It’s a long story of which I will not write about now, but I got back in to playing football.
For two full seasons I have played semi-pro/minor league football.
Until recently, I have been fortunate to have never suffered a severe physical injury. I naturally took for granted seemingly unlimited possibilities of the human body. However, the inevitable happened, I got injured. When I discovered I tore my rotator cuff I first thought, “No big deal”, in comparison to other major injuries. “Get surgery, heal up, plenty of time to train for next season.“ However, 10 weeks post op and unable to have full range of motion and constant pain at night, I have been experiencing the limits of the body. You can’t make it heal faster than it wants to heal. This has bleed into connecting more deeply with my mental and spiritual limitations as well. My heart has been awakened tounderstanding more fully that God gives us limits as a good gift.
My wife has suffered nearly as much, if not more than I have, through this process. I have been limited in helping to move to our new home, limited in being present because of pain, limited in being able to carry or load two kids in the car. These physical limitations have forced us to turn to prayer more and more. “God help this injury heal” “God help give us strength to be patient” “God help me trust that you care and will heal”
Our limitations force us to realize that we are insufficient and need God.
I am limited in my ability to love well. Limited in my ability to forgive others. Limited in confidence. As patient as I may think I am, I am grossly limited. But with Him, in and through Christ, there are no limits. He can take a 43 year old man, make him a football All Star and minister to broken men. He can take a stuttering fearful man and use him to free his people out of slavery. He can use boy to take down an army. He can use an oppressed woman to stand up to a King. He can use a young girl to birth the Messiah.
Consider what your gifts are:
Your passions. The things that you are good at. What would they look like empowered by God?
Consider your wounds:
Your failures. Your shame. What would they look like surrendered to into the hands of Jesus?
Not only do we find that we are limited in out abilities, but limits are also a boundary. Limits are where we need to consider setting and upholding boundaries. When can I say “no” to another commitment or task and trust that God will help me with the rest of life not falling a part.
I am blessed to have a sister–in-law who is a Pastor and a gifted teacher at Mill City church in town. She recently gave a beautiful and powerful teaching on Limits and when God’s will collides with our limited understanding. I am attaching the link to this teaching as well as another article on Limits as further resources.
Inseparable/Limits:
The Gift of Limits:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/limitations-our-gift-from-god/%3famp
Interested in talking to Andrew Heinz, or one of our other counselors, about limiations you are facing?
Call us today at (970) 490-1309, and we will be happy to match you with the right person for you.