God used last November’s injury to usher in a season of rest, and not just physically. For the past year, the theme has been doing more with LESS. Now, I’m sensing the beginning of a new season and a new word for 2015: abundance.
I decided to make a second pass through Joel Osteen’s book, I Declare, which includes 31 days of affirmations–basically speaking blessing over yourself (or someone else) for a month. During this month, several unexpected blessings came my way:
– I was invited to do a focus group and got to talk about running for two hours…then received an envelope with $125 cash to thank me for my time! That’s a new pair of shoes!
– I went to the running store to buy a gift for a friend, planning to polish off what was left of a gift card I’d received for my birthday a year ago. I handed them the card to find out what was left on it, expecting it to be about $2. It was $100! What?!? How can there be $100 left on a $25 gift card I’ve been spending off of for a year? Must be a God thing.
– I’ve wanted the new Garmin Forerunner 620 ever since it came out. Bluetooth syncing, cadence and VO2 max data, the works. But I couldn’t justify a $450 purchase just so I could have all the bells and whistles when I had a perfectly good 610 that still worked. Then my 610 started acting weird. Reset itself during a cool down. Reverse charged so it had no juice when I woke up ready to run. Erased all my programmed workouts during a sync. OK. Time to get a new watch! I had $100 of birthday money and got a check for $250 totally out of the blue from a company that was ordered to pay customers as part of a settlement I knew nothing about. Just for grins, I thought I’d check eBay. I found a brand new 620 for $350! As it happened during a time when I’d been praying about what to get everyone for Christmas, I sensed God saying this was His gift to me! Felt like it would actually be disobedient NOT to buy it at that point because He had clearly provided the justification, the funds, and the opportunity to buy it at a reduced price. So with a grateful heart, I made the purchase, knowing His gift to me will always be with me when I’m running.
God has sent other blessings my way as well, but these three blew me away. As I am coming to know and trust Abba more, I believe He is calling me to live with the heart of a little girl who knows her Daddy has all the money in the world. To live and give freely and without fear. To abide in His abundance. But it strikes me that on three occasions, money falling out of the sky has had to do with running. I don’t yet fully understand the significance of this but take it as a sign that God is pleased with and wants to bless my running. What a gift!