Keep running...

 “Keep on keeping on,” as the old saying goes.

 Or, as The Word says, “run with endurance.”

 I planned for my “next post” to be about my sister Kelsey and her family as they move to Kenya. It was suppose to be written days ago and shared in their time of travel. 

 I failed. Instead I had two seizures and was tired and discouraged, and for a few days focused only on myself and my failing body. 

 I think that perhaps that is the point of this blog though. A reminder that, unlike the falsehoods of Facebook and Instagram and all the other quick posts of success we share online, we are all imperfect. 

 Did you hear that my friends? We are all imperfect. Every single one of us. 

 We are called to “run with endurance” but that doesn’t mean we won’t be covered in ugly sweat, or twist our ankle and limp for a while, or fall and skin our knees along the way. Run with endurance doesn’t mean run with perfection. It just means keep getting up and trying again. 

 I saw this George Matheson quote this morning. 

https://quotefancy.com/george-matheson-quotes

 His story is worth reading, even if you only skim the Wikipedia short story. He became blind in his 20’s, at a time in history when blindness kept you from accomplishing anything. Yet, he didn’t let that stop him from sharing love and shining Joy. He wrote books and songs. He was a full time pastor. He held on to passion for Jesus and fullness of life. 

 He held on. 

 That quote calls out to me. I want to, like him, be a rainbow in my cloud. I don’t want to simply have hope for the rainbow, which in itself is beautiful. I want to BE the rainbow for others as they wait. 

 So that is my challenge to you. As you run with endurance, sometimes covered in sweat and limping, remember that you can still be the rainbow for someone else. 

 Be the rainbow, the light and the beauty in the cloud filled rainstorm. 

 I still write this to ask that you pray for my sister and her family. You can read more of their story here. 

 Even more though, I write to encourage you to keep running with endurance. Don’t give up. Sometimes we will limp. Sometimes we will fall. Sometimes we will, perhaps, take the wrong path and have to go back and start afresh. But don’t stop trying to hear our Jesus and go where HE leads you. 

 Be blessed my friends, one small step at a time. Please, take a deep breath, brush yourself off and BE the rainbow shining through the rain.

What do you see?

 I have been quiet again. God asked me to trust Him and sometimes that happens best when I am just quiet. But to give an example of how I have been feeling... I literally cried on my physical therapist last week, about things having nothing to do with physical therapy. 

 As always, my Savior sent me back to The Word and reminded me that HE has filled it with everything I need. 

 Oh, that simple truth. Trust. The next part of that scripture in the NKJV, how I learned it as a child, says “and lean not on your own understanding.” 

 What is my understanding? What do I truly know? When I take a moment to be still and consider that question I am reminded of truth. My understanding belongs only to me. It isn’t the same as Andy’s or Canaan’s or Zion’s. It doesn’t match that of my mother or my sisters or my best friends. The people that I love the most and that I trust to love me still don’t have the same “understanding” as I do. They don’t see from the same angle and don’t have the same set of memories to match it all to. 

 They don’t understand me, not really. 

 I don’t understand me, not really.

 My opinions have changed over time. My experiences have taught me different things as I have lived them. The only truth I truly have, the unchanging and constant truth, is my Jesus. 

 And this sounds political. Interesting that HE has me posting it the day after election while we wait for the counts to come through, since that isn’t the point of this at all. This is medical, as usual. 

 My truth, as always, is that our bodies are temporary. We live. We die. We leave behind what we have done or not done, and the love we have shared or not shared. 

 It has been a rough few weeks. First; Zion is fine, but some blood work gave us a scare and called for more blood work. Stress for a mommy. 

 Andy’s time in airborne decided to show itself and cause some pain. Once again, back to the doc. 

 I am recovering really well from brain surgery, but memory is being problematic. I am training myself to just write everything down. No trusting the brain to remind me- that is what “notes” on the iPhone was invented for, right? 

 But God decided to make sure I truly meant it when I declared Joy above fear and trust in all things. The “C” word made an appearance. 

 I had a mole on my forearm that had changed shape, size and color, so Andy, amazing, wonderful, bossy man that he is, insisted that I get it looked at. Family doc removed a sample, like the 10 or so others through the years and I expected to be done with the whole thing, but no, this one had to be difficult and have cancer show up in it. 

 So, they cut out the whole thing, plus quite a bit more. I really should have educated myself more because this is going to be a much bigger scar than I expected! 

 Short warning- picture of “surgery” to follow. 

Surgery day

They cut out an entire diamond shape around the mole, then stitch it into a straight line. Some of this skin if far away from where it started! 

What I come back to, over and over, is the promise of this verse. This IS the day that the Lord has made.

 It is. 

 Whether we choose to see it that way, or not, is up to us. Whether we choose to rejoice in it, or not, is up to us. Whether we choose to live life fully, or simply survive, is up to us. 

“In some way or another we will have to learn the difference between trusting in the gift and trusting in the Giver. The gift may be good for a while, but the Giver is the eternal love.” F.B.Meyer

 So, my friends, keep choosing what you trust, and how you live that trust. 

 Show Love. 

 Shine Joy.

 Keep Hope. 

 Make your Faith visible. 

 Let Truth, the kind that cannot be hidden and will not be silenced, lead you. 

 Remember that you are blessed, every single step of the way. Even the hard steps.