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With my "miracle" run, this hit me, in the center of my heart!!
"I am beginning to understand that faith is not the way around pain, it is the way through pain. Faith doesn't get rid of the opposition, it invites it over for dinner. Faith doesn't give you the winning point at the last second, it ties the game and sends you into overtime. Faith doesn't give you the solution, it forces you to find it." - Mike Yaconelli (Susan Lehman/Team Alpha, from Hosanna, sent this to me)
Our God is faithful, and He loves us! I know He saw each one of us, as we ran or walked! He answered every prayer, we prayed! As I took that first step, standing next to my training partners, and sister; my faith locked, knowing, believing, trusting that God was going to see me through every mile! He flooded my heart with promise after promise, to stand on! Like; Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." AND 20 "God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that works in me." (Eph. 3:20) AND Philippians 4:13 "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
I had injured my knee running. I would ice it, cut way back on training...I had many praying for me, and some prayed with me. Some of my closest friends, would come up to me, and say things, like, "I know you are going to run", or "God is going to heal you, when you take your first step". I tucked these words away in my heart.
I struggled with where to position my faith...you know, like, how do I apply, 'lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him.' Or, do I just say, "it's ok, I won't run, I will be there for the Team." Or, " God is going to miraculously heal me, and I am going to run (O how I wanted this with every fiber of my being). Do I go to the Doctor, Chiropractor, cry,?, etc...I knew I needed to make a decision.
I decided, through prayer, and the Word, that I was going to ask and believe for a miracle. I wanted to finish! The desire to run this race, would not leave me, and the more I read the Word, and prayed, the stronger my Faith for God to do something extraordinary, would be. My faith needed to be bigger than what I was seeing and feeling in the natural. I wanted to walk (run) by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we live by faith, not by sight".
I went to bed the night before; my spirit wrestling with my flesh!
At 7:43 AM, I stood in line with 720 other runners, waiting to run 13.1 miles, my knee felt good, and my faith in our BIG GOD, was huge! My running buddy, led our team, right then, and there in prayer. At 7:45 AM, I took my first step, and God brought me all the way to the Finish!
All praise and glory to HIM who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think!!
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