RUN TO THE FATHER

Jayden Mason-Schickel

Lately I’ve been doing two new things: running and reading my Bible regularly. It is crazy, but both take the same amount of willpower to do. Sometimes, it is easier to go for a run than it is to read the Bible. But, I’ve been trying to be better on both, especially on reading Scripture, and I have learned so much. I have been reading and meditating on Ruth, and I can tell you that God, our Father, wants us to run home to Him. He wants us to run to Him with our problems and rest at His feet. The same way Naomi wants Ruth to go and sleep at Boaz’s feet for His help, God wants us to let Him handle our problems. He will always welcome us home, no matter how far away we are from Him. In Ruth 2:10, Ruth says, “Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’” Ruth is overwhelmed, and asks why Boaz has helped her so much. I saw this as our conversations with God. Many times we  are strangers to God, and show up out of the ordinary, asking for His help, His protection. And without a doubt He always provides us with everything we need. 

Before I made it a habit to read the Bible, I was struggling very much in my faith, to the point that I was having trouble believing God could work in my life. Through me picking up the Bible, I have grown closer to God. I have seen Him work through the suffering, and through the endurance I have acquired. Praying isn’t easy, and when I just want to sleep it is especially difficult, but I found the times I don’t necessarily want to pray (or run), are the most fruitful. God works through us in ways that are hard to see, but when we decide to rest, and surrender to Him, work can be done. God is calling us home, hopefully we can all answer the call and start running.