Running the Race

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Acts 20:24

Running a race conquers up many thoughts in one's mind. For some the words exhasuting, exhilarating, long, accomplishment, "I can't wait", or "never in a million years", is what may surface. Just as each of us has differing opinions on the thought of a race, so do each of us have a different race course set for us throughout our life. For some it may entail siblings or loneliness, marriage or divorce, children or an empty womb, many years of life, or the shattering loss of death. It may be wealth or famine, unending possibilites or many closed doors. The course of the race is every changing, you never know what lies around the next corner. For me part of that race involved several years of loss, frustration, loneliness, and much starvation due to my struggle with anorexia. Though unknowingly to me at the time, this part of my race would in fact impact much of the rest of the race that I was to run.

It is nearly impossible to go through a rough patch in life, to walk away without any lasting marks. They do not all need to be bad marks, but marks that change they way you live and view your life from that moment on. Throughout my whole struggle with anorexia, I always had a close walk with Christ. I will be honest, I did wonder and question God on why the whole ordeal could not just end, and VERY QUICKLY, I might add! I was in fact able to stay confident that this whole "rough patch" was not a waste, but could and would be used for His glory. Praise God that I was one of the 50% or so that is able to fullly recover from an eating disorder and be TOTALLY FREE!

I am so thankful that he saw fit to use such a low point in my life, to reach out to others. What an amazing journey it has been. I am overjoyed to know that NOTHING is impossible to God. He is able" to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine"(Eph. 3:20). I have been totally free from an eating disorder for 9 years now, and many opportunities have arisen for me to share that experience with others, and hopefully encourage them to not give up the fight. Being able to go into schools, community groups, and churches and educate and encourage people of all ages, has been a very humbling experience. In every setting that I have shared in, eating disorders have affected handfuls of people in some way, shape, or form. And it is pretty much guaranteed that everyone, if not affected by an eating disorder, their self-image has most certainly been impacted .

Fuel.... it is what is needed for anything to race. Whether it be food, gas, energy, or just mental endurance, it is the underlying mechanism that makes things work. Part of the race for me right now, is encouraging, and sharing with others their unique importance and beauty that is found most importantly, in the eyes of Christ. The fuel that is moving me, is the compassion and understanding that I gleamed through the many years of struggle and hardship. Not only my own, but those of the people I met during that time.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2Cor. 1:3,4