Through Tears of Sorrow ~ Come Tears of Joy

Week 1, Day 3 - Done! Booyah!! Lol. I ran on my own this morning! There is nothing like getting up with the dawn, and watching the sun touch all of creation. Psalm 57 says it beautifully;

"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; 

Let Your glory be over all the earth."vs 5

"Awake, my soul!....

                I will awaken the dawn."vs 8

My run this morning was a little emotional. I decided to play some tunes from Nicole's music library, High School Musical, lol. My sister was obsessed with this track! I used to tease her about it, and now I want to listen to it all the time. One of the songs, titled 'The Start of Something New', really hit me today. One line goes, "It's the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you." I started thinking about Nicole, and how wonderful it feels to be starting something new that was inspired by her. I really felt like she was there with me this morning.

Looking back on this week, it's been rough. Between my husband being gone, our work schedules, and additional commitments, I completely fell apart last night. I do not handle stress well. And it seems that ever since my sister died, it doesn’t take much for me to have emotional meltdowns without warning. Again, I got angry over something small, and the tears just started flowing. Sitting on our kitchen floor sobbing, I wondered what I was so stressed about. There was just too much going on. I concluded it was probably a bad week for me to pick up running. But I’m not going to let poor judgment keep me from sticking to my new goals, I just need to de-clutter my life. Getting in shape takes a lot of time and effort for me.

Ever since my car accident, I had to become serious about my health, if I wanted to live without pain. It’s been over two years now, and I still need to do my physical therapy to keep up my strength. That was the most challenging year of my life. But through it, I learned a lot. I came to understand that I had never really been ‘in-shape’.
Therapy showed me how to work through pain, and how strong I could be. That experience helped me gain the confidence I needed to start running. I learned how to protect myself from injury, and how to stay strong. And so, after I run I have to do many stretches, strength training, etc. so that I am able to keep running. It can take up half my day to accomplish all these things. And while I love how I feel, it can be very time consuming.

This week has reminded me that taking on new things, means giving up other things. I always want to be superwoman and take on too much. Last night I hit a brick wall. I want to keep running, so I need to rethink my route. Now I just need to spend some time with the Lord, and pray about what I need to let go of. First and foremost, I need to be better about unloading my burdens. I carry so much on my shoulders, and Christ is more than willing to bear it on His shoulders so we don’t have to.

        “Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ ” Matthew 11:28

          “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31