Sweet time with God

So, I'm starting to feel like a broken record. This is reinforced by the fact that I think I have said that before. So in the spirit of that, I can quote one of my favorite bands, The Newsboys, and their song "Step up to the Microphone"


I say hello
To anyone who's listening
The message ain't nothing new
I don't decide what's true
So when the stones get thrown
They either miss or
They turn to glory
Here's the story as far as i know

So. The not so news is that running isn't as hard as we make it. Some of you might gasp and say "Blasphemy!" but the honest truth is, you can do it if you put the work in. This can translate to life (of course). We may all be looking for your purpose in life. I talked a couple of blogs ago about having a vision for your life that comes from God. The thing is, how are we going to be ready for what God has for us if we never go through the preparation stage with Him? How will I ever run a marathon if I never prepare with training?

The other not so new news is that the more you are anxious on your run, the more energy you take away from running. How are you going to run even three miles if you are so anxious about your performance or if you will make it or if you can hold your pace or if you are doing better than the person who ran past you (get my drift?) if you are so anxious you are restraining your stride and not breathing? RELAX. My husband loves survival shows. The common theme on those shows with the ones that survive and tell their stories is that you MUST maintain a positive attitude to survive. You will never survive a race mentally if you think negative thoughts all the time. This absolutely will affect your race.

Plus, this is supposed to be fun right? You bet ya! I'm not the biggest fan of late night comedy, but I read recently a quote from Stephen Colbert after the Boston Marathon Bombing in Runner's World magazine. He noted that the Boston Bombers obviously hadn't considered the toughness of marathoners - "people who run 26 miles on their day off until their nipples are raw - for fun." It's so true! But how are you supposed to enjoy your race like you were meant to if you are constantly dogging and doubting yourself the entire four or five hours? Marathoners have to learn the power of positive thinking in order to get through. This is shown in everything else they do. I am of course, not happy that the bombings happened. But I am happy to see a community that looks at the events and thinks about others rather than themselves. It is so easy to think negatively after a traumatic event but as a whole, the community has come together to think positively, and keep running.

Lastly, I wrote last week about how I was struggling for a vision in my running and how I was looking to God to give it to me. My dear friend Ginger called me yesterday. She is amazing people. I have come to love her very much and she has become somewhat of a mentor to me. She has a couple of marathons under her belt and gave me some of the best perspective today. She said that running can be just a sweet time with God if you allow it to be. Oh how she was right! I strategically placed worship songs on my running playlist today and it honestly gave my run the boost it needed. It was just me and God and the birds in the trees jamming out together. It's honestly hard to be anxious about anything when you know that no matter where you go, God is with you. No matter where we go, Emmanuel.

“Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,”  which means “God with us.

~ Matthew 1:23

Overcoming the World

Hello everyone. Sorry it's been so long (a whole three days!) since my last post but it's been a bit crazy out here. We have a big garage sale this weekend to raise money for kids camp and it's been a week long project to get all of it organized and priced. We got it done today though! Tomorrow all we have to do (I say ALL in the loosest of definitions) is get the tables set up in the hallway so that when 7:00 am Saturday rolls around, we just have to move the tables out and we are open for business!

Here's a picture of the stuff BEFORE it got all organized and priced.


Yes that is my dog. She was "helping" haha.

And that picture was even after my fabulous team went through the first pass and at least "lumped" like things together!

So this week has been crazy! Not only do I mean by my schedule just been jammed packed, but the world suddenly decided it was going to be a dramatic week. We started with bombs in Boston, tornadoes across the country, ricin being mailed to government officials and now we had a fertilizer plant explode just north of us in West, Texas. They had to evacuate the entire city! It's weeks like these where I think, "Did the world just decide to have some crazy pills?" I struggle sometimes when things like this happen. What's the point of trying to achieve things, work so hard, etc when someone is just going to destroy all the time? I'm sure that's how many of the runners feel. They worked so hard to first, qualify for the Boston Marathon, and then compete in the Boston Marathon. Then someone took the completion of that goal away from them with a single decision.

But what I have to remember, is that the devil is the one responsible for these things. His agenda is to steal, kill and destroy. He is loving the havoc and destruction that is happening. But God is not gone. He is not absent from the situation. God is placing people at the right place, the right time and providing help for those who need it. God is not fighting for victory. There is no desperation in his conference room. There is no emergency meeting going on. God is already victorious! God is placing on the hearts of many to look beyond the pain and the doubt. He is pressing on his church to go out and help and provide care for those who need it. There are countless stories of those in Boston giving blood, inviting runners into their homes, Texans helping those in West whom have been displaced. This is God at work. This is God showing yes, something terrible happened because we live in a world where we feel the effects of sin. Yet I have overcome the world and you just need to hold on to me.

So take heart. Read John 16. Then finish the book! Jesus came so that we can have life, and life to the fullest, no matter what.

Marathons and bombs do not go together!

So I woke up this morning to my dog greeting me. It's such a wonderful thing to wake up to a dog AND a husband! In the past this doesn't usually happen!

As I got ready for the day I realized that the Boston Marathon was on this morning! Jared and I had spent a good deal of time last night talking about Boston as we were thinking of taking one last quick trip before our lives went into overdrive busy. We were looking at the map, picking out things to see, where to stay, things to do...normal touristy planing stuff. Naturally the Boston Marathon came up in conversation as we are training for our first marathon.

It was awe inspiring this morning to watch these athletes run faster than I've ever sprinted for miles and miles and miles! Even though you were looking at the same camera angle for minutes at a time, just watching the people run and jockey for position, thinking through the tactical and psychological parts of the race were thrilling! I was rooting for the American girls and I am really excited for their 4th and 6th place finishes!

Jared and I then went on with our day. We worked out, took care of our dog who's got an upset stomach, etc and then find out that minutes before I looked at my iPad's news, there was a bomb at the same race we were watching just hours ago. I was on the verge of tears watching runners who were running such a great feat either not be able to finish or be injured before they got across the finish line. I thought about my own upcoming marathon. Would the same thing happen at mine? It's always a possibility. Would I go even if that was a possibility? Will people run the Boston Marathon or any other race next year?

And before I go on, I know nothing I say will probably make any difference. I don't expect people to listen to me. There isn't anything I can say that will ease the pain of those who lost loved ones. They are going to have a long road through greif along side those who were injured and have a long road through recovery. The mental and psychological trauma will take time and patience to get through and it will be hard.

Unfortunately, as a society, we are not a stranger to terrorism. Nothing I say will make a difference, change what happened, or help with what road lies before those people involved. But for me and those that are mentally sorting through the unnecessary violence that happens in our culture, this is my response. Terrorism is meant to make us fearful. Fear will make us do life different. That different life will not be the full life God has planned for us. We will constantly live negative, paranoid, looking for someone to blame as we life in our unforgiveness and fear.

As the victim of a violent crime, I've had to deal with those thoughts and process through them in my own way. But as I've become a runner, I've learned that runners are the types of people that push through pain. They hear their bodies say, "Stop!" and allow their minds to push the body further. They accomplish feats that inspire us! They defy limits and say, "I can do the impossible." That's why we love sports. That's why comebacks in competitive games are some of the best moments in sports history. What looks impossible becomes possible and gives us hope for the rest of our lives.

So the answer to my questions? Will people run the race next year? My immediate response was yes. Because we are not a people who quit at the point of pain but run through it. We don't disregard it, but we fight through it. We run in remembrance of pain but also in the remembrance of the victory over pain.

God has victory over death and He is the one who will give us the strength to run through the pain.