I prayed last month for Jesus to provide a space and an environment for me to run in. Specific prayers are difficult for me to pray because I don’t feel I am worthy to ask things of the Lord, and that I am insignificant in His eyes. But after not being able to run consistently since October, and feeling the effects physically and especially spiritually, I broke and prayed.
I'm sweating, running harder on this treadmill than I have in 8 months, overlooking the busy city streets of Ho Chi Minh below and am instantly taken back to running this hard in college peering out at Pike’s Peak and thinking I have to run harder and longer to get the body that I never felt I had, obsessing over being thinner and stronger. And here I am in Vietnam, having experienced more physical stress and body alterations than I have my whole life over these last 10 months, and being the most out of shape I've been probably since the age of 11… but feeling better than ever.
Specific prayer provides the opening for God to answer us in specifics, and that's exactly what I'm experiencing here in Vietnam, overwhelmed that Jesus cares THAT much about me, to listen to my heart’s desire to connect again with him in the strongest way I know how to, by running and linking my body with His spirit. Of course He wants to answer that prayer, yet I am so humbled and overwhelmed with his generosity and attention to detail in my little life.
And here I am, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, getting fit, but with a much different understanding of this phrase than ever before in my life. This is month 10 of my God venture and our ministry this month is a lot of ATL (ask the Lord) leaving ample room for creativity and empowerment for all of us to get a taste of what ministry is going to look like in our day to day life in a mere 52 days when we're immersed back into the missed American ways we know. Katlyn and I joined a gym, and are ministering to the class instructors and the desk employees, waiting for more and constant guidance from the Spirit to share love with anyone and everyone that He places in our hearts and on our paths.
I am obsessed with this month and it's only the fourth day, but it's the tenth month of growth and the tenth month of slow molding in this incubator, this vortex, as us racers like to call the World Race, and I’ve been given the freedom to run with what I've grown into. All of the life that has been spoken over me this year, all of the positive words of affirmation, edification, and encouragement, bringing me into alignment with God’s intended, best version of me. He loves to let me connect with him, to shine his light, and to let me run with the love that I know is pure truth. These new legs that stand taller, stride farther and pulse stronger than before, yes they are mine and they are here to glorify my God and the beautiful work he has done in my body and heart these past ten months. Yes, I am finishing this race in less than two months, but in realtiy, just beginning the race that has been given to me. I am beyond words of gratitude for the blessing this journey continues to be, and ready to continue running and testifying to the good news of God's grace. (Acts 20:24)
