Setbacks aren't Stop Signs...

but they may be pointing you into a different direction than you hoped for.

My marathon dream will have to wait up on the shelf for a while. At least until God chooses to open that book again. For now, my body won't go without serious injury, so I'll take that as an answer. Not an answer that I like, in fact it feels more like a bitter pill, but an answer none the less that I will accept and embrace.

Over the past year I have gone through dark valley's. I have seen places of my heart that revolted under the fires of refinement. I have been stripped of so many earthly joys. I have felt confused and tempted. The pressure almost unbearable.

Running was a solace. A time on the high places, where I could get a better top side view of this tapestry. Now it too lies in a burn pile, along with some of those other things that made me feel alive.

In the barrenness I feel His lifeblood, coursing through me. Quietly nourishing the roots...still alive under the frozen blankets of snowy sorrow.

There are pains of the soul and spirit that only Jesus can work with and cultivate into life again.

I count it all but loss for the sake of Him.

And my fists unfurl in praise.