To start, I began my college career this August at Moody Bible Institute. God has blessed me in so many ways by being here and I'm so thankful for His faithfulness in getting me to this place, His mercy and grace in the ways that He's growing me, and His love through the beautiful friends that I've made here. He is just so good and I can't get enough of Him!!
There is so much that has happened in the last two and a half months and I'm not really sure where to start? I guess I'll just start with today...
Today was one of those beautiful days where you just want to sing with joy because the sky was so blue and the trees were so colorful. God has been blessing us over and over again for the past week and half with beautiful weather! This morning I got to sleep in which was HUGE considering I never get sleep here. Our homework list seems to be never-ending. I started getting ready for my Saturday and realized I had nothing planned for today. Awesome! So I thought to myself, "Why would I waste such a beautiful day inside? I should go outside and do my long run for the day!" I proceeded to talk myself into running for two hours. Last Saturday I ran for about and hour and a half, (about 11 miles) so this week I just thought I'd bump it up and run for two hours.
When I run, I feel closest to God. I get to spend all of that time alone talking to Him and listening to His precious, still small voice. But today was different. Today I prayed for strength over and over again. I prayed for endurance and perseverance. I prayed that He would not only give me these things as I pushed through the pain of shin splints and sore legs, but as I pushed through the pain and difficulties in the run of life as well...
About half way through my run, I came to place on the path that was fenced off and marked as restricted. There was no way around it. I would have had to turn all the way around and run miles back to loop around to the other side. And I wasn't about to do that. I saw someone inside the "restricted" area and proceeded to find a way through the fence and go meet her. I asked her if she was trying to get to the other side too and she was in the same predicament as me. She just didn't want to go around. So together we forged our way over huge rocks next to the lake, through patches of mud and back up onto the broken path. We finally made it to the other side and hopped the fence. It was a short, but sweet encounter. I thanked her for the little adventure that we got to share and was on my way. As I ran off I smiled to myself and thanked God for that encounter. Even though I didn't catch her name, or find out her life story, we were able to share a beautiful moment and a fun adventure together. As I was talking to God I thanked Him again and prayed that this would be true of my life. That when I come to areas in life that seem impossible to cross, those places in life where most people just turn around and go back the other way, that I wouldn't give up. That I would persevere through those seemingly impossible barriers with His strength and help, and trust that He will help me to forge my way over the rocks and through the mud to get to the other side. I want to trust that He will bring people alongside me to encourage me in the process to not turn around or give up, but instead, to continue on, even though the road might be rough and the path, rocky. I want to be bold. I don't want to be the person who turns around and walks on the easy path, but instead, the one who steps up and takes the more challenging one. When we find strength, perseverance and endurance in Him to get through the difficulties and trials of life, He will also strengthen us in person and character and mold us into the person He wants us to become.
I always learn a lot from my runs and I'm so thankful for that! God speaks and teaches us through anything and everything if we're open to hearing His voice. So keep your eyes open, your ears attentive to his still small voice, and your heart ready to be moved to do hard things. He'll give you the strength you need and the grace to persevere and endure through pain and difficulties. He is faithful. Always faithful.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness!"
- 2 Corinthians 12:9
- 2 Corinthians 12:9
Keep seeking Him in all that you do, if you get anything out of my little story from my run, all praise, glory and honor be to Him and Him alone. Thanks for reading this; it ended up being a whole lot longer than I expected :)
Grace and Peace
