Blooming Where I'm Planted?

Warning...this post is about life, struggle and God...it's long but I think it's worth reading, it was certainly worth writing! 

I am often so absorbed by training for this half marathon that I forget to stop and attend my spiritual health.  I have this longing to accomplish this race, not because I want people to say, wow what a great thing...it's more like I have to do this to prove to myself, my body and my spirit...that I can do it! Does that make any sense to you?  

I was talking to one of my very best friends about my spiritual health just the other day and it was about this very subject.  Feeling like I'm not doing anything significant for God, has left me feeling a little lost.  Come to find out, she is going through the exact same thing.  Don't you just love how God works? I sure do.  After we talked I didn't feel like everything was solved, but I did feel like I had made some headway and like God was still there...waiting.  For what, I don't know...I just know that God has me where I am, and I need to accept it...maybe not embrace it, but accept my garden where it is and how it looks...and bloom where I've been planted.  

My life and everything I touch is my personal garden and I CAN bloom where I've been planted.  We don't need to all go out and knock on doors, or serve at the soup kitchens to be significant. Some of us are mom's and dad's and our children and loved ones are our ministry.  The people I see daily, whether they are family or acquaintances, are in my garden and how I interact with them matters.  I may be the only person in their life that day, that reaches them for Christ through some small an act of kindness.  That means a lot to me personally, I am serving lunch to the high school kids in town Monday-Thursday and I may be their only smile or kind act in their day! In that way I am significant to God.  

How does running fit in?  Well I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest.  Yet, running is a big part of me at this moment in time and I have to believe that God planted that seed somewhere along the way for a reason.  I'm a runner but that isn't what defines me, I survived cancer, but that doesn't define me either...I'm a child of God at my core and that SHOULD define me.  I am hopeful that people see my heart (God) when they read my blog.  I pray that someone has been touched by my words (Gods words) at one time or another...but that is ultimately up to God not me.  

Running has been difficult for me.  I have had my fair share of injuries because of running, yet I love it. God has brought me through those injuries and the resulting heartbreak the same way he brought me through cancer and every other heartache I've gone through in life.  I got through those injuries because inside of me is a belief that God brings us to the valleys only to shine and show us His majesty when we come out on the other side. He is ultimately the one who gave me my spirit of triumph..it's not me, it's Him.  I hope that I show that in my blog.

You may be asking...What?

I've said all that to say this...I am struggling with pain.  Running past 4 miles is causing me pain in my hip and pelvis and I'm not sure I can keep up my training. That does not mean I am quitting just that I may have to tweak my schedule.  I am just saying I'm struggling.  My husband questions whether I should keep training for this half, period.  I am questioning it myself.  I have been thinking lately that maybe instead of trying to run the whole thing I should try a run/walk schedule.  Ugh! My ego doesn't like that last statement. To be honest, it was hard just writing that last statement. Egotistically I want to say I ran the whole way, but I really don't see that happening.  Maybe God is saying His plan for my half is better than my plan is...I have to learn to stop and listen for His advice.  It's always better than my advice. God may see this half marathon as a way to touch someones life through some seemingly insignificant act or word...I am sure that He sees it's execution and completion entirely different than I see it! It may have nothing to do with me at all and everything to do with Him. 

Thanks for listening to my struggle and for not giving up half-way through, I'm sure y'all deserve some kind of medal for finishing this post. It would be called the Medal of Friendship, and I virtually award it to every one of you! 

I am blessed by you and I thank God for bringing you into my life! Blessings and hugs! I hope I haven't scared any of you off!  I promise I have not lost it...lol!  May God bless you and keep you and may His favor shine on your life.

   



"Limitations only exist if you let them"

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck.

 © 2013 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.