Carriage Trail

I have been running at Little Mulberry since we moved to Gwinnett. I have only run the front loop simply bc Carriage trail was this massive hill that I just didn't really care to do.However, recently I had some encouragement from a new runner friend I met at church. She challenged me to face the massive Carriage Trail hill and go beyond. So I did.....here's a pic. I took once i got through the treacherous carriage trail. It was my favorite run ever! If you get past Carriage Trail, it's the most beautiful country road just for runners and cyclists. The best part was that it wasn't a redundant loop: over nad over and over again...and it was challenging! I felt like I had really pushed myself!

My Carriage trail victory made me think of this.....in previous years of my life I have had accountability partners...friends to challenge me in my journey with Christ. Never had a problem asking anyone to do a study with me. After Brett and I got married we moved and really I've just spent the past 3 years hopping into ministry with him at the church, working at the school, leading small group of 8th grade girls, grad school, etc.... Not really taken the time to have that part of my life again. Partly due to busy lifestyle...partly bc I became scared of what people would think of "his wife." It was weird...before marriage I didn't worry so much about this....but after we got married I suddenly became so worried about what people thought of me....I was so scared of anyone thinking anything bad about me bc I didn't want them to think any less of him. I was scared for anyone to see ME for who I was...the funny side...the bad side...any side.

Until recently....I had some encouragement through some different areas of my life, so I asked a sweet friend in our small group if she wanted to go through Beth Moore's study on the book of Esther with me. She said yes and we have been meeting every week to discuss the book and the things God is teaching us and just really challenging each other. It has been AWESOME, challenging, and refreshing! I knew it would be. I was just scared of a lot of things that it entailed. Kind of like Little Mulberry....just have to get past the Carriage Trail to see the beautiful view. I would be missing so many sweet things if I had continued to stay scared and not ventured beyond what I had made the "daily routine."I will forever run through and past the Carriage Trail....hopefully spiritually speaking as well.