Work

Hey everyone!

I apologize for not blogging. I know it has almost been an entire month since I have blogged. The last month of school was insane and when I was not doing homework or working, I was studying and sleeping. Even though I have a valid excuse for not blogging, I can not help but feel convicted. I  think everyone can relate to what I am about to write about tonight...

When I was younger I would always go to church camp and while at camp I would get so on fire for God it was ridiculous. On the way home from camp I would daydream about witnessing to all of my friends, telling them about how great Our God is and I would dream about changing the world. That attitude would last maybe a couple of weeks before the fire died. It would not die because I was less of a Christian, or because I did not have the dreams anymore, it would die because I would get occupied with other things that I thought were more important. I would always tell myself "Oh I'll spend time with God later or I'll pray for those people later", but later never happened. Can anyone relate to the church camp fire??? 

When God put this blog on my heart I was so pumped and on fire to start writing this. But, then life happened. I started to put it off until eventually, I never thought about it unless people asked me why I have not updated it. I feel a burning inside of me to write this blog and as I sit here right now I know that this is something that I must keep up with because it helps me grow and I pray it is helping y'all continue the race God has set out before you. I do not feel the need to go into detail about how this relates to running  because I feel like it is obvious. Runners love running, but in order to get better and stronger, runners must make the time to train, and if they do not, they get weaker. This is no different than our relationship with God. We love God, but if we want to be stronger in Him and continue to grow, we MUST make time for Our God. If we do not, then we grow weaker not only spiritually, but I believe mentally, physically, and emotionally. When I am strong with the Lord I feel like I can conquer anything because I know my daddy God is fighting on my behalf, but when I am weak, I feel like everything brings me down. 

The point of this blog tonight is to remind you (and myself) that we must not let life and it's distractions distract us from our purpose and what we are called to do and be. It is easy to put off the things that we love, and yes it is work to make time for God, running, and other passions that we have. I'll leave you with this, being a Christian is not hard, it is WORK... something worth having is never easy and it is not hard... it is work. We work for the things in life that mean the most to us. My beautiful Pastor's wife, Mrs. Laurie shared that with me when I was younger. She is a powerful woman of God who spoke truth into my life and who I love dearly. 

P.S.

I thank God for giving me this blog and I thank God for everyone who is reading this. I pray that we can continue to grow together and run this race.

Nothing is too little or too big for Our God

I am sorry that I have not posted in a couple of days! I have been super busy with running, school, and work. I ran my first 25k trail race this past Saturday (15.5 miles). It was by far the hardest race I have ever ran in my life and it was the longest I have ever ran. This blog is dedicated to my race and the obstacles I had to overcome to finish.

Running in general is hard, but trail running is harder in my opinion. When you run on a road or track it is normally very easy to set a pace and keep it and other than the occasional cars passing by or if you are in Huntsville, the huge hills, there is not much distracting you from your pace. When you are trail running you set your pace, but just when you are in the "zone" you come across an uphill covered in tree roots, maybe some sand, or sometimes a fallen tree that you have to jump over. Sometimes the uphills last for what seems like a mile. If you have not figured it out yet, trail running is hard and it is a challenge.

I ran the 25k Hog's Hunt trail run on Saturday. I had many physical, emotional, and mental obstacles to overcome. Not even 5 miles into my run my stomach decided it was going to hurt and cause me some problems. Even though I want to go into detail, I have decided that I will not because I am hoping your imaginations can figure out what I am talking about...if not lets just say think of the worst stomach issue scenario you can think of. With that said I was pretty positive that I would have to drop out of the race because I was afraid of dehydration. I had plenty of stuff with me to prevent that from happening, but I had chill bumps all over my face, arms, and legs and it was starting to send me into a panic. I decided that I was not going to drop out of the race and I immediately gave my panic to God. This was not easy to be honest but I had to learn to put my faith into action.

During my entire run I was constantly in prayer. Eventually my stomach issues went away, but just the pain that my body was feeling due to the 15.5 mile run was getting the best of me. I knew that God could carry me through this race if I would allow Him to and I truly believe it was because of my faith and trust in God that I finished because I was not feeling good at all. 

The day before my race I was reading my book by Joyce Meyer and she was talking about how King David would pray to God about everything. King David gave every emotion, fear, worry, and panic to Him. When King David would feel alone or abandoned by God he would cry out to Him asking where He is, but instead of King David giving up on God, at the very end of prayer he would say I trust in you Lord and I KNOW you will come to me and help me. King David always knew God would come to his aid. My prayer to God during my run went like this "Lord, I am hurting, I do not think I can finish, and I feel like I am going to drop out, but Lord I know you are there, I know that you are with me, and I have faith and trust in you to carry me through this run and lead me to the finish and I thank you and give you the praise and the honor that you deserve". I repeated that throughout the entire run.

It does not matter how big or small your problems are, God wants to help us and carry us through them. But, we must have faith and trust in Him that he will help us. Tell Him like I did what you are going through and give Him thanks for bringing you through your problems even before they have been fixed. We must speak things into existence! When I was praying during my run, I did not immediately feel better, but I knew if I could speak it and give God the thanks for making it happen, it eventually will. I made it through this race because I trusted God.

Big or Small, give it all to God and whether it is healing that you need, a breakthrough, if you need to pass a test, or if you need advice on something, please give it to Him today. My prayer is that people would stop believing that God does not care about the small things in life...He loves us SO much and wants us to come to Him. 

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest".

-Matthew 11:28

Stop Being a Slave to the Past

“Our past may explain why we're suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.” Joyce Meyer

We all have made mistakes and we all have regretted some things in our life and I believe many of us, myself included, tend to live in the past sometimes. Some of us might cling to past relationships that have failed and blame ourselves for it, some of us might have sinned and even though we have asked forgiveness from God, we still dwell on it, and some of us might just live in the past and think "what could have been". All of these things create bondage in our lives and prevent us from moving forward to the life that God has destined us to. If we have given the past to God then we need to move forward. It is a sin when we ask forgiveness about something or we consume our lives with something from the past that we have given to God. Pslams 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth". When we give the past to God and have faith that he will take care of it then we must remember what Pslams 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God". 

I believe that we can truly be a slave to our past. We forget that God can overcome and conquer all things. When we become a slave to our past we put our lives on hold, we can not move forward. There are days that I am consumed with the past and I worry about stuff that I can not change. When I allow this to happen it affects how I feel and treat people. We must learn to move forward. I believe that we as Christians forget the most simple truths about God, we forget that He is Love, He is the Alpha and the Omega, that He is stronger than any fear, worry, or doubt that we might have. If we want to move forward in our lives and prosper like the Word of God promises us, we must start remembering the simple truths of our God. 

Being a slave to our past will prevent us from running the race that God has for us. A runner does not just stop in the middle of the course and think about all of the races or runs that he or she failed at, a runner keeps moving, sometimes moving slower on some parts of the course and sometimes moving faster, but a runner never just stops. When we live in the past we stop our lives and put it on hold. I believe that God wants me and others to finally start seeing that he is bigger than our past and he is more than able and willing to take care of the bondage that holds us down. Be still, and know the He is God and continue the race that he has set out for you.

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Not being a slave to emotions

Today has been the longest day! I wanted to write this earlier today, but being in methods consumes my life. I have been thinking all day about what I wanted to write about. There are so many things I want to write about today but I decided to write about something that I am going through right now and I think a lot of people struggle with this. Like I said in my bio (at least I think anyways...) this blog is to help people with the same struggles as me so I am going to be upfront and honest about the things I share on this blog... let's get started :)

I am currently reading a book by Joyce Meyer called "Living Beyond Your Feelings". It has been life changing. If you know me then I am sure you have figured out that I am emotional (what woman isn't though) at times and I strive to be perfect a lot. In other words, I am a people pleaser. God has really been showing me how to control my emotions without them controlling me. I tend to let stress get the best of me and it consumes my day sometimes. Now let's talk about running....

Runners, I am sure that you have had a bad run before, because I know I have. I think it's crazy that I can run 9 miles one day and feel great, but then two days later I go for a 4 mile run and I struggle. It discourages me so much sometimes and I start to doubt myself and if I am really even a decent runner.

In so many areas of my life I want to be perfect and when I fail it really discourages me. The Lord has been showing me that if someone could be perfect, then He would not have sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. If we live our lives so consumed in trying to be perfect all the time then really in reality we are pretty miserable. Serving God will become hard (not enjoyable) and we will forget the true beauty of living for Him. There are so many areas in my life that I know I am struggling with and that I want to change.The main one right now is controlling how I react to things and not basing my decisions off pure emotion, but base them off what the Word of God says  (Joyce Meyer taught me that).

This is the point where I bring it all together. As Christians and runners, we MUST learn that we can not be perfect and that if we get consumed in trying to be then we will end up hating God and giving up on our passion for running. We must remember that there is so much beauty in God breaking us down in our lives...when he breaks us down it is because He wants to build us up again and make us stronger. When we think we have failed at a run then that means we rest up and go out it again. It is through our mistakes and our "bad runs" that we become stronger,we begin to work harder, and it makes us love our passions even more. I am loving every minute when I choose not to be a slave to my emotions and when I choose to not let a bad run make me feel like I am an awful runner.

I am praying that God can help us through our hardships and our runs and that we will get stronger. Remember, we are Beautifully Broken for the Lord.

Good night :)

God speaks to us in mysterious/random ways!

I am currently training for a 25k Trail Run at the Huntsville State Park. I have always loved running, but running and I have had some break ups here and there, but right now we are back together and we are totally in love! January I decided to join the 7 Hill's Running Club and the club introduced me to trail runs. It was love at first sight. Trail running in my opinion is relaxing because you feel like you are one with nature. During my runs I think about everything and have a chance to clear my head about all of the stress and worries that life brings. I find myself thinking about the Lord a lot. There is something about being around nature that just reveals God's greatness to me. During my runs I start to feel convicted because I feel so close to his presence being in nature, yet so far away at the same time because I know that I am not walking with the Lord like I should be. On my runs I talk to God, I pray to Him, and most of the time I am asking him to "get me through this run" and I sometimes even pretend he is running next to me and I find myself saying "Come on Lord we are almost there". I am starting to feel close to Him again and it truly brings joy to my soul and my entire being. 


It was today after my run that I was taking a long relaxing bath and I was thinking about my running and wondering why it is sometimes so hard for me to get up and go run when I love it so much. Immediately after that thought my walk with God came to mind. How I feel about running and how I treat my training sometimes is exactly how I treat my walk. I am in love with God, yet I do not spend the time I need with Him. How can we say we love God, yet not spend time with Him. If you are feeling convicted do not worry because I am! 


This blog is dedicated for those who love running, yet find it a struggle sometimes to keep going and for us who are Christians who love the Lord  and like running, struggle to walk with Him daily. My prayer is that we can walk this journey together and stay accountable with our physical and spiritual training!!

P.S. Who would have thought this idea would come taking a bath?? God talks to us in mysterious/random ways :)