t happen”. God wants to Shift things on the inside. It’s not a promise for rainbows and happy endings all wrapped up neatly in a present with a red bow. It’s a promise of shift happening. He will make it happen, but He needs us to be a part of the process. It will be gritty and messy. It will be a battle, because nothing worth having is easy.

Onward.

We are worth the fight. You are worth the fight. Act on it in 2012.




https://www.dailyaudiobible.com/

http://ohiofitclub.com/

3 comments:

Kenneth said...

Great encouragement Leslie. I will look into the community I am not currently a member of.

Kenneth said...

You are truly and inspiration Leslie. You have grown so much, and the Lord is using you to bring and help others.

Leslie said...

Thank you Ken..I have such a long way to go!