Scorched places

"And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong;" Isaiah 58:11

In the hours of injury, it can feel like eternity. 

Pain, trauma, and suffering linger, and time seems to slow in seasons of struggle. 

But as we continue to heal and grow, it isn't always physical or emotional, sometimes it is deep and only spiritual. 

It's a strange thing to hit rock bottom. It feels desperate, layered with darkness. But there is a quiet beauty there, down in the bottom. There is only one direction left, growth. 

Sometimes that growth may not look the way we want. 

Sometimes physical healing doesn't come. 

Sometimes emotional healing feels like delay, tangled in grief. 

But there is one place where growth is always possible. 

always welcomed...

always invited...

In the Lord. 

It is there that I am reminded that He will never leave me or forsake me. And it is in Him that I find peace, even when other areas of my life are stalled. 

I caught myself several times with week SMILING. The kind of moment you want to pinch yourself because it feels surreal. I am running this training block, week after week hitting my numbers, doing things differently and it is working. I am still scared to death about running Western States and will have multiple degrees of fear, but I have such excitement that the Lord has redeemed me and continues to lead me every week closer and closer to the gift of His glory. 

The Rundown

This training season has taught me so much. Or maybe it was the injury. 

I was chatting with a friend today and realized that the peace I feel in this training block isn't coming from progress or performance, it is coming from abiding. 

There have been things I've had to lay down in order to grow in the Lord. And to be honest, running has been one of them. 

As I've prayed, I have reminded myself that above all things, my relationship with Him matters the Most. If running causes me to fall short in that, then it cannot hold space. 

I have had seasons I have put friends, running, relationships on the altar of my heart and there is NO PEACE there only pain. 

That realization led to deep reflection.

 

"What does my running look like?'

"Is it something offered to God...or something I'm holding onto?"

Maybe this season is more about the Lord pruning areas in my running that do not belong there. 

Because Growth in Him Matters More than Growth in Miles. 

Because He gets the Glory in all of it. There is no place for accolades and shining spotlights. 

And maybe, just maybe...

When I surrender it fully, The Lord will either reshape it, redeem it. or return it in a way that brings Him greater GLORY than before. 

Growth isn't always forward; it is sometimes deeper. 

And that is where I am at. I am not faster, I am actually slower, I am not that much stronger if at all, but I am running Western States 100 miler in 7 weeks. 

I have calculated my training, connected my training plans and we are going to give it a GO! I do not know the outcome; I just need to stay rooted. 

APRIL 20-26th:

•  69miles
• 8,435 ft of elevation. 

Kara and I ran Highland Rec on Monday, 17 miles, 2,425 ft of elevation

TRAIL weekend 50K. I ran a 50K with a friend, Kendall. She and I used it as a training run with lots of elevation. She signed up that week with a little trepidation and did amazing. She led the first 26 miles like a rockstar and when she started to feel fatigued, I jumped into the lead with music to give us a second wind. And we both came back to life.

My sweet Celia, I always love seeing her.

We finished strong, shoulder to shoulder together, I was so happy. And we were both shocked to discover we each won age awards for a training run. Glory to God. 

These moments are the monumental moments or growth. When friendships weigh heavier than medals. 

Because those are the things that matter most. 

Kendall and I somewhere on the Poto, 52.5 miles,
3,900 ft of elevation.

In Peace, Not Pieces,

Anita