{"id":17250,"date":"2014-01-23T00:15:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T05:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=17250"},"modified":"2014-01-22T16:48:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T21:48:42","slug":"charging-cheetah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/01\/23\/charging-cheetah\/","title":{"rendered":"A Charging Cheetah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do but haven\u2019t yet….<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently, my family was riding along in the car when my daughter asked my husband a series of questions. She asked him his favorite animal in which he replied, \u201cCheetah,\u201d not knowing that she was going to say that the qualities of the animal you choose might represent what kind of person you would choose as a spouse. We laughed when she told us that. Oh, it\u2019s just fun\u2026how could I ever be like a cheetah? But then, after a few moments of silence, as we thought about it… well, maybe I am. I can<\/em> be intense\u2014especially if I\u2019m running toward a goal for the Lord. (And at times, I also can be like the cheetah sprawled out under a shade tree doing absolutely nothing!)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been praying\u2026and the time is now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
\nand I will tell what He has done for my soul.
\nI cried to Him with my mouth,
\nand high praise was on my tongue.
\nPsalms 66:16-17<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This coming week, I\u2019m determined to cast fear aside and be a charging cheetah. I\u2019ll pick up the pen and begin writing a project that has been on my heart for quite some time. It\u2019ll be one of the biggest projects I\u2019ve ever attempted. Hopefully, it will bring God glory at its completion; therefore, it\u2019s worth chasing after! I\u2019ve been praying about this, and I know the time is now. God has answered my prayer as the project will soon begin! (He has been patient with me.)<\/p>\n

\n

But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
\nBlessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer
\nor removed His steadfast love from me!
\nPsalms 66:19-20<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I give Him great praise! I could not begin to attempt such a project without Him nor would I want to! I want it to be saturated with love for Him and Holy Spirit-led in every step.<\/p>\n

People may think that something has to be completed for a prayer to be answered\u2014but not for me! Sometimes, the beginning is the hardest. Ask a runner how hard it is to run, and you might be surprised to hear that the hardest part is getting to the track and beginning! That requires much discipline to plow through feelings, to push away other distractions, and get moving! Once you\u2019re on the track, the running is easy. As a cheetah and as a runner must begin to run, so must a writer begin to write.<\/p>\n

So, what is God asking you to do that you have been putting off? <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Is there something He wants you to start or try? \u00a0If God has your heart, you can at least try for Him! All of us should be able to proclaim Psalms 66:16-17 at any point along the way as we see what He\u2019s doing in us and for us.<\/p>\n

Jesus may return or call me home before I get finished, for I don\u2019t ever know what the future holds. But when I stand before Him face to face, I will at least know I tried with all my heart. I will not regret having many unwritten pages in my heart not spill out for others to read when there is much to share and much work to do to make an impact for His Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Are you with me? Let\u2019s be charging cheetahs for the sake of Christ and move forward with intensity! Pray, and give Him glory for spurring us into action for His Name\u2019s sake. Pray throughout the process, and give Him great glory when the work is done! And, at the end, maybe we can rest under that shade tree for just a bit\u2026before we get up and run with all we have once again for the glory of Christ!!!<\/p>\n

I \u00a0wrote most of\u00a0this devotional while my husband was in a meeting after church. He climbed into the car and said, \u201cI thought of you. There was a picture of a cheetah in the pastor\u2019s office.\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0* ~ \u00a0* ~ * ~ *<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Lord, let our intensity be set afire because of You and You alone! Let our excuses, pitiful feelings, and earthly distractions dissolve completely away as we set before us the desire to complete those things You are calling us to do. We love You. Let our lives show that in the ways we serve You relentlessly. Thank You, Lord, for dying on the Cross for us\u2026that alone is enough to keep us moving passionately and intensely forward in the goals You give each and every one of us! In Jesus\u2019 precious Name I pray, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do but haven\u2019t yet…. Recently, my family was riding along in the car when my daughter asked my husband a series of questions. She asked him his favorite animal in which he replied, \u201cCheetah,\u201d not knowing that she was going to say that the qualities of the animal you choose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[5177,3175,3173,1287,425,5176,5115,5175,3174,5178],"class_list":["post-17250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-answered-prayer","tag-cheris-gaston","tag-daily-devotional","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-is-god-calling-you","tag-psalms-6616-17","tag-psalms-6619-20","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-time-is-now","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4ue","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17250"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17252,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250\/revisions\/17252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}