Last night was one of those situations.
But first, let me give you a quick overview of the story. An army of men were out in the woods camping as they were in battle or on their way to battle. At some point, one of the men dropped his hatchet in the water and this was really bad. He would have gotten in a lot of trouble because of it. And God helped him to find the hatchet in the water, so that he could retrieve it and life could be good again. And I remember my Sunday school class teachers talking about how God cares about us and therefore cares about the little details of our lives. Does He always work them out the way we see fit or would like? Of course not. But He is there and is aware of the details of our lives (even the small things that seem like huge things to us, but are really small things) and He does care about them.
Ok, so on to yesterday. Yesterday morning we got up to run. For the first few miles I was able to keep pace with Landon and then, I fell behind a little, which has become the norm on our long runs unfortunately. At one point, about 4 miles in or so, he motions for them to turn left, or at least I think he does, so I turn left, expecting him to loop back and come join me, like he sometimes does. In reality, he was motioning for me to go straight and follow him, and thought I was mad at him and just wanted to run alone and decided to turn left. So the rest of the run, we're looking for each other as we run, but never cross paths. Probably because I went some weird way that I thought was the right way home but ended up being the wrong way home and when I finished my 7 miles, realized that I was about 2 miles from home. So, I began the long walk home as Landon drove around in his car looking for me, until I finally reached the house and could call him and tell him to call off the search! Haha--what a way to end a run and start a Staurday!!
Anyway, as silly as it feels now to type it out, this weekend, and especially on Sunday, I was feeling really depressed and down on myself about our running because I just wasn't able to keep up with my husband. I didn't want to say anything to Landon though, because I thought he'd just tell me I was being negative, which I was. So instead, as I was killing myself on the box stair-climber at the gym, I just pleaded with God to take the negativity away and to give me a way to talk to Landon about how I was struggling and what to do about my pace goal for the marathon etc, in a way that would draw us closer and not cause a fight. And all throughout the workout, and on the way home and on the way to our Sunday school class picnic, I didn't hear an answer from him, but I tried to just forget about how I was feeling and enjoy hanging out with friends.
Then, at one point during the picnic, I overheard Landon talking running with a girl who had already run a marathon and I ended up talking at the same time to a good friend who is thinking about running one, but I didn't realize until the car ride home that in that moment, as we were in 2 separate conversations, God was orchestrating it to happen as the answer to my prayer.
Talking to Lauren totally lifted my spirits and made me feel not so much like crap because I couldn't keep up--mainly because I had just been praying for someone to talk to about it and God placed her there as a friend I could talk to--and Landon talking to Amanda gave him a little insight into girls running marathons and paces and what is realistic and normal etc, from someone that wasn't me.
And on the car ride home, as we talked about running and pacing and how we're probably going to split up at some point during the marathon because that's what's realistic, I had tears in my eyes realizing how God had answered my prayer in such a perfect and tangible way. I had such a peace and it was like such a load was lifted and running automatically became fun again, not something to be dreaded because I'd fail every time we got out to run. And we had a good, good conversation about it all--one of those where each person is actually getting what the other person is saying and at the end of the conversation, you're actually on the same page. It was nice.
Thank you God. Your love is truly extravagant and I don't deserve it. Thank you for loving us so intimately that you care for us in the little, insignificant details of life.
But first, let me give you a quick overview of the story. An army of men were out in the woods camping as they were in battle or on their way to battle. At some point, one of the men dropped his hatchet in the water and this was really bad. He would have gotten in a lot of trouble because of it. And God helped him to find the hatchet in the water, so that he could retrieve it and life could be good again. And I remember my Sunday school class teachers talking about how God cares about us and therefore cares about the little details of our lives. Does He always work them out the way we see fit or would like? Of course not. But He is there and is aware of the details of our lives (even the small things that seem like huge things to us, but are really small things) and He does care about them.
Ok, so on to yesterday. Yesterday morning we got up to run. For the first few miles I was able to keep pace with Landon and then, I fell behind a little, which has become the norm on our long runs unfortunately. At one point, about 4 miles in or so, he motions for them to turn left, or at least I think he does, so I turn left, expecting him to loop back and come join me, like he sometimes does. In reality, he was motioning for me to go straight and follow him, and thought I was mad at him and just wanted to run alone and decided to turn left. So the rest of the run, we're looking for each other as we run, but never cross paths. Probably because I went some weird way that I thought was the right way home but ended up being the wrong way home and when I finished my 7 miles, realized that I was about 2 miles from home. So, I began the long walk home as Landon drove around in his car looking for me, until I finally reached the house and could call him and tell him to call off the search! Haha--what a way to end a run and start a Staurday!!
Anyway, as silly as it feels now to type it out, this weekend, and especially on Sunday, I was feeling really depressed and down on myself about our running because I just wasn't able to keep up with my husband. I didn't want to say anything to Landon though, because I thought he'd just tell me I was being negative, which I was. So instead, as I was killing myself on the box stair-climber at the gym, I just pleaded with God to take the negativity away and to give me a way to talk to Landon about how I was struggling and what to do about my pace goal for the marathon etc, in a way that would draw us closer and not cause a fight. And all throughout the workout, and on the way home and on the way to our Sunday school class picnic, I didn't hear an answer from him, but I tried to just forget about how I was feeling and enjoy hanging out with friends.
Then, at one point during the picnic, I overheard Landon talking running with a girl who had already run a marathon and I ended up talking at the same time to a good friend who is thinking about running one, but I didn't realize until the car ride home that in that moment, as we were in 2 separate conversations, God was orchestrating it to happen as the answer to my prayer.
Talking to Lauren totally lifted my spirits and made me feel not so much like crap because I couldn't keep up--mainly because I had just been praying for someone to talk to about it and God placed her there as a friend I could talk to--and Landon talking to Amanda gave him a little insight into girls running marathons and paces and what is realistic and normal etc, from someone that wasn't me.
And on the car ride home, as we talked about running and pacing and how we're probably going to split up at some point during the marathon because that's what's realistic, I had tears in my eyes realizing how God had answered my prayer in such a perfect and tangible way. I had such a peace and it was like such a load was lifted and running automatically became fun again, not something to be dreaded because I'd fail every time we got out to run. And we had a good, good conversation about it all--one of those where each person is actually getting what the other person is saying and at the end of the conversation, you're actually on the same page. It was nice.
Thank you God. Your love is truly extravagant and I don't deserve it. Thank you for loving us so intimately that you care for us in the little, insignificant details of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment