A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes....

I'm a runner.  I smile when I say that.  It was something I always wanted to do, to be and I never dreamed that this....THIS...would be my reality.  Yet here I am.  About to run my very first long race.  Over 9 miles....first step to a half marathon.....me.  As I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, I really studied that girl staring back at me.  That beautiful creature with the clearest eyes and the most amazing form.  I am overwhelmed because I know the journey it took to bring her to this day, this place, this most sought after achievement.  I know the tears, the failures, the refusing to quit even though she wanted to run and hide.  The hurt, the struggle, the pain....all gave way to this most desperate longing. 

This journey in the physical has been mirrored by my journey in the spiritual.  To look at who I was, how far He has brought me and the most amazing changes He has done in me.  To see the image that stares back at me today, I would have never believed the things He would do, how He would use my deepest wounds to create the loveliest of streams in a very dry desert.

And as I run in the physical tomorrow pressing forward and leaving so much behind me....God reminds me of how very closely it mirrors this race I am running in my life.  To keep pressing on, to not quit....because when I am running beside someone and I see that look of wanting so desperately to stop, I remind them, yes you can....you can do this....do not stop....and I say it for them as much as I say it for myself, on the inside. 

The last mile is the hardest.....don't quit.  The finish line is much closer than it appears.