Get Up!

It was raining and I was late, which normally had nothing to do with each other, except I was in Germany on my bike rushing towards an exam. The rain had made the cobblestone slick as ice. I took the curve too fast and my wheel wedged into the track of the streetcar and I was flung over the front handlebars of the bike

Obviously, it all happened in slow-motion so I had a lot of time to think about my life in the 0.004 seconds I was in the air.  I knew as soon as I hit the ground that I would get back up again, I would have to, right? People don’t fall on the ground and never get up their whole life. I couldn’t stay on the slick cobblestone forever. The moment I stopped sliding I pressed into my palms to stand back up and in that moment the Lord spoke to me. Encouragingly, he said “Yes! Get back up!”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my share of situations that “knock me off my feet”. They may be losing friendships or family, doing poorly on an exam, being on the receiving end of a mean person and a mean comment, the list goes on. In situations like these, it’s not so obvious, as it is when we physically fall down, that we are injured. Many times life goes on, but we never have gotten up emotionally from being hurt by a certain person. That stunts our growth. That hurts us. That weighs on us.

For the longest time, while I took a math exam, I would heard certain people and their comments about how I should be better at math. Though I am not around these people anymore, their comments remain because I never got up emotionally.

Falling off my bike prompted me to think about areas of my life where I was stagnant, where I was still on the cobblestone. This revelation lead me to search my heart and see where I was hurting and to bring it before God. 

I believe God wants very much that we are whole in heart, meaning that we don’t let ourselves be defined by negative experiences, as it is so easy to do. For example, childhoods marred by bullying, instead of moments of discovery, friendships coming to an end instead of friendships being found, etc.  It’s a new way of thinking, but I believe that is exactly the point. We are not to conform to the world, but to be renewed, by the transforming of our minds (Romans 12:2).

God changed my perspective of falling off a bike being an embarrassing thing, to an encouraging moment that I will always get back up through His help. I have fallens o many times since then, but His encouragement has been my strength. How much more of my thinking is He waiting to transform, if only I were to bring it to him in prayer?