Cry Of My Heart

Lately things inside my heart haven't been so smooth. Things inside my head have been discouraging and tearing me down. I have been failing. I was sharing these thoughts with a friend, and this is the prayer she replied with.

Father,
We cry out for your hand of mercy to heal us. We are weak and we need your love to free us. You are our rock, our strength in weakness. Rescue us. You are our hope and Your promises NEVER fail us. Our desire is to follow You forever. You are so good to us. Forgive us everyday we wake up and aren't blown away by the incredible expanse that is Your love. Our names are written on Your hand and we thank you for this. You are the greatest EVER! May you forgive us for our imperfections, our lack of faith, and our doubts. We thank you for loving us through them, and for remaining faithful even when we don't deserve it. You are Almighty God and we offer up our hearts to you as living sacrifices. Thank you for your perfect peace.

Help us to love you in spite of our human incapacity to understand your perfect love.

Take it all, Lord.

Amen.

Good Things.

Even when there's stressful things and tough things... I can still confidently say this:

"Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord, may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles..." Psalm 103:1-5

This whole Psalm is soooo good! I think it just might be my favorite =)

Lord, help me to always remember the good things You've done for me. Open my eyes to see "good things" in each and every day. They're always there, because You ONLY give good things. I just need help seeing them sometimes, especially on really "bad" days. I'm so thankful for the good things You've given me. You've spoiled me, given me way more than I deserve! Thank you for my great running buddies and friends here at Corban, Mel, Courtney, Christi, and Amy. Thank you for my family. Thank you for Jason. Thank you for the really pretty cherry blossom trees! Thank you for this successful track season! Thank you for life. You are so good. Help me to say that regardless of the day or season of my life.

Choosing Joy

This was from my Girlfriends in God devotional by Mary Southerland, and I thought it was a great reminder for myself:

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

God promises that if you know Him you will know true joy. Joy is not merely happiness but rather an unshakable confidence that God is in control. Therefore, He is our one and only source of joy and stands ready, waiting to saturate every circumstance with His presence. As His children, joy is ours to claim. If so, then where is it and why do we not experience a sense of confident celebration as we go through each day?

Maybe it is because of the “joy stealers” who lurk in the shadows, waiting to crush joy wherever they find it.
Choosing joy requires us to identify and eliminate the “joy stealers” in life. You may be allowing a person to take your joy. Maybe some painful experience from a shadowed yesterday is an obstacle of joy in your life today. Perhaps a fearful circumstance or a broken dream is the culprit.

I know life can be painful. I know life is often hard and unfair. I also know that God is in control. Therefore, if God really is God (and He definitely is) then we can and should be people of joy. I have read the final chapter of the Book and we win! Nothing and no one can take your joy without your permission. So, don’t give it! Choose joy!

Let’s Pray
Father, forgive me for my shallow attitude about joy. I confess that my version of joy is often nothing more than an emotion or feeling based on current circumstances. Help me fix my eyes on You, the Author and Finisher of my faith. I want to live my life against the backdrop of eternity, exchanging temporary happiness for eternal joy. I pray that I will learn to choose joy in whatever lies ahead.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

My prayer...

This was the prayer in my devotion this morning. It's an email devotion by Sharon Jaynes called Girlfriends in God.

"Father, I want to follow Your plan for my life. Help me to walk in daily obedience so that Your unique and perfect plan for my life will naturally unfold before me. And when I am discouraged or stressed because of the work I am doing, give me Your peace and the assurance that I am in the right spot doing the right things You created me to do.
In Jesus' name,
Amen."

It really echoed how I feel sometimes as I try to figure out what ministry opportunities I am to accept, and what ones aren't for me. Or how I feel as I try to decide what things I should be working on and what things I shouldn't.

Bridal Boot Camp!!

I am even getting paid to go through this bridal boot camp! Here's what week 2 (aka this week) should end up looking like (as long as I estimated correctly, coaches don't change their mind, and there are no injuries, no inclement weather, and the rapture doesn't happen):

Track: running every Tues, Thurs, Fri morning at 6:15 plus running every day (afternoon) of the week, Sunday-Saturday. I should accumulate approximately 44 miles.

Pilates: every Monday and Wednesday for 45 minutes. (although she unfortunately canceled class this Monday)

Morning weights: every Wednesday at 6:15am for 1 hour. Technically I need to find a way to lift weights two more times, and still do homework, and still sleep, and still run 10 times a week, and still do pilates twice. I'm still working on fitting those two more times in!

In the words of my track teammate Christi, "This will be an exciting week! We will either die or be beasts!"

Bring on the boot camp!

PS: you can pray that my body will hold up and that I'll be able to use my time efficiently in order to maximize Jesus time, homework time, and sleep time! Thanks!