So many lessons and it seems like there just isn't enough time to take it all in before the next one lands on your shoulders like an anvil in a looney tunes cartoon!

It has been a week since the long run across lake Winnipeg was cancelled. Last Sunday it was so hard to get up and out, and then to try to be 'of good cheer'? Good cheer has been translated for me as "take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted!" in John 16:33. hmmmmm Not the mood I was in, but that is the CHOICE, right? So we made it through another personal best distance run and that accomplishment felt great, but I have to admit that it was one of the hardest runs I have had in a very long time!

I was looking forward to the challenge of doing something that others think is a bit 'out there'. I guess that's me? Trying to tackle a run across a lake with a new distance in mind to cover, relying on my Lord to get me safely to the other side. Keeping my fear in check as I go, knowing that Gods' got my back, and my feet! That was the challenge I was so looking forward to. I'm a bit of a planner, this was my plan, until the run was cancelled last Saturday afternoon. I was devastated! Completely deflated, and feeling a bit lost! I had worked through fear and struggled with the what ifs and prepared as well as I could and was looking forward to finding God as He carried me through the troubles I may have encountered.

That is not what happened.

G, my running partner, was the one to recognize that the lesson was not about getting to the end of our run, it was how to get out there when we really felt disappointed. At this point of the morning I could have easily stayed in bed. We went out with no plan of where we were going to go. Gs' husband agreed to pick us up wherever we ended up. This was not going to be our usual out and back, it was just going to be an out to see where we ended up.

Did I mention I'm a bit of a planner?

I think I smiled and said 'sounds great', although I felt a bit lost as we went (actually I didn't know where I was for some of the run, just somewhere in Winnipeg). As I look back now I feel pretty great about trying something new, but it has taken me a few days to get here. Initially I found the run hard after about 10 miles. This is about the point that we left all familiar ground and started to find trails and paths, which were unplanned, but very interesting.

I heard a sermon this week that talked about lust. "Lust" she said "happens when you can not be happy without the thing that you want." When you cannot be happy without the thing you WANT. I guess I really wanted that run. I found it so hard to find joy last Sunday, I'm not sure if it was the challenge of the run across the lake I was lusting after, the doing something others thought was crazy, or just that my plans had to change. Still working this out, but knowing that there was something in the way of my being with Christ and finding joy.... hmmmmmm. Could have been my ego not getting the boost from an incredible crazy run?.

I think I have worked most of this out, but what a week of lessons that was!

So I look forward to this week and for our run Sunday morning, and I will find joy even if my plans are cut short, or the distance is not what I would liked to have done, or if whatever else happens happens!

I wish for you all a great week!

Nicole