Aching Times

The past two weeks have been a difficult journey physically and spiritually. My body and soul have been aching.

Let's get physical.
Two weeks ago, I noticed that my quadriceps was slightly sore. I really thought no big deal of it because I feel like something always hurts when your running. A couple days later, on a Thursday, the sore turned into a hurt. My quadricep was killing me. I did what I was supposed to and rest, ice, and elevate it for a couple days. However, I probably pushed my muscle to the limits since I was out running two days later. For the following week, after every run I would ice my quad. It really felt immensely better to where I didn't even notice the soreness.

However, this past Saturday the supposedly healed muscle suddenly became hurt. I was doing a little run around campus before we were going to tailgate and my quad just oozed pain. I can't even describe the pain, which is silly, since I know pretty much every adjective used to describe pain but it's not there. It's a mix of sharp, dull, ache, constant, intermittent, and stinging. I definitely didn't tear my muscle but perhaps stretched it.

a little anatomy lesson ;)

I am writing all this because the condition of my leg is of utmost importance as I am supposed to be running in the Virginia 10 Miler THIS Saturday, September 24. I haven't run since this past Saturday. I took Sunday, Monday, and today off. It is pure torture to me. I am not the person to sit and wait for something to feel better before I'll use it again. I push through it because the activity of running is so much more important to me than the pain I feel in my leg. I ran through the "first" injury so much that Jordan didn't even believe me that I had hurt my quad. That's why the past few days have been torture... because I just want to run.

There's two sides to every story...
My mother says, "Lindsay, don't do the race! It's not worth hurting yourself more. Just sit this one out. There's always more races. Heal your leg."
My father says, "Lindsay, take your runs easy the next couple days. Don't push yourself, just loosen up. Rest again Friday. You can do this race! You can do the 10 miles, your body is conditioned."

Well, I think this situation is in the Lord's hands. I am going to try to do a light run tomorrow afternoon to see how my quad feels but I am not going to push it. Keep this silly injury in your prayers so that I may run this big race on Saturday.

Let's get spiritual. 
Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) happens once a semester here at Liberty and it three days packed full of sermons and awesome worship time. There is a total of 5 different messages in the three days. Clayton King was the speaker for this Fall. He is an completely energetic southern evangelist. He knows how to draw a crowd to hear God's word. He is a teaching pastor at Newspring church in South Carolina, a campus pastor at Liberty, the founder of Crossroads Ministries, and an author of several books. Clayton has a heart for the Lord and winning souls for Him.

I only attended two of this semester's messages including one on Monday night and one on Wednesday morning during convocation. I got a lot out of each individual message but what I really got out of this week was that I needed to incorporate a journal into my daily quiet times, which wasn't even talked about in either of the messages. I have tried several times before to journal my quiet times but never really succeeded. I just felt God telling me to try again. I felt the same call last Fall when I started my "Church Service Journal," in which I take down notes from the sermons and church services that I attend. This journal has truly been a blessing in my spiritual life for I able to recall and reread what the sermon was on or what I learned through that individual message. I knew that this new effort to start a "QT journal" would succeed since I have succeeded with my other journal.

I've been diligent in journaling my quiet times. I've been writing down the questions that I have over the individual passages of scripture. I've been jotting down the take-away points from each quiet time. I've also been writing down my praises and prayer requests so that I may look back and see how God has fulfilled each one. I am excited about this new 'task' but it's definitely not an easy one because as most of us have experienced  "life" gets in the way of our time with God. It baffles me that this can even happen since God has given us life yet I am most definitely not immune to the "busyness of life." I am asking that you would pray for diligence and desire for me when it comes to having quiet times and journaling on them.

I am going to share the five pertinent questions to ask yourself that Clayton related to David's faithfulness described in Pslam 139 on that Monday night. I challenge you to honestly answer them about your own walk with God.

1) Am I seeking to impress people or inspire them?
2) Am I performing in worship or am I praising Christ?
3) Am I laboring in the spirit or am I loving the spotlight?
4) Am I pursuing fads or am I practicing faithfulness?
5) Am I driven by desire or am I compelled by a calling?

Some things to think about,