rebuild, breathe

I've been having a pretty rough time this year, magnified by the ample amount of time I've had to spend by myself this summer.

I'm getting ready to finish school this fall, and begin looking for jobs.
(Hopefully doing something I actually like to do.)
My bestest graduated and moved away from me back to Austin, TX, I didn't get to live with my friends last year and dating ups and downs (mostly downs). Training for the marathon earlier this year, I also fractured my tibia, which has really discouraged me in my running, and trying to regain where I was before.

I know my trials this year have been for a reason, and I'm still hopeful to find out the why's.

I went for a run though this past week, and decided to do it without my iPod.
(this is almost a for-sure adrenalin killer)
But this time, it worked out even better than I could have hoped.

I ended up running 7 miles, which is twice what I have normally been doing during the week, and I felt amazing. I had the chance to just be left alone with my thoughts, and a silent prayer that lasted the entire run.

Turns out, I had a lot to say. And even more to listen to. The two words/phrases that kept coming to my mind over and over, were

rebuild. just breathe.

I know how simple it sounds, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I may have been battling the injury since March, but it has given me the opportunity to rebuild the foundation I had, and to do it better than I had done it before. If I rebuilt better, I can be faster, stronger, and healthier than I was the first time. And not only as it relates to running, but to my everyday life as well. I tend to get caught up in the things that don't matter, and I start to immediately doubt. I doubt things I know for sure, and things I said I would never doubt again. I doubt everything except what I can do myself. But I can rebuild. I can start over, and I can do it better than I did the first time.

And of course, just breathe. Any runner will know what this phrase can do for you, but all of us have had similar experiences where we just need to tell ourselves that everything will be okay, and we need to regain perspective on what's currently happening.

What an incredible opportunity all of us have been presented with, to start over. At any age. At any time of day, no matter our circumstance.

I'm going to continue this summer, with a renewed enthusiasm for my jobs, for the people I've met and have not met yet, and rebuild,so that I can be stronger, and a better friend for my friends, and for the people that need friends. A better sister, and a better daughter.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk in May of 2009, about losing our way, and losing sight of what matters most.

Nehemiah from the Old Testament set to rebuild the city Jerusalem, no small task. As the walls of Jerusalem were being built stronger, his opposition began to intensify, but it never distracted him. Nehemiah's response:

"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down."

When faced with trial and suffering, we respond, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.”

When faced with ridicule and reproach, we proclaim, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.”

"Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. He seeks those who will not allow the attraction of ease or the traps of the adversary to distract them from the work He has given them to perform. He seeks those whose actions conform to their words—those who say with conviction, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'

We have a great work to do. We stand overlooking the horizon of our age. It is my fervent prayer that in spite of temptations, we will never lower our standards; that in spite of distractions, wherever they may come from, we will not lose focus on what matters most; that we will stand resolute and together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that we may [keep ourselves worthy] and, to a man, lift our heads and with unwavering voice proclaim to the world, “We are doing a great work, and we will not come down.”

Yup. this is definitely what I needed to hear today.