It's almost race time!

One week from today is the Cooper River Bridge Run!! For those of you who do not know, I have piriformis syndrome, and about this time last year, I realized I had it.  To put it in a nutshell, piriformis syndrome, for me, feels as if I have broken my butt and makes it quite painful to move around.  But, the main issue with this is that it keeps me from one of my absolute favorite things--running!  It just so happens that this obstacle reappears in my life before the Bridge Run.  This time last year, I was extremely bitter because this specific 10k race was my New Years Resolution, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.  So you see, the big problem was that I was focusing ONLY on "I", and not the One who gave me the wonderful gift and desire to run in the first place.

Luckily, I was directed to a chiropractor who helped realign my hips so that my gluteus maximus no longer felt broken.  With no practice for the run a month before the big day, I had to learn a hard lesson that should have been easy.  Every time I run, each step is a gift from God.  I cannot rely on myself and my own strength to carry me, but know that I NEED God by my side the whole time and know that His strength is more powerful than any injury or race that I could ever encounter.  This year, it seems as if the same lesson is here for me to learn from again.  The joy that fills my heart every time I am allowed to run is because my heart is full of "THANK YOU" to God!

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. -Hebrews 12:1

Throughout my journey of injuries over the past year, I have learned the valuable lesson to rid myself of pride.  I now refuse to let anything that holds me back affect me and my relationship with the Big Guy!  I have done nothing great in this world on my own and can never take credit for it.  God deserves all the awe and thanksgiving!!  Who else could have carried my broken self across that finish line last year in under an hour? Certainly wasn't me!

My challenge to you wonderful people is to really think about all that the good Lord allows you to do.  Each and every one of us has been given special and unique gifts in order to enhance the kingdom of God here on earth.  Pretty cool, huh?  Honestly, I am still trying to figure mine out, but I can rest assure that as long as I am trying to follow His plan, that everything will work out the way that it is supposed to! 

I could not have made it through that race without Him last year, and I know He'll carry me through again this year! 
The JOY of the Lord is my strength! -Nehemiah 8:10

Happy First Day of Spring! :)

Sorry guys!  I have been trying to get back to this blog all week!! But, some crazy circumstances kept getting in the way!  It was actually a pretty tough week.  Thankfully, I have been surrounded by wonderful people and have been constantly reminded that God is so good!  On an extremely happy note, who is happy that daylight savings time came (even though we lost an hour of sleep) and now it is sunny so much later!! As someone who does not get out of class or work until about 5:30 everyday, I am so stoked that the sunshine is lasting longer these days!! :)

I want to tell you all about something so great that I've experienced this week.  You hear people talking about having an inner peace within them that helps them get through tough times.  Well, I've definitely experienced this sense of calming in my heart this week.  I have been so overwhelmed with the load of schoolwork that appears to be endless, hips coming out of alignment, and family pets passing away, yet God placed this wonderful stillness in my heart and mind that I am very thankful for.  I thought I was going to lose it a few times this week, and then there were moments where I just knew everything was going to be okay, and I had absolutely nothing to fear or be sad about. 

Now, before you completely make fun of me for this next statement, all I have to say is, "Don't knock it til' you try it!"  I follow RevRunWisdom on Twitter, and that guy knows his stuff!  I absolutely LOVE his words of wisdom and his love for Jesus!  Some examples to get my point across are as follows:

• "Best move I've ever made.... Developed a DEEP relationship with JESUS CHRIST #mytruth "
• "Ladies it'll be hard to find true LOVE IF. = (L)egs (O)pen (V)ery (E)asy #LOVE"
• "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships & persecution. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
• "Todays Lesson:: Arithmetic.... Count your blessings not your problems"

As you can see, the man has some good wisdom to share with the Twitter world.  It would be nice if he was teaching this wisdom at CofC.  Anywho, I'm getting off of an tangent.  I've decided that I really have no control over my life, and I'm perfectly okay with that.  This is because every time I've tried to have control over what happens in my life, it completely blows up in my face.  So, instead of making things rather difficult, I've given my life to Christ.  Even though I made this crucial decision about two years ago, just this past month I decided to take it one step further.  I decided to give my earned dollar in a tithe.  Now, for some of you, this doesn't seem so difficult, but for a college student living in downtown Charleston, every dollar counts (especially for parking!) 

So, I've decided to do what the Bible tells me.  I am going to test God by giving him 10% of each paycheck that I receive, and see what blessings begin to flow my way due to the fact that I trust God with the money that He is loaning me in the first place.  I challenge each of you to try to give up something in your life (or more if you'd like) and see if anything changes or any weight is lifted from you shoulders.  I know that the burdens that have fallen in my lap this past week have definitely taken a toll on me and my heart, but God has helped me tremendously in overcoming them, and trusting that His will is perfect in every way! 

It is officially Spring, which means the flowers will be blooming, the sun will be setting later, and the weather is ready for sun-bathing! Woot Woot!

"Some people forget that one of the greatest weapons against despair is prayer" -Rev. Run

In memory of the greatest panther-cat that ever was! I love you, Sam!

Burn Out Overload

Hello again!  I hope all of you that were on Spring Break had a fabulous week!  It definitely goes by waaaay too quickly!  Back to reality I guess...which means numerous papers and a test as soon as school starts back. Wow, that was really a downer..No more of that on this blog!!  That is one of the main reasons for this specific post.  Do you feel completely burnt out with this whole school thing?  Some days, I am definitely ready to throw in the towel.  I mean, we have been in school since we were 5...at age 22, I am a little sick of papers, tests and projects. 

This has been an immense obstacle for me to overcome this past week.  It is always hard to try and be productive with school work over a holiday!  But then I got to thinking...in the long run, these small burdens of tests, papers and projects all pass.  Every semester we take the time to fret about all that we are going to have to accomplish within a few months, but somehow, IT ALL GETS DONE.  And when you look back, you have no idea how you did it! 

I'm pretty sure I had a panic attack yesterday when I realized all I had procrastinated on this past week (but I thoroughly enjoyed every day I procrastinated).  Holy hypocrite!  I was worrying after I had blabbered on my last post about not worrying!  Geez guys, maybe I should have given that up instead of cheese for lent!  I needed a good reminder for myself that God has a plan for me, and fretting about it is not going to do me any good.  I just need to bite the bullet and do my work.  THIS TOO SHALL PASS!  As long as I give my work my best effort, I will end up where I'm supposed to.  There's no arguing with the Big Guy upstairs, He has an awesome plan for you and me, and He's not going to let school work get in the way of it!

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  -Romans 8:28

For those of y'all ending your spring break...don't worry!! It's already March, which means beautiful weather and a big break from school is coming (or graduation for some of you--Woot Woot!) Even with all of this rotton school work surrounding us right now, there are still so many wonderful things to be happy about!  Some people around the world, and even in our own country, would kill to have an education!  So, let's make the best of this so we can focus on the AWESOME plan that God has for us!  It's going to be epic, so get excited! :)

"Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart." -Rumi

Here is the happiest picture I've seen lately!  Hope it puts a smile on your face! :)