First off thanks everyone for just letting me know that you stopped by; I really appreciated that! Also of course for your continued prayers; I can't tell you how amazing it is to know that people are praying for you and love you enough to not have to know every gory detail but just trust that prayer will help; Thank You!!
JOY!
I think people always say they want to be "happy", but I don't know if that is truthfully realistic. In this world we face trials of many kinds; job loss, loss of loved ones, relationship strife, confusion, anger, etc.... I think it really is unrealistic to be "happy" all the time. BUT if we're talking about "joy" that is different in my opinion. I think pure joy comes only from the Lord. Only from His promises and ultimately His hope. At church they have been preaching on "Out of the Ashes", finding hope in/through suffering!(ps thank you Lord for speaking directly to me:):)
and there is something to be said about this incredible amount of pure "JOY" I feel even in the midst of trials. I read through my last post about this next chapter and it feels 100% true BUT the only thing that didn't come out of that post was my JOY & HOPE that God continues to fill me with as I continuously go to him! "In the midst" there are alot of really cool things happening as well...
* A while ago I mentioned in one of my posts that there might be some "fun" new ministry opportunities coming up?..... well there definitely were or I mean are....
1. I am the new MOPS coordinator at our church! Yay:):)
They asked me back in March I think and I was pretty taken aback that the Lord would put my name on their hearts to ask because of where I am and how broken I felt at the time. But I'm telling you it was the most AMAZING prayerful journey I have ever been on! I mean if you ever want the Lord to speak to you just completely surrender the question to him and WOW he just met me where I was every single time and just poured into me through his word that it is NOT by my own strength that I would be taking on this role it is through HIS STRENGTH! and honestly a bit broken, frightened and weak is exactly where he wanted me going into this leadership position because now the words I say are His! the actions I posses are His! and the strength to keep it all going is His! and what a ministry initself that is!!! so I'm super excited abou that!
2. I have joined High School ministry staff!
Now it's not like I'm running anything or going crazy in that way just a volunteer who faithfully goes to youth group every week and conitinuously speaks into the lives of a group of incoming freshman girls! I LOVE IT!! I've missed it!
(and Sharri if you're reading this I came very close to calling you a few weeks ago on my way to my 1st youth group because I was having flashbacks of our time with Mariners Jr. High, thinking about ministering with you and was just missing you and getting excited to hang out with students again:)
*Also part of the transition from the 1st chapter to this chapter all of a sudden I forgot to take care of myself! Does anyone ever do that when you're in transition and you're not sure which way is up? You get so good at keeping everyting else afloat that you forget to take time for yourself.... so with that said; I (WE) decided to run in the Bolder Boulder 10K! Yay!!:) It was a HUGE accomplishment not just for me, not just for Chris but for us as a couple. It was sort of this symbolic thing; I can't quite explain it without droning on & on and boring you all, but basically it represented something that we have always wanted to do, always "never got around to doing" either out of fear or just lazy? who knows and also it represented something that we could do as individuals but also as a couple!
Ok so let me put this in perspective for you (because I am super excited about it). The Bolder Boulder is a 10K race that takes place every Memorial Day. It's obviously in Boulder and it takes place in the heart of downtown, in the heart of all the residential and all around. It is the 5th largest road race in the world and the largest in the US (of timed runners), there were over 56,000 runners!!!! Apparently the course itself is one of the most difficult (ps nobody told us that when we signed up, LOL:). It was TOTALLY a God thing because Chris came home Thursday night and after chatting we both decided to do it? Ummm what??:) I woke up Friday morning at about 5:30ish; sort of panicked and sort of excited and decided to go running because apparently 48 hours from then I would be running in a 10K:)LOL! So there we were 2 days later and off we went! Chris had been training for awhile and had some goals in mind and honestly he is in amazing shape right now (he did it in 55 minutes; seriously I know!:)
And then there's me whom shall we just say had not been training; LOL!!
I Hadn't run consistently at least since October (before our failed transfer)
and here I was staring at a 10K (6.2 miles) in the face and I ran it in.....
Drumroll please because I even amazed myself....
1hour 9minutes (69 minutes)!!!!!!!!!
Not by my own strength but His! I'm telling you I had been praying consistently for the Lord to fill me with courage, discipline and strength to begin to take care of myself and to challenge myself, well I defintiely did that and felt GREAT!!!! Ok well let me not exaggerate that I did not feel GREAT after the race. Chris & I could barely keep our eyes open the rest of the day. Did everything we could not to fall asleep and failed miserably and were in bed by 8pm with Emma Grace but WE DID IT!!!
I know the picture is tiny I took it off their photo site because we didn't have a camera that day but that's me bottom right corner wearing blue!!!! yay!!
I know it's super tiny and I know you can't see me but I'm the blue dot on the far right, 1st row ready to start. I thought it would be cool for you guys to see the sea of people behind me!! Crazy! And my wave took off at 8:59am the first wave took off at 7am I think and there were still many more waves after me.... 56,000 people the energy was CRAZY nuts!!
I pray that in the midst of your daily struggles, daily frustrations and daily grinds that you can Find His JOY! Rest in His JOY! and Enjoy His JOY!
It is pretty awesome!
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
2 comments:
Okay, SO hilarious that you write that! At our little tiny church plant we've been working with, they just started up a youth ministry toward the end of this year (we group the JH & HS together, because we have a total of about 8-10 kids... But hey, it was 2 when we started!). I totally wrestled with doing it, because I missed it SO much, but was SO busy with just life! I did it anyway, and it's been great! But so often, things students say, and stuff we do, just bring this flood of memories, and it just makes me want to pick up the phone every single time, but I feel like a big dork! :) Love it - haha! And especially (without getting all sappy in front of everyone ;) ) you were such a big part of that time, and mentor of sorts for me (have I ever actually told you that?! Sorry, if I have not, because you totally were!), that a lot of the memories bring you to mind. Anyhoo, super funny you happened to mention that! (PS - Can I just flashback to a conversation I remember us having, about having kids & still being a part of youth ministry - neither of us thought we would... well look at us now! Haha!)
Otherwise, I'm so excited for you - your involvement & leadership! And PS, your run - way too much exercise for my lazy rear! :) Kudos to you!! Anyway, I completely understand those little windows of "joy" and God, amid the storms, and I'm so excited to hear you talk about that, and can just hear in your words, the way those things are working in your life! Yay! xo
I completely agree:) You took the words right out of my head and put them on paper. Joy and happiness are two totally different things. As much as I went through these past months I always had pure joy and it came from the Lord. Even now when people talk with me about what my family and I have been through and they are in tears, I always have a smile on my face. I look back with pure joy! It is truly amazing how both our journeys are so similar but so very different. God is truly amazing!
On another note how awesome are you that you did a 10k, congratulations! Mops coordinator and Jr. High, want a busy but amazing year you have in store for you. I love you friend and can not wait to chat soon.
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