Hustle530 Mudrun 2013

Hustle530 Mudrun in Oroville, CA kickoff

The pit

Staying strong...

Finished strong...NOT!!!

...and the fun part...clean up!

This weekend was our mudrun that we have been training for. We have worked hard for 9 weeks training and increasing endurance so we could do it. It was funner than I ever imagined. It was hard enough to make me work at it but easy enough to not scare me off of future runs. We were called the "skirt squad". We represented other Pentecostal girls that are told.."you can't do that in a skirt!" and survived! I am hooked on future runs but this was by far worth all the training that Jessica made me do. What an awesome way to end my year and get ready to be another year older. YEAH! Life is hard, run harder!!!

Too Blessed to be Stressed OR too Stressed to be Blessed


Have you ever seen this saying “TOO blessed to be stressed”? When I see
this it really makes me think. Am I? Do I have so many blessings that
there is no reason why I need to be stressed? Why can’t I feel this
way? When I begin to look at my blessings and where God has brought me
from, I immediately feel less stressed. My past begins to remind me
that I don’t deserve my present or my future that God has promised me.
Then God reminds me of His grace and faithfulness and His mercy. I
remember that God has abundantly blessed me and why should I be
stressed at this present time over something so minor. When I remember
where I came from, what I used to fear, things that I would face on a
daily basis- TRUE STRESS, it reminds me that what I face now is so
minor. I am too blessed to be stressed. But….

Sometimes….I become so stressed that I don’t remember how blessed I
am. My stress overrules my blessings. The stress of this world weighs
on me and pulls my blessing out from underneath me. All the things God
has done for me fade into the background and I only see the stress of
things to be done, people that let me down, and the daily hustle and
bustle of life in general. I become too stressed to be blessed. Being
blessed is not just receiving things from God. Being blessed is a
mentality. It’s a way of thinking that God has His hand in your life
daily, moment by moment He is watching and working in your life and
guiding each step you take. Maybe He is carrying you in your low
times. He is guiding you and helping you accomplish His will for your
life. What more of a blessing is there than to have the CREATOR OF THE
UNIVERSE watching my life and guiding my steps?! He loves me… God
loves me…and sinner…a worm…made from dirt…GOD LOVES ME! That is the
blessing! No one can take that away and that is what blessings are,
non disposable gifts from God.

So ask yourself today…Are you too blessed to be stressed or too
stressed to be blessed...?

Trees are like people...

Have you ever just really thought about the types of trees that are out there? Right now they are beginning to bud new flowers because it's the change of season right now. Interesting though some trees are still hanging on to their old leaves...Why? It makes them look so ugly. Don't they know you are so much more beautiful if you let go of old stuff and allow the new buds to bloom? Then you have these trees that are still barren of new life but we all know that in just a little while they will bring forth beautiful flowers of their own. Let's look at the evergreen tree. They are just always green. Every once in a while they will drop a few dead limbs or dead pine needles but overall they are still green all year long. Some trees need to be pruned back to their main limbs whereas other trees only need a little pruning along the way.
Now lets think about people...how many people do you know are like a tree that I described above? How many times do we ourselves represent a tree. Psalm 1:3 states ...and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  That is what God meant for us if we walk not in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful but delight ourselves in the law of the Lord. But so many times we allow life to get us down. Something bad happens in our life, something that is dead and gone. We are meant to bury it under the blood but we don't. We hold on to it and this prevents God from blooming anything new in our life. Then sometimes we need to be pruned and shaped as God sees fit. He cuts back things in our life that He knows are not going to be productive. It hurts us and sometimes we look so bare that you would not think we are ever going to produce anything for God again. Have you ever seen those trees that they cut completely back? Its amazing how full they are in the summer time again. Then we are like those evergreens that rarely require maintenance. God just causes the wind to blow and they prune themselves of unproductive limbs. They drop their own dead fruit. But even evergreens can die and need to be cut completely down. So no matter what kind of tree you are, allow God to prune you. Allow yourself to drop your dead leaves, so you can look beautiful when it's your time to bloom.