Run!

Last Tuesday night or really early Wednesday morning I had a very interesting dream. I am one, however, who thinks God gives us what we need at just the right time. I think that this dream, in a way, fits into that sort of plan, a way of God giving me what I needed when I needed it. Let me explain... Wednesday morning was like any other morning.  I got up, I packed my husband's lunch for work that day, and since it was 4:30AM, I went back to bed.  As I drifted back off to sleep I had a very interesting dream though.  Our neighbor stood in our driveway and asked me when I was going to teach his daughter to run track.  Now this particular neighbor is one who we don't talk to that often, although we don't have anything against him, we just don't see him that often.  Anyhow, I also thought it was odd that I was being asked to teach someone to run track, when I really don't run.  Oh, well, I thought it was another of my foolish dreams.  I did, however, share the dream with my husband and kids...weird or not, I thought it was interesting! I got up later Wednesday morning and checked my e-mail.  In my inbox was an e-mail from a Christian website I subscribe to.  You can only imagine my surprise when I find that the topic of their e-mail/newsletter for that day was on the topic of running.  It may have mentioned running for physical/health purposes, but it's main focus was running for our faith.  At this point I was thinking the Lord was trying to tell me something! Later on, our family sat down to our Bible Study.  Our family is doing a Bible Study plan, where we sit down and read each evening, discuss and even S.O.A.P. our thoughts in a journal (S.O.A.P.=Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer, by the way).  In this plan there is an article that has to do with the evening's lesson (to kind of help us in applying the reading to our lives), then it's Scripture for that evening.  So, it was my turn to read the article.  You can, again, only imagine my surprise when I read the article on "running."   As the week progressed I could see some of what might have been God's plan to tell me about running and why I should continue on the track of faith...I should actually keep running on HIS track, the Lord's track is the only way.  I have faced some challenges this past week.  My feelings have been hurt.  I've been disappointed.  Sometimes that's part of life...you just have to learn how to take the good with the bad.  How we choose to react is a whole different story though.  It would've been very easy for me to give up teaching my children the importance of Jesus, give up my own "faith run," and just react even uglier in this particular situation.  I praise the Lord I chose to keep on HIS track for HIM though, that's the important thing!  I want to always follow His guidance!  I want to keep running, and I want my family to continue the run with me! This past week's Memory Verse, by the way:  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily best us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, -Hebrews 12:1 (KJV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, -Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)