Joy In My Heart!

Do you remember that old Sunday School song – I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down In My Heart?  Well, I’m singing that song from the rafters!

See these feet?  They have been doing great and wondrous things! 

Let me give you a little back story.  When I met Bill, he was a runner.  I. WAS. NOT.!!!  Secretly, I thought it would be cool, but I also knew for certain that I could never keep up with him and didn’t even know where to start.  Life happened, Bill stopped running, and I still never started.  More life happened.  Bill started running again, and at that point, I was starting to get pretty disgusted with myself.  Still didn’t do anything about it.

Life continued to happen.  Bill didn’t run as much but would do substantial walking.  I finally got to THAT point and did something about my health.  I started exercising and eating better – and it worked.  Bill could walk a lot faster than I could, but we would walk together.  I held on to the hope that someday I could keep up with him and maybe run together.  Then I started running (I found a path that was out of public view) and discovered I could.  We did some running together, and then more life happened. 

I continued with my running, but it was a little harder for Bill.  I figured I wasted too much time and we wouldn’t be able to run together anymore.  A while back, I started walking more than running – and that was something we both enjoyed.  I also met some really great walking buddies along the way.

Bill started having some health issues with his heel, and then his back.  It was to the point that even walking was uncomfortable.  I felt like I had lost my desire to run, at the same time, I really missed the feeling after a good run.  Bill was tenacious about dealing with the health issues – and kept at it until surgery corrected the problem. 

With such an inspiration to encourage me, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe – we might have another shot.  Now, I know that we do!  We have been out together several times, running on the beach.  We are both starting back slowly.  It’s only been about 6 ½ months since surgery.  

I understand that my motivation to run has to come from within to be sustainable, and I will still choose to walk with my wonderful walking friends.  But running with Bill, side by side – fills me with indescribable joy (and the motivation to keep going).  I don’t care how fast, or how far.  I will work my tail off to make sure I can stay beside him.  (By the way, his long legs cover a lot more ground than my less-than-long legs do!)  God is truly an amazing God.  By His grace, I have a second chance at doing this simple yet profound activity with the man I love!