WHAT IS A JOURNEY? WHAT IT MEANS TO ME.
WHAT IS A JOURNEY? WHAT IT MEANS TO ME.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a journey suggests travel or passage from one place to another. It is an act or instance of traveling from one place to another. It also means to cross over or through.
A journey means so much to me. When I think about the word journey, I think about me driving in a car, hitting the open road like a road trip, and having many experiences along the way. A journey is an adventure for me. Some think, like me, of an open road with a sunset, some think of a beach, and others think of flying in an airplane like the birds in the sky traveling to and from. Although I knew how I envisioned a journey, I did not think about it until a friend asked me about her book cover, which represented a journey.
I remember my first road trip as an adult in July 2019. It was an incredible experience, and I cried because of the beautiful scenery, the gratitude of being able to travel across state lines, feeling free, and the excitement of not knowing what to expect along the way. I didn’t always have a positive mindset, though. I am naturally a realist, but I was a pessimist years ago. Based on my life experiences, I learned to expect the worst because getting excited about things was usually a smack in the face. Well, taking that road trip to visit family was an excitement that I was not expecting, and it produced much hope in me. It was a different type of feeling. I felt excited before, but this was an unexplainable joy. It showed me that there was more to life than working, going home to watch TV, sleeping, completing schoolwork, and doing it all over again. I used to get frustrated with life and ask myself all the time, were we born to be an enslaved person in the workforce until retirement to die anyway? I always felt that something was off; I did not know what it was until I experienced better. We often do not realize there is more to life until we experience something different.
My Journey Through the Process
When I started my Journey Through the Process of Faith and Fitness, there were things revealed to me that I would have to venture through emotionally, mentally, and spiritually with Abba (Father God). How does my road trip involve my faith and fitness journey? It is an adventure with Abba that I had never experienced before. It was something that I would have to go through and endure to learn, unlearn, and apply new principles to my life. I chose the words “go through” because, for years, I subconsciously avoided the heavy issues deeply embedded in my mind and my heart. I faced some challenges that felt like bumpy terrain on a road less traveled by others. Other moments were smooth, like a clear path full of joy and excitement. And guess what? The journey with Abba continues.
My Faith & Fitness Journey
I discovered the phrase Faith & Fitness when looking up exercise journals for myself. As I reflected on the term, I resonated with it because I realized the missing piece to my puzzle was Abba. I was working on my health alone, and doing that in my strength left me in a repeated cycle of insanity. We can’t do things in our strength because it will never produce functional fruit. It makes me think of the quote by Albert Einstein,
“Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.”
My prayer for you is Colossians 1:9-13 HCBS, and I encourage you to meditate and declare this scripture over yourself. It reads,
Colossians 1:9-13 HCBS
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. 14 We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.
The “faith” part is to seek Yah in all matters, such as health and fitness. Including Abba in the journey means not focusing on the blessing but building a relationship with Him. It was the beginning of an intimate daddy-and-daughter relationship. The “fitness” part is about learning to serve and honor Him through the body that He blessed us with. It is also about building consistency and believing in oneself that you deserve to achieve all your fitness goals.
I shared more of the fitness part of the journey with the world for about a year, and then slowly, the faith part started to appear more. I did not see how “faith” and “fitness” fit together clearly, although I did both things simultaneously. After some time, I realized that Abba used fitness to increase my faith. When they say Abba uses all things, you better believe it. Like my physical body, my faith requires exercise because it is a spiritual muscle.
I created a name for my journey because it made enduring more encouraging. The name is RenewwithJu. The name represents the renewal process of finding my identity in Abba. It means Judy is getting renewed. It has been two years thus far, and I am grateful for this process. I am indeed not the same person as I was two years ago.
Encouragement to You
I pray my testimony blesses you and encourages you to move in your Faith and Fitness Journey with Abba. I created a journal called Journey Through the Process: 30-Day Faith & Fitness Journal to help you transform your mindset from the burden of your healing journey to gratitude. It is available for purchase on Amazon. My online store features the journal, too, and will direct you to buy on Amazon using the <click here: Buy on Amazon > button.
