For the Glory....

But those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will run and not grow weary...

-Isaiah 40:31


I fell asleep last night dreading the morning, and I am a morning person! I love a new day, but today brings the start of a new semester. New classes, work, practice... pretty much me starting at 6 in the morning and not returning to my home until 6 at night again. Give me the time frame of about six weeks and I will be tired, and weary, and burnt out.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love school and learning, and running, and my jobs are pretty decent (though I was hoping to not have to work as much), but I believe it is the constant routine I get in where every day seems to be the same. I feel rushed and pushed to my limit and it never fails that about halfway through every semester I feel like giving up. Waking up this morning brought excitement at the new start but also dread at what is to come. A paradox. That is until I had a thought.
I was doing my morning devotional (after about a year of not doing one I found a book in the aisle calling to me last week and bought it. It's wonderful to spend time with Him over coffee again.) and this verse from Isaiah stuck out at me with the author's words: We are told in Isaiah 40:31 that we are to run and not grow weary. When I am weary, I think God is saying to me, 'Pick up the pace, and I will energize you with my Spirit.' When weariness overcomes you, let God be your running partner. He will be with you to run the race...and to not grow weary in the process.
This is EXACTLY why I have this verse tattooed on my foot. I love the idea that God wants to run with us and be our energy when we can no longer pace one foot in front of the other. I spent a little time contemplating my new semester and God spoke to me. I suddenly realized how new this semester is to me.
When I think about today, January 12th, I realize that about six months ago I didn't plan on being right where I am. My idea was to be graduated from college, married, and starting another type of life... but God gave me today. This day He wanted me here. Right here at school starting a new and my last semester of college. This spring semester, these classes I am taking, my jobs, running on the track team... are all part of the race God wanted me to run. I realized that looking at this new semester as something which will bring me weariness halfway through is not how I should be looking at things. As a runner that is not how you go into a race or even a run.
If I cross the starting line with the thought that halfway through a race I'm going to be done, I'll never finish...
And finishing is what it is all about. No matter the distance, time, or pain it takes to get there, finishing brings Him glory. And there is purpose in my day; to whatever or wherever it takes me, everything today and tomorrow if it comes, and the next, etc, is part of that purpose.

God has given me a new chance, a new race. He has repaired what I thought once fell apart but now see as being purposely broken. And in this new race, things will be different. This semester is not like any other semester I have attended because I am different. Life is different. It is a new day and time for everything to change. I am not the same.


After night
Dawn is there
Dawn is there
And after all
Falls apart
He repairs
He repairs

After night
Comes a light
Dawn is here
Dawn is here
It’s a new day, a new day
Oh, everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same

"The Glory of it All"
-David Crowder