San Diego National Veteran's Day Run

I did it!

I signed up for my first state-side race!   HERE is where I will be 11.11.11.  I am SO excited.  I have run many races overseas, including the Peachtree Road Race 10k on the 4th of July except I was in Atlanta, I was here:

I have 11 days to train for this 11k.  11 days!  That's not a very long time and I will be traveling about 22 hours on a plane one day, 5 hours another day, and the day before the race driving with my sister and sweet niece from Phoenix to San Diego.  So training might be a little hard but I will do it.  I have a feeling though, just being home (not just in the States, not just on the West Coast, not just in California, but actually running in SAN DIEGO)  will be enough training for me.  My first race in the States and I am doing it at HOME!  I can't wait.

On a personal, more growth side...this song has really been ministering to me while I run lately.  I really see running not just as something good for me to do (physically, mentally emotionally) I see it good for me spiritually.  I use the time I run (which has been getting longer and longer) to really connect with God.  To seek out His will for me.  To try and find the answers to all my life questions.  I know crazy....and heavy for a run, but it's really when I put everything else in my life aside and just focus on Jesus.  And I really feel He uses songs to reach me (since He knows how special music is to me).  Do you have music that speaks to you?  Music that you are willing to share that I can add to my collection? 

I'm blessed!  I realize that everyday...and everyday I run, I'm thankful for the heart that beats so I can run, the feet that move that allow me to fun and the desire to be closer to Jesus that motivates me to run. 

I Met Jesus on the Treadmill

Just over two years ago I moved to another country and began working some pretty crazy hours.  I knew I needed an ~outlet~ something to get my mind off of work and being away from family and friends and do something healthy for myself (since I knew my eating habits were going to go straight out the window). 

I had a friend encourage me to start running.  I laughed.  Certainly this person did not know me.  I hadn't -run- since high school when I played basketball (don't laugh) and I barely did that.  But I thought, why not, if I don't like it I don't have to keep doing it.

Oh man!  I don't even know how to describe it.

Two and a half years later I am hooked.  I LOVE running, well, maybe it's a love/hate relationship but I do love it.  Here's an example of my love/hate relationship with running.  A few weeks ago I was super busy at work and didn't run for about 10 days. 

Just be thankful you didn't run into me during that time frame.  I was not a pleasant person to be around.  I was SO thankful to have a break from running but I was SO ready to get back to it because I know how it affects my attitude. 

Why is that?  A friend of mine blogged about this very subject just yesterday here

The love part of this relationship is two-fold.  First, I love how it makes me feel.  A sense of accomplishment, it's calming, it's actually relaxing and it's a way to help me stay healthy. 

But secondly, and most important, is how running allows me some amazing quality time with Jesus.  You see, when I run, I don't listen to heavy metal gym music.  I don't even listen to soft metal.  My time running is spent 100% of the time listening to praise music.  Some of my very favorite music when I run come from Kari Jobe, Selah, Steven Curtis Chapman, Mercy Me, Anthem Lights and a few others.

I put my iPhone on shuffle and let God give me the music I need.  This week has been rough for a variety of reasons and today, many of the songs pointed to the cross.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.
For the 2nd time this week "It is Well With my Soul" was the last song in my workout.  But the song that ministered to me the most today is from Chris Tomlin:

My chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood, His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing Grace

My chains are gone, I've been set free.  I don't know if you can cry when you are sweating like a pig, but if you can, I am positive there were a few extra sweat tears today.  Because of God's mercy and grace, I am set free!  FREE!  I am no longer bound.  Satan can't taunt me anymore with my sin.  I'm set free!   The past 8 months I have not been free.  I have been bound by my chains but no more. 

What do you need to be set free from?  Are you claiming that?    Are you're chains gone?  If not, what is stopping you be rid of them? 

I'm praying for you friends!  I know what it is like to be bound by those chains.  Satan really likes to tighten them too but he has no authority.  You are God's child and you no longer have to be bound to your chains.  And if you don't know for certain you are God's child, and want to be sure, contact me here   Be certain!  And if it works for you, use your run time to meet with Jesus. 

I love meeting Jesus on the treadmill.

YESTERDAY and TOMORROW

I try to live in the moment - not thinking about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow but living for today!  Make the most of today!

I used to say not to worry about the "what ifs" - we can't control them.  Live for the now!

The last 8 months I have been living in the "what if".  I have beat myself silly trying to figure out "what if".  Where did that get me? 

Right back at the here and now.

We make choices in life and we live with the consequences (good or bad) of those choices.  If we are constantly asking ourselves "what if"  we will never be content with where God has us at this very moment.  We can't change the past and we can't dictate our future.  We can make choices that influence our future but there are many other contributing factors that determine the fate of our future. 

I am learning to be content in today! 

If I'm not happy with how yesterday turned out I don't sit and ponder the "what if".  Instead, I figure out what I don't like about yesterday and then determine not to do those things, say those things, or act that way again.  What is it that you are not happy about yesterday? 

     the way you talked to your husband?
     the way you yelled at the kids when they dropped all their school stuff in the middle of the floor?
     the way you gossiped about the lady at church to another church friend?
     the way you were too busy to talk to momma when she called?
     the way you acted when someone took the closest parking spot to the grocery when it was raining?

Think about it...and change it?  Resolve to change the attitude?  Change the tone?  Teach instead of scold?  Think about what it would feel like if you knew others were gossiping about you? 

I'm also relying on God a heck of a lot more.  I've never stopped walking with the Lord but I certainly wasn't consulting Him on the decisions I was making or on my future.  After all, everything was going according to plan...until it wasn't.  You know, I find when I look back over my life the times I think I've got it all figured out is when I realize I really did't.  Do you ever feel that way?

So today, I'm no longer asking "what if".  That's not important.  What's important is living in the here and now, trusting my Heavenly Father, and asking Him to reveal to me how to live my life rather than me dictating to Him how it's going to be. 

Let me leave you with some verses.  Today I have been reading in Phillipians 4.  I have memorized so many scriptures from this passage growing up but it's all been memorizing.  Today...I am meditating.  If you are looking for something to meditate on today, this is some great truth.  These are just 2 of the verses that spoke to me today. 

            ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 

Please let me pray for you.  If there is something on your heart or you have an unspoken request that you aren't ready to share, let me pray for you.  Email me at marobinga@yahoo.com .  Let's walk this journey together

I'm Back

I took a blogging break for a while and now I'm back with a new name. 

I have really begun to realize that I am no one special!  WHAT?  You're surprised too?   I know, it was quite a shock to me, but I realized it.  I'm just me, no one more, no one less.  ME!  The exact me that God made 30 something years ago.

I always used to think I was going to change the world someday.  I didn't know how, I didn't know when, I didn't know where, I just knew I was going to.  Well....I've realized I'm never going to change the world.  I'm just not.

BUT....the world is changing me!

So - join the journey with me and see how the world has, and will continue to, change just little old ordinary me.