The Heart of a Lindsey

Megan Breedlove October 5, 2009 0 Comments

You’ve heard it said that a brave person has “the heart of a lion”. This phrase describes someone who exhibits ultimate courage in the face of even the fiercest enemy, and who doesn’t give up, no matter what.

It’s true that lions are brave. They aren’t called “King of the Jungle” for nothing.

But I submit to you that not even a lion has a heart like my Lindsey.

Lindsey is an incredible kid in many ways. She’s delightful, quirky, funny, creative, compassionate…I could go on for hours. But today, the precious aspect of her that I want to share with you is her can-do, never-say-die spirit.

Lindsey has exhibited this quality hundreds of times. One of the most recent was less than two weeks ago. All four kids and I were outside. Kenny and Jessica were playing together, and Ellie and Lindsey were riding their bikes (both have training wheels) with me close by.

Lindsey has learned to ride without help, for the most part. She still falls down occasionally, but she gets up and gets going again. On this day, she fell, and she said, “I fall down a lot.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Everyone falls down when they’re learning to ride.”

“I fell down again,” she said a few minutes later, when the same thing happened.

“You’re doing great,” I said. “You can do it. I know you can.”

A few minutes later, Lindsey fell down a third time.

This time, she stayed where she had fallen, propped up and looking at me, her legs still wrapped around the bike. Her beautiful brown eyes looked especially large, her face serious. “I’m not going to give up, no matter what,” she said.

That, my friend, is the heart of a Lindsey.

It would have been much easier for Lindsey to say, “I didn’t know learning to ride a bike was going to mean falling down. Forget it. I quit.” But she didn’t. Instead, she realized that bumps and bruises were a part of the process, and she was willing to accept that. They weren’t going to make her quit.

I won’t give up, no matter what.

Do you and I give up? When start down a path we believe God has for us, only to encounter road bumps that throw us off the seat and pitch us into the dirt, how do we respond?

Granted, there may be times when God places obstacles in our path because we are riding in a direction He doesn’t want us to go. It requires prayer and discernment through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to discern whether the roadblocks are meant to warn us, or are simply the result of living in a fallen world, where things don’t always go perfectly even when the course is right.

If they are the latter, we dare not give up. Why? Because we’ll miss out on the incredible blessings God has for us. Not only will we never reach God’s intended goal if we give up, but we’ll miss out on learning from the complications.

Why do we expect everything to be smooth sailing, anyway? More often than not in this life, there are difficulties. Why are we surprised, as if something strange is happening to us?

There are much better things in life even than pain-free roads. Lindsey is going to be a better person for having persevered through her difficulties to the day when she finally learns to ride a bike with no training wheels. She’ll be free as the wind, and it will all be because she was willing to undergo the training process.

You and I can be better people, too, for having endured the loose gravel (or even boulders) on our road. I don’t say that we will be better people, because it all depends on our response, on what we let God do in our lives with our difficult experiences. It could be that we wind up bitter and disappointed, angry at God and at the world.

Or it could be that we become beautiful, because by learning perseverance through suffering, we are becoming more like the Lord Jesus.

The obstacles you encounter may not be your choice. But the kind of person you become because of them, is.

I know that getting up and getting back on the bike hurts. Sometimes, getting spilled into the dirt leaves us with wounds that don’t heal easily, or maybe ever. But because of the beautiful, gracious mercy of God, we don’t have to get up in our own strength.

What do you think I would have done if Lindsey had lain in the road, crying piteously, “Mommy, help”? I would have done the same thing you would have—gone to her, picked her up, set her on her feet, wiped her tears, and helped her get going again. And if I, being evil, can love my child like that, how much more will our heavenly Father pick us up when we fall, wipe our tears, and help us get going again?

When you have no strength left, and no will even to rise, if you call out to God, His strength will be enough for you. He will do for you what you can’t do for yourself.

That’s what He did when He raised you from spiritual death to spiritual life.

And that’s what He’ll do in raising you from the side of the road.

Will you let Him?

I won’t give up, no matter what.

What do you choose?

1 Peter 4:12—Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

Psalm 61:2—From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.