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Following the One who holds me in His hands, taking it one day at a time walking out His plans. Resting assured in His presence, filled to overflowing with blessings undeserved.

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MINNESOTA



Today's post is brought to you by "snow".

Oh living in the land of frozen tundra. The cold is what brings out the creativity in us Minnesotans. Some of our best thoughts are born out of frustration, and frost bite. The Minnesotan has a love hate relationship with their state, that keeps them here but wondering why. I have compiled a couple songs that were born out of this mentality.



A country lament about snow:



Like hip-hop? Say: Shhhhh



Out of desperation to move out of MN came this brilliance:


I guess you could say my own quest for "why", why there are people living in a land that is fit for polar bears and penguins, led to this post. Have a great day! If you live in Minnesota safe travels today and good luck on the snowy streets.

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Out of the Dust

Here are two songs I'm loving right now.

"Here with Me Now" by Laura Hackett


I love the the words:
"Don't give up on me now cuz I'm scared and I need you strong when I'm weak hold on and believe in me. When my heart just can't figure out what it wants please give me a reason to trust you'll still fight for me."

How often I find myself crying out these words to the Lord. Most of the time I can't figure myself out and become anxious for the things he has promised me. How often I end up striving, trying to figure things out on my own and end up a heap on the floor weaker than I started my strength used up. Thats usually when shame comes to devour what is left, shame that I wasn't strong enough to constantly trust and lean on Him. To rest in Him. Shame that I failed the good christian life. Shame that anxiety, annoyance, complacency, confusion, numbness and exhaustion exist in my life. Those are the times I relate to the above words. Those are the times I need to be reminded that He is my strength, that He still sees potential in me and believes in me. I want to hear that he hasn't given up on this broken life. I need to be filled with the truth that He is my champion. Then I remember that no matter my circumstance I am His beloved and that is enough, that is EVERYTHING and 'just knowing that he's here with me, changes everything.'


"Beautiful Things" by: Gungor



You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things out of us
You make me new
You are making me new

How amazing is it that the Lord is so Big, so Creative, so Graceful, so Merciful, so Forgiving, so Patient, so Loving that he takes our brokenness and makes something new, beautiful, fragrant and useful to bring Him GLORY. Praise God! Thank you Jesus!

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Turkey Day 5K (AKA: Turkey Trot)










Hello to all of you out there, its been awhile. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I recently completed my first 5K ever. I would have blogged about my running journey earlier but wasn't sure how successful I would be so decided to hold off until I had successfully completed the run. For those of you who don't know me very well I am not a natural runner. For as long as I can remember I have loved playing sports and games of all kinds, but running just wasn't something I could do on a consistent basis. Then one fateful day I saw a flyer at REI advertising the Turkey Day 5K and decided to go for it. I registered before I could come up with any excuses and was locked in. The day I signed up was 60 degrees and sunny. Honestly I didn't think it through and I'm glad I didn't because if I had given it more thought I would have realized that the weather in November in Minnesota is, while unpredictable, usually not very warm. Wouldn't you know it pretty soon after I signed up the temp dropped, the snow started flying, and most importantly the ice started forming.


I believe God was testing my commitment. I know, I know how silly. But honestly commitment is something I've been working on this past fall and you have to start somewhere right? Anyway enough of the serious stuff, and onto the rigorous below freezing training. I ran as many nights after work as I could and let me tell you if it wasn't for that race I already committed to you would not have seen me out there running. Honestly even then for the first mile and a half EVERY TIME (seriously you would think that it would get better the more you do it) my body would say "NO!, NO!, NO!" with ever step. Here is where I came to appreciate the cold because A: you can't just stop running and walk the rest of the way home when its below freezing and you have only a fleece, long underwear and cotton pants, head band, and cheapo stretchy gloves. You would have frost bite by the time you make it home, if you make it home, and B: after that first mile and a half its exhilarating, enjoyable and FUN! Honestly I truly believe that running is more a mental sport than physical. I had to trick myself into running a little bit farther every block until I hit that mile and a half mark. I don't understand this but I know that it is an awesome feeling when you overcome yourself and through sheer determination make your goal.

The week of the race I was praying hard, maybe you saw my facebook posts? I was asking the Lord to change the weather because the forecasters were predicting a high of 11 degrees on Thanksgiving which meant something like 5 degrees for race time. Holy Smokes! A little chilly to say the least. I was starting to settle for no wind or ice and sun the closer Thanksgiving got, because the temp was not changing and snow was expected.
Thanksgiving day arrived finally after much anticipation and I was ready to go. The sun was up the sky was clear and it was 9 degrees (ok not exactly a "warm-up" but warmer than I was expecting), no wind, but the streets downtown were a little icy. Praise the Lord! I got 3 of the 4 things I asked for, so I couldn't really complain, and I was too excited to care about the ice and cold. I've never been a part of any running race before and I had a blast, its a whole sub culture those 5k runs especially the themed ones. I saw 2 turkeys running, several elves a-leaping, 2 Harry Potter characters a-scurrying, 2 panda bears(?) lumbering, 3 men running in shorts without their shirts ummm...half streaking? (don't judge me), people wearing pilgrim hats joyfully and lots more wearing some sort of thanksgiving paraphernalia proudly. I enjoyed people watching while I ran and it made the run seem short. I even got a personal best on my time. All in all it was a fun time on a cold day. Time well spent.

Cold weather running: don't knock it 'til you try it. "What are you...chicken?"

P.S. I have to add my favorite quote of the day from Ms. Andrea Meister, well let me set it up a little. If you haven't ever run one of these races before there were literally hundreds (I'm not certain on the exact number maybe thousands?) of people running this thing and as expected at varying speeds which means you have to be quick on your feet to pass, dodge and sneak past people. and when there's space you "SHOOT THE GAP". Thanks Andrea for all the laughs it was fun.

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