A Sample of My Dreams

You may have thought by the title of this post that I would be talking about the kind of dream that someone may have for the future. This post is actually about a dream I had last night. This is how it went...(note that everything in brackets is for the purpose of explanation, not part of the dream)

My boyfriend and I went to Petsmart just for fun and when we got there, my boyfriend decided that he would go off and do something else. I think he tried explaining to me what he was doing but I was too interested in the puppies to notice. In this box full of hay there were siberian huskie-german shepherd cross puppies! They were adorable (German shepherds are my favourite kind of dog and huskie is a close second)! Most of them looked like definite mixes but there was one pure siberian huskie and one pure german shepherd. The pure huskie was light grey with bright blue eyes and the pure german shepherd had brown eyes. I quickly called my Mom to ask her if I could have a puppy because they were free! I talked to my Mom and she agreed that I could have a puppy if I would pay the expenses for it (shots, food, care in general). Without a second to waste, I picked up the pure german shepherd puppy and headed around the store to find some puppy food. While walking, I checked and saw that my puppy was a girl. I tried to think of some names but none were good enough to stick yet. I probably walked the aisles in search of puppy food three or four times before I asked a young man for help. He assured me that he had re-stocked the puppy food a couple of days ago and he brought me to...puppy diapers. I was thinking about explaining that diapers are not food but I decided to try and find someone else. Eventually I gave up the search because of all the crazy brand names and packages that did not seem to make any sense. I went outside and found my boyfriend wearing a bright orange and yellow safety vest, putting carts away. I had no idea he worked there! I think he might have been volunteering. Anyways, I got my puppy. The End.

That is just a mild sample of my weird and wacky dreams :) hope you enjoyed it!

Hope For More!

So I just officially attended my very first Jeremy Camp concert out at my Uncle Harold and Auntie Diane's ranch! It was such a cool experience! I definitely felt the Spirit moving today. When Jeremy Camp sang, "There Will Be A Day," I was crying tears of joy and being filled with a renewed hope from the LORD. I am truly blessed. 

My First Half-Marathon!

Earlier this year my Mom and I decided to sign up to run the half-marathon. Unfortunately my Mom was having some serious knee issues and decided that the best thing for her to do would be to drop out of the half-marathon. So then I had a decision to make, and obviously by the title of this post, I decided to run. Just two weeks ago I began having some knee issues too! The outside of my left knee randomly started to ache. I decided to just ice it and ignore it and continue to train. It got worse. So for the past week I have been resting it and not running in hopes that it would be ok for the marathon. When I got up this morning I grabbed my gear, put some Deep Relief on my knee and headed out. When the race started my knee was fine but at about the 5k mark it started to ache. I decided right then and there that I would run non-stop for the rest of the race, fully aware that if I did stop, it would be even more painful. Thankfully I couldn't feel the pain anymore by the 13k mark and so I pushed through. I was counting down the kilometers, praying as I went that God would sustain me because I knew that there was no way that I could finish this on my own. My goal was to cross the finish line before the 2 hour mark and I was at 1:51 at 20k. I just kept on running at my gradually slowing pace and when I saw the finish line I gave it all I had and sprinted in. I came in at 1:58 and reached my goal. I praise the Lord for the strength that He gave and am looking forward to running with my Mom next year. :)

Ignorance

Oh my ignorance...to be a truly dreadfully honest Christian girl, I am very ignorant. I would say it is completely natural to be ignorant but that would be an excuse...a straight out lie even. A quote that I like to use often is "Ignorance is Bliss" which is definitely true, especially in the midst of awkward situations. But when it comes to my relationship with God, ignorance is absolutely NOT bliss. But it is in fact stupidity and selfishness. I have been ignorant of God many times, even while working as an intern at my church. I feel shame to even think about it, but it is the truth. Devotions? What are those? If you watched my life (and you wouldn't even have to be God to see this) you would maybe see me pick up my Bible to prepare a lesson for  the kids at church and maybe to read something for the message on a Sunday morning and possibly once in a while because I feel like reading God's Word (a rare occasion unfortunately). Does all this mean that I am not a Christian and that I don't love God and want to do His will? No, I don't think so. In fact I often have a strong desire to read God's Word, but it is all a great dream in my head and it often doesn't go much further than that. Why is it that I can make the time to run every day but not make the time for God? Ignorance. I think maybe I have gotten into some harmful thinking patterns like, "It's ok to be ignorant, God still loves me!" or "I'm proving that God is awesome because He is faithful to me even when I am not!" (I prove that second one a lot). While both of those thoughts are completely true, neither of them are valid excuses for me not to be deliberately investing in my relationship with God. If I can make time for so many other people and things in my life, and God is supposed to be the most important, why can't I make God a priority? Well, I already know that I cannot do anything by my own strength. But I know that to be a truly devoted Christian I have to put in some effort. This is not the first time I have come to recognize my ignorance, I have known of it for quite a long time now. I just pray that by God's grace I can live and grow as He desires and that I would be able to set patterns of devotion that cannot be broken by my selfish ignorance. After all, everything I have is given to me by God, and that includes my time...

Running in Rain

Training for a half-marathon is hard work, but the weather makes it fun. This morning I began my run at 6:00am and the sky was a light shade of pink covering a dark grey cloud. I figured that it would rain eventually but I wasn't sure. Either way, I was going to run. I was about halfway through my run when the sky began to sprinkle. With 5km to go, I pushed through and by the end the rain had begun to pour and I was drenched when I got home. The best part of the run was not the finish, it was the middle, when I got to see lightning flash across the sky; talk about the power of God!

      "For I know that the LORD is great,
            and that our Lord is above all gods.
       Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,
            in heaven and on earth,
            in the seas and all deeps.
       He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
            who makes lightnings for the rain
            and brings forth the wind from his storehouses." - Psalm 135:5-7