Along for the Journey

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I'm not feeling like I have anything inspirational to say today. I didn't last week either which is why a blog post was missed (if anyone noticed). However, I made a commitment to make a post each week and felt like I need to get something on "paper." What can be said that hasn't been said before? What can be said to encourage you when I feel like I am not personally making progress? As I roll these questions around in my own head, let's review the purpose for which this blog was originally started.

"This blog is intended to track my progress from meniscus surgery back to my goal of being able to run again" (as stated in the blog description). Readers who have recently joined in following my posts should really go back to the beginning. My meniscus surgery was on August 17, 2023. It did not take me the expected 4-6 weeks to return to normal. Rather, it was a long, frustrating road to recovery for me. My daughter just asked me yesterday, "Do you remember when you were a bike rider?" Yes, I sure do! I was so grateful to still have a way to join my friends on their runs, but I was also missing being on my own two feet. I was looking back at my past blogs to find when I was able to ditch the bike and begin running again. It was almost one full year after surgery and after beginning a detailed at-home PT program to strengthen muscles in my legs that I was able to attempt to run again. I have been back to running for quite some time and I have fallen into the rut of taking it for granted. I find myself comparing rather than simply being grateful. I am running again and that is AMAZING!! As I look back on my progress, "I will thank the Lord with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous works, I will rejoice and boast about you; I will sing about your name, Most High." Psalms 9:1 (CSB)

"It is also to help keep me accountable as I attempt to change some bad eating habits and learn to love the person God made me to be" (also stated in the blog description). I roll my eyes at this statement. I have not done well in the nutritional department. My eating habits are awful. I know what to do, but I have a hard time putting it into practice. I am (usually) good at holding myself accountable when it comes to exercise, but I do not have the same accountability with myself and food. This all runs into loving the person God made me to be. That's so much deeper than my physical appearance and yet, that is what I get stuck on. I know that choosing healthier food options and, as a result, losing some weight would help me feel better physically, but I am stuck on letting that define me as a person. If Jeremiah 1:4 (CSB) says, "For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him." and Genesis 1:27 (CSB) says, "So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female." why would anything make me think I need to be more? Humans are the only ones created in God's image. I am absolutely in awe of His holiness, and I fear His wrath and the fact that sin can separate me from Him, but I am to see myself holy and righteous in His eyes; not because of anything I have done but because of everything He has done! I get caught up in my outward appearance, forgetting that the condition of my soul is the only thing that will last. "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands." 2 Corinthians 5:1 (NLT)

I hope that as you read my posts you see them as me being real with you rather than a writer who is negative and constantly complaining. It is truly my goal to inspire, entertain, and hopefully make you think. Overall, I hope what I share draws you to want to know who God is and that He becomes as real to you as your closest friend. That is who my God is. Lastly, I hope that you continue to "join me in the journey, along with all the good, the bad, and the ugly" (stated in the description) because there will be plenty of that to come. 

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