“Here’s a story. . . “

Inspired by the hubs this morning. . . I headed out for a 4 hour trail run. One day after a 2 hour trail run. The purpose of the back-to-back is to run on tired, trail legs. It was HOT. I texted my husband, “4 hours on the trail, encouragement welcome.” His initial response was “I think you will crush that run like Hulk crushes Hulk buster tanks.”(natch! I would not expect anything less from my handsome, comic book-loving, sci-fi watching, MAGIC-playing husband) Then, I asked him what God would say. He texted, “Run to Me not to your idol.”

Hmm. . . run to Me not to your idol? That got me thinking. It is no mystery to those who know me that running is a big part of my life. To those who are closest to me, you know that it brings me joy and excitement to talk about it, do it, talk about doing it, watching others do it, etc. I will tell you that it is my passion, but it is not my first love. This is an ongoing part of my story. Lately, for me, it is the physical that molds the spiritual. Jesus is showing up in my life weekly with the reminder of “I gave you the love, joy and ability to run, and it is beautiful, BUT that cannot be who I am in your heart. I don’t want 2nd place.” It is because of Byron’s quote and then, the gentle reminder AGAIN of my first love that I leave you with these two quotes. . . and implore that you dive into your story and invite those who care for you most to read it. 🙂

The following quote sums up my thoughts after my dearest sent me the text about running to God and not my idol:

Enjoy where you’re at so that you can enjoy where you’re headed. It’s about your story. There will be hard chapters for you, hero/heroine. God, himself, is writing this novel. God will send characters along the way to encourage, inspire, bring messages of truth, to teach you, to trouble you. He’s not out to see how many bruises you can handle. He’s about making ALL things new, ALL things. He is a busy author. He is working on all of us. He does not want you to challenge Him and say. “bring it!!” He wants you to surrender and say, “I trust you.”

This quote sums up my physical weakness as I reached mile 15 of the Savage Gulf marathon, 12 miles after my ankle was sprained:

. . . and in that moment, I realized all that God wants from me is to want Him. Love Him. Acknowledge Him. In the midst of struggles. In the midst of victories. ‘God, I don’t love this situation. But, I love you. Therefore, I have everything I need to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I get to the other side of this.’