Author: admin

Hey guys! We are leaving tomorrow for the Ragnar Relay in Tennessee! I am getting so excited. We have been planning this trip for a while and for a while it felt like it was so far away, but now all of a sudden … it’s here!

The packing is fully underway and I figured that it would be a good idea to share some overnight relay packing tips in case you ever get the urge to do one of these crazy things and you are wondering what to pack.

Let’s start with the 411. Remember when that was a cool thing to say? Yeah … me too.

Who? 12 runners and friends (6 guys and 6 girls) who are about to embark on a crazy journey. Our team name is “Flip Flops in Porta Johns and Other Bad Decisions.” Um, yeah. I’m thinking the bad decision was letting the guys choose the team name.

What? This journey is called Ragnar. It is an overnight relay race. We will be split up into two vans (3 guys and 3 girls in each van).

Where? We will run from Chattanooga, TN to Nashville, TN (189.10 miles). Each runner runs three separate legs of varying distances. I am runner #4.

When? The race starts Friday May 13th (hopefully no one is superstitious) and we will finish Saturday May 14th sometime around noon.

Why? A better question would really be, “Why Not?” There will likely be moments of uncertainty, doubt and fear, but there will undoubtedly be more moments of joy, laughter and team bonding. We are going to embrace the moments, soak it all in and have a blast!

So now that you have a better idea of what we are heading to do, let’s discuss some packing essentials. One thing to note is that organization is key. Things tend to get a little bit hectic and crazy during the actual race, so if you are prepared going into it, that can at least help to minimize some of the unnecessary stress.

Clothes –

• 1 – 2 pairs of running shoes (depending on how much your feet sweat)
• 3 running outfits (shorts, tanks, socks, sports bra, etc.) preferably in individualized plastic baggies. Our team decided to coordinate our outfits, which I am pretty excited about. We haven’t done that in the past, but I think it will definitely add to the team feel.
• 1 pair of flip flops or comfortable shoes to wear in between legs
• Compression gear of your choice (socks, sleeves, tights, shorts, etc.) to promote recovery in between legs
• 2 comfortable outfits (sweatpants, pajamas, lounge wear, etc.) to wear in between legs
• Light jacket or long-sleeved shirt in case it is cool at night
• Costumes (optional, but encouraged :)). We are going with a luau theme. The boys picked the team name, so the girls picked the decor (and yes, I got coconut bras for the boys to wear)!

Accessories –

• GPS watch
• Hat or visor
• Sunglasses
• Reflective vest (every runner is required to have a safety vest at check in)
• Headlamp, tail light and flashlight (these are also required)
• Running belt (if you plan to run with your phone or carry anything with you)
• Self defense item

Miscellaneous –

• Car charger for phone, watch and any other electronics
• Sunscreen
• Baby wipes (3 runs and no shower for 24 hours is definitely calls for baby wipes)
• Air freshener (see above)
• Travel pillow and blanket
• Towels
• Toilet paper (in case of emergency)
• Snacks
• Portable massage roller

I think that pretty much covers it on the packing front! I have a few other random things to tell you about as well.

One being that I officially formed an LLC for my coaching business. I’m pretty excited to be a “small business owner.” I have some big dreams for this ‘lil gig and I hope that it works out.

My mom texted me this …

I was laughing so hard! She has discovered emojis now. Side note: anyone else think that thing resembles frozen yogurt?! For the longest time, that’s what I thought it was. Random, I know.

That’s all I’ve got today. Gotta finish up the packing!

Happy Mother’s Day!

We went to early church with my mom this morning at the church that she grew up going to. I know she has lots of good memories there with her mom and dad, so I was really glad that we got to go with her today.

All my mom asked for was a card and a walk. I stepped it up a notch and got her some flowers, 2 cards (one from me and one from the cat (naturally)) and took her for a walk! It was such a beautiful day!

We had lunch at my grandmother’s and after that I met with my very first running “client.” EEK! I am so excited to start coaching. Her goal is to run her first full marathon this fall and I can’t wait to help her get there!

We finished off the evening at Chill with my favorite running buddies!

In my last post, I gave you some of the “why” behind my decision to start coaching. It’s something I have been thinking about for a while. Last summer, I thought about attending an RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) class, but there weren’t any nearby and the ones that were relatively close were all full. I signed up to get an email when the new classes for 2016 were announced.

I don’t remember exactly when I got the email this year, but I know that it was during tax season and I just sort of mentally put that on my post-tax season to do list. I don’t know how this happens, but somehow it seems like things get even busier after tax season. I don’t know if this is just phantom busyness that I create for myself or if it is because I have more time for extra-curricular activities and so I just start doing more things. It’s probably some combination of the two.

Regardless, the point is that I didn’t get around to actually looking at the RRCA class listings until about two weeks ago. Once I looked at them, I realized that there were only two open classes the rest of the summer. I didn’t realize that they filled up so fast! One of the open classes was in Columbia South Carolina. A quick map check estimated the trip to be a little under 8 hours, so I decided to go for it. I signed up Monday and the class was Saturday and Sunday of that same week. So spontaneous!

I had mentioned wanting to become a certified coach to my friend Ashley and when she found out I was going to the class, she wanted to come too. I was so thankful to have a buddy!

Since we would be missing our usual long run Saturday morning, we decided to get that out of the way Friday morning before we left for SC. We did 18 miles Friday morning, put on our compression tights and hit the road. The drive wasn’t too bad, but we were definitely super stiff by the end of the day.

Class was from 8 to 5 Saturday and Sunday. The first day we learned about different types of runners and their training needs, physiology, building a periodized program and nutrition. The class was very informative and I felt like I learned a lot and also got a good refresher on some things that I knew, but didn’t fully understand the reasoning behind.

We were too tired to run Saturday morning before class and after sitting all day, we were more than ready to stretch our legs out. Daniel helped us find a really cool running trail in the area. He wasn’t with us, but he was able to go on Strava and map out a route for us. It was a wonderful route right along the water!

We were able to get in a nice and easy 6 mile recovery run. We enjoyed the route so much that we decided to go back Sunday morning before class.

We had a little bit of technical difficulty finding the starting point of the trail that morning, because we parked on the opposite side. We knew we were in the right general vicinity. We parked beside a guard gate and the security guard came out to ask us what we were doing. We told her that we were looking for the running trail. She told us that she didn’t know about any running trail in the area and that she wasn’t going to watch the car if we left it there. We were a little confused (and concerned) and then she told us that if we drove across the parking lot (less than 100 yards away), there was a walking trail. Aha! Yes, that would indeed be what we were looking for. Thank you kindly.

I carried my phone and my stun gun (I need to tell y’all about some new safety devices that I got recently) and we were perfectly fine. The trail had been packed with runners, walkers and cyclists Saturday afternoon, but Sunday morning at 6 a.m. was a different story. We only saw one or two people the entire time we were out.

The second day of class we learned about the business of coaching, sports psychology, writing training programs and common running injuries. I really enjoyed this day! We broke off into small groups and designed a marathon training plan for a 52 year old male runner who wanted to drop 10 minutes from his marathon time and qualify for Boston. I’d like to think that he achieved his goal 🙂

We got out of class at 5 p.m. Sunday evening and decided to drive all the way back that night. We debated stopping along the way, but ultimately decided that it would be best (and cheaper) to just get on home. Thankfully I didn’t have to work the next day because I was worn out!

Now we just have to get CPR and first aid certified and pass the RRCA exam to be “official” coaches. I’m hoping to get all of that done in two weeks when we get back from Ragnar.

Hey friends! This post was originally meant to tell you about my trip to Columbia, SC to attend the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) coaching certification course last weekend, but first I want to back up for a ‘lil bit here and share my running story with you. I shared some of the highs (and lows for that matter) in my “About Me” post, but I want to dig in a little bit deeper in this post about running and how it has impacted my life and in turn, why I want to coach.

I think that most people just assume that I have always been a runner and that is not really the case. Although the more I think about it, I really have been running for almost half of my life at this point. So many kids get into running at such an early age now though, I guess that makes me feel like I started “later in life,” when in actuality it wasn’t all that late.

Short Stuff (1995 – 2003)

My first experience with running was not a pleasant one. In middle school (fifth or sixth grade … the details are kind of fuzzy at this point), I decided that I wanted to try out for the JV track team. A few of my friends were on the team and so of course I wanted to do it to. Apparently the FOMO started at a young age.

I played several other sports (actually at this age it was probably just tennis and softball), so I figured I could run track. Seemed easy enough, but man was I wrong. I tried out for the 800 meter (1/2 mile) and in classic newbie fashion I took off way too fast. Heck, I still do that now sometimes. Long story short, I didn’t make the team. I actually didn’t even run the entire 800 meters. It was highly embarrassing.

Fast forward a few years and at this point I was definitely playing several other sports. I played volleyball, basketball, tennis, softball and even had a short stint on both the dance team and the cheerleading squad (um yeah … not my thing). I went to a very small school and so if you had any athletic ability, you played all. the. sports. Our basketball coach decided that we were going to run to get in shape for the season, so we started running a mile or so each day before practice.

I’d be lying if I said that I enjoyed it. I most definitely didn’t, but it was required so I just went with it. As a side note … our team won the state championship (3A private school) the year that we started running. We were in better shape than everyone else. Just sayin!

When I got into high school, I decided that I didn’t really want to play softball anymore. I had played since I was really young and the team was transitioning from slow-pitch to fast-pitch, so it kind of just made sense to give it a break. We were only allowed two spring sports (I had done tennis and softball up until this point), so this freed me up for another spring sport. Enter track.

My 10th grade year I made the track team … as a thrower! I threw the discus. There is a lot of technique (and less skill) required for discus, so I enjoyed it. My junior year, I was recruited to run. I honestly don’t remember exactly how this happened, but my guess is that they just needed people and I was a person. My junior and senior years, I ran the 4 X 800 meter relay and the 800 meter, but that was my only running event. At practice we would run/walk a lap to warm up, run our distance (maybe two times on a good day) and then we were done. I had never run more than 2 miles consecutively when I graduated from high school.

Middle Distances (2004 – 2008)

I started running a little bit more my first year in college. I signed up for the SGA Fall 5K. I remember standing on the start line wondering if I would be able to actually run 3.1 miles without stopping, since I had never actually done that before. I did! I don’t even have any idea what my time was. I just know that I finished and I really liked it. I really missed organized sports and running kind of just became my new thing.

The spring of my freshman year I took a jogging class. I got an A! Haha. I learned more about running from that class and I started to run a little bit more. We are still talking 3 to 4 miles max and only a few days a week. Over the course of the next few months (when I was home for summer), I slowly transitioned the miles up to 6 or 7. At that point, I decided it was time to run a 10K. I do know my time for that one … 50:39.

After the 10K I was officially “hooked” and I started training for my first half marathon. I basically trained by myself and I basically had no clue what in the world I was doing. I had two running “mentors” that helped me so much. I ran with both of them a little bit along the way. One was my high school tennis coach, Donnie, and one was our family friend, Carol. I know this sounds super sappy and sentimental, but I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today (in running or just in life in general) without them. My parents have always been 100% supportive of everything that I have done as well, but the running thing was little foreign to them. I think they pretty much thought I had lost it when I told them I was going to run a half marathon. In fact, they likely still think that I did in fact lose it and have never found it again! But I digress …

I ran the Mercedes half marathon in 2006. I will never forget the feeling of completing my first half marathon. It is a feeling unlike any other feeling, not even topped by the feeling of completing my first full marathon (because let’s face it, that just plain hurt). I ran that first one in 1:48:03. The time didn’t matter whatsoever. I completed the race and that was my only goal!

I continued running a few times a week after the race and decided to do the Mercedes half again the next year. Let’s just say that this is where things got messy. I think most people know my story at this point, but if not, basically I was attacked while I was out on a training run for my second half marathon. It was a very traumatic, horrific thing that has had a drastic impact on the rest of my life. At first in a very negative way and now, many years later, in an inexplicably positive way.

A few months later, with a trusted mentor by my side, I ran the race that I had been training for. A few days later I was checked into an inpatient (eating disorder) treatment facility where I received extensive therapy and tried to begin the healing process. Looking back on this, I realize that I was still in so much pain and denial that I wasn’t able to truly benefit from the treatment. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot, but I don’t think that it all truly sunk in until much later. It took time for me to grow and learn to accept and deal with things.

A lot of my memories of that time are somewhat of a blur (which I think is probably a good thing at this point), but I know my running over the next 2 to 3 years was very minimal. When I did run, it was always on the treadmill. Occasionally I would run outside if my dad biked with me or something like that, but that was not super common.

Going Long (2009 – Current)

I don’t remember when exactly I got back into it, but it was sometime around 2008 or 2009, after I finished college and graduate school. I stuck with the training on the treadmill for the most part, but I started doing more races. I enjoyed pushing myself. It was around this point, that I met Daniel.

Once we met, I started meeting his training group at the track on Tuesday evenings for speedwork. There was usually a pretty big group of at least 10 people and we would all do the same workout, but everyone would run at different paces. We did 200s, 400s, 800s, etc. If you are a runner and you are wondering how to get faster, the answer is a) speedwork and b) run with people faster than you. That is just my opinion and based on my own experience though.

If you are a runner and you don’t care about getting faster, that’s totally cool too! As long as you are out there doing what you love, that’s all that matters. I would still totally suggest running with people though, but just because runners are cool and it makes it more fun (again, just my opinion).

Daniel and I got married in 2010 and the first race I did after we got married I broke 20 minutes in the 5K for the first time (with a 19:38). When we first met (in 2009), I was running close to 22 minutes for the 5K, so that was a huge improvement. All of my times started improving (in various distances) and I got even more hooked. I run to be the best version of myself that I can be. Training hard, working towards goals and ultimately meeting those goals is what makes me tick. There isn’t much that hard work, dedication, faith and a little bit of confidence can’t handle.

I ran my first full marathon in 2011. I mentioned this earlier, but it’s worth repeating … ouch. It was painful, yet rewarding. I didn’t train properly (I obviously didn’t know that at the time or I would’ve done it differently) and I didn’t fuel properly (again … I didn’t know what I was doing). I did manage to get a Boston qualifying time though (3:24:11), so I was super happy! I would love to work with first-time marathoners (and half marathoners as well) to help offer some guidance along the way and eliminate some of the newbie mistakes that I had to learn the hard way.

The next year I ran Boston. It was one of the hottest Boston Marathons on record. The temperature was close to 90 degrees for the entire race. I rode the struggle bus for the majority of the race. Again, my training was not where it needed to be (I’ll blame tax season for that one) and I was not acclimated to the heat at all. I ran 4:37. Not what I was hoping for at all, but it was still pretty cool to be a part of such a prestigious race.

After Boston and for the next couple of years, I continued to steadily increase my weekly mileage and started to really enjoy the longer distance training runs. The speed workouts took a back seat while I focused on increasing the quantity of my runs (as opposed to the quality). I built a really good endurance base during this time and while I didn’t really have any breakthrough races or anything like that, I think this time was very valuable in the overall scheme of things.

In 2014 I started working with a coach. We added back some track and tempo workouts and over the course of about six months of consistently focusing on quality (as opposed to quantity), I pretty much PR’d in every distance (5K, 10 mile and half marathon). That training cycle culminated with the New Orleans Rock ‘N’ Roll marathon where I ran a huge, approximately 20 minute PR. At this point, I definitely saw the benefit of working with a coach, although I ultimately decided to change coaches at this point.

I wanted to work with someone that was more hands on and gave lots of positive reinforcement (I need that). Different coaches have different coaching styles and it is important to work with someone that you feel comfortable with and that gets you. My current coach is awesome! He was an accountant before he started coaching and we think similarly on a lot of things. I hope to replicate what he is doing for my athletes!

I started the blog a few months after I started working with my current coach, so if you want to read more about this past year, hit up the archives and go for it! Running has been a huge part of my life. From the day of the attack, to the day that I first met my husband, to the day that Daniel and I ran a 5K the morning of our wedding, to the day that I broke the tape in New Orleans, to today … each day has brought different lessons, different meaning and different perspective to my life.  I wouldn’t be who I am today or who He was calling me to be had it not been for each of those days, and all of the days and miles in between.

I have been searching for “my purpose,” or rather “God’s will” for my life and I feel like I am being called to help people. That’s super broad, but for now, it means helping people meet their running goals, helping people to discover and fall in love with running and being a witness and an encouragement to them along the way.

Hello! A lot has happened since we last talked, and it’s only been a few days. I love post-tax season life!

For starters, I have decided to attend an RRCA coaching certification course so that I can “officially” coach runners. I realize that I could do this without a certification, but I truly want to learn more about the sport that I love and make sure that I am giving people solid, sound training advice. I have turned a few people down in the past, solely because I didn’t feel “qualified” to help them. It’s time to change that!

I don’t know exactly what it will look like, but I have several days a week to devote to coaching over the summer and I knew that I wanted to get started ASAP. As it turns out, ASAP is this weekend. Ashley and I are headed to South Carolina to attend the class together. I’m so excited about the class and that Ashley is going with me! It would’ve been quite a long road trip to make by myself.

I’m also thinking about getting certified to teach tennis lessons as well. I feel like coaching will make the perfect fill in for my off days in the summer and winter months, when my accounting job is less busy and it will (hopefully) allow me to do something that I truly love!

Secondly, it’s Workout Wednesday! I haven’t done a workout in a few weeks and it really felt good to get back to it. I kind of let my workouts fall by the way-side the last few weeks of tax season, but that’s okay. My mind and body needed a break from the mental and physical stress of juggling work and strenuous workouts.

I headed to the treadmill when we got home from our trip (details to follow). I had a 6 mile tempo run to do and I got that done with a 2 mile warm up, followed by 6 tempo miles at 6:40, 6:40, 6:30, 6:30, 6:40, 6:35 and a 1 mile cool down.

I listened to our Ragnar Tennessee playlist on Spotify and I now I am even more excited for that trip, which is coming up in a few weeks!

Mom and I had a wonderful mini-vacation to Watercolor! We did pretty much this exact same trip last year after tax season and had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual thing. Last year, we went Sunday and came back Tuesday, but this year we went Monday and came back Wednesday. The rates are a little bit better if you go during the week.

Brooks wasn’t thrilled to see us go Monday. I’m pretty sure he is saying, “Not cool, Mom. Not cool.”

After a quick pic, we were ready to hit the road!

I’ll go ahead and apologize, but this post will have lots of pics, mainly of mom and me. We are great travel buddies and just buddies in general, so we always have fun no matter what we are doing.

We got in and did a little shopping before we were able to check in to the hotel. Our room (the same one we stayed in last year) and the view were incredible!

We walked on the beach for a little while once we got settled and headed to Bud & Alley’s for dinner. We ended up getting our dinner to go and walking back down the beach to sit on our balcony and watch the sunset. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

After a good night’s rest, we were up and at ’em pretty early (vacation early at least) and ready to go! I got a good run in and met mom on the beach on my way back and we walked back together. I absolutely love running and walking on the beach. It’s one of my most favorite things to do. There is just something about being out there, especially early in the morning when not many other people are out and about yet, that is so peaceful and serene.

I saw a sign while I was out running that really made me think. It simply said, “Be Healthy.” The more I thought about that, the more I realized how different that could look for different people. For some people “healthy” may mean getting off the couch and getting active and for some people that may mean taking a rest day. For some it may mean cutting back on sugar and for some it may mean indulging in a delicious dessert.

I started to think about what “healthy” means to me. I think I would have definitely defined this differently over the years, but right now I would start with saying that it refers to your spiritual, mental and physical state, with spiritual being at the top. I was debating (with myself) whether mental or physical would come next, and I decided that they are so inter-related that it doesn’t really matter which one is more important. To me they go together. I think this little graphic describes it well.

Being healthy means being able to do the things you enjoy and enjoy the things you do! I was thankful to be healthy, happy and running in one of my favorite places! It was a sunny day and the water was so clear and beautiful! We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

I had been wanting to paddleboard in the Gulf for a long time and I was determined to make that happen this trip. When we got back from our run/walk, I was ready to get out there. The gulf was a little choppy, but not too bad (in my opinion). They suggested I use the “YOLO Yak” instead of the standard paddleboard. Despite the name (I think YOLO might be one of my least favorite acronyms ever), I was fine with that, as it was more stable and better suited to handle the waves. It was actually much easier to paddle in the gulf than it is in the bay sometimes.

I loved it! I am hoping to paddle more this summer. I’m definitely counting that as a core workout.

After a pretty busy morning, we decided to relax a little bit, read and catch a quick nap before dinner that evening. I got super invested in the book I took to read. I read an entire book (Emily Giffin’s The One & Only) while we were gone. I wanted an easy, fun read and this book fit that criteria perfectly.

We walked over to The Great Southern Cafe for dinner that night. I’m pretty sure we go there every trip. It’s so good though! I got the salmon (per usual) and (also per usual) it was delicious!

We got dinner and made it back to our room to watch the sunset again. We enjoyed another chill, relaxing evening. I guess that’s just how we roll! Play hard, rest hard, and repeat.

I got another good run in the next morning. I actually carried my phone and got some pics of the scenery. It’s just so pretty, I couldn’t resist. I love how diverse the scenery is. You go from this …

To this …

To this … All in one run!

Mom came out to meet me and we were going to walk for a little bit, but we got caught in a huge downpour! There was only a 20% chance of scattered showers, but they found us. I normally wouldn’t care at all, but since I was carrying my phone, I had to seek shelter from the rain rather quickly. Thankfully my phone survived. We survived as well, we just had that drowned rat look going at the end.

We decided that we like piña coladas better than getting caught in the rain
and we’re not (all that) into yoga, but we possibly have half a brain (between the two of us as least).

That is a pretty quick overview of our vacation. We got home this afternoon and it’s back to the real world (whatever that really means) tomorrow.

One last pic, because clearly I need one more pic of the two of us in this post … Just look that that water though. So pretty!

That’s all she wrote! See you soon!

Hey friends!

I got a little bit of spring cleaning done in my off time this week and I feel so much better now. It was really nice to put away the winter clothes and bring out the bathing suits. Summer is here!

Side note: I was a little bit surprised at just how many pairs of running shorts that I have accumulated. Now I see why Daniel tends to question whether or not I “need” new running clothes sometimes.

In other news, I took “little” Brookser for his annual checkup at the vet Thursday. He loves a good car ride. Actually he just loves life in general.

But y’all … he has gained 17 pounds since last year, from 87 to 104. Holy moly. The vet was asking me a bunch of questions, like if his exercise had decreased or if his food intake had increased, but I didn’t really think that they had. I felt like a bad doggie mom. As it turns out, Brooks has a little bit of a low thyroid. Poor little buddy.

He’s oblivious though. Daniel and I have been telling him that he is “big, brave and beautiful.” He’s still loving life. He’s especially enjoying his new exercise regimen, which includes lots and lots of swimming!

And also some rolling in the sand …

Brooks loves summer just as much as I do!

We got to spend some time with our niece this week too. She is so precious! She is a very chill, happy little thing.

Daniel and I were a bit out of our league, but we were able to successfully hold her and give her a bottle. I mean it did take both of us to do that, but hey, it takes a village right? I’m actually still kind of confused at how one person could hold her (what takes two hands (for me at least)), give her a bottle and wipe away the drool all at the same time. Do you grow extra arms when you become a mommy?

We enjoyed having lunch with his mom and sister and loving on sweet baby Ava!

There is a new coffee shop in town called Soul Caffeine. We were finally able to try it out for the first time yesterday. It has a very up-scale vibe to it. Daniel and I went in after running (duh) and I kind of felt underdressed. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but the coffee was good and the service was great, so I’m sure we will be back!

A couple of our friends ran Boston last week and so we got to catch up with them this weekend and hear all about it! They both ran great and we are so proud. I found these awesome bracelets for them.

Another side note: Now I really want one of those bracelets for myself too. Does that happen to anyone else? It’s probably just me. It’s the whole only child thing I’m sure.

You know what else is awesome about summer? Fruit!

I have made two hugely delicious fruit salads this week.

I apologize that this post has been a little bit all over the place. I not used to actually having things to tell you about (as opposed to the last few months of work, run, sleep, repeat), and I’m having a hard time organizing my thoughts. Hopefully it’ll come back to me soon!

I’m off to pack for a fun little mini-vaca to 30A! One last thing. Check out this super cool packing apparatus that Daniel got. Just disregard our psychedelic walls, it was cool in 1960. Actually I kind of love it. Maybe it’ll come back in style? Anyways … you can organize all of your stuff and then pack this into your carry-on luggage, or you can just carry this as a suitcase.

Pretty sweet right?!

Anyone else excited about summer?

Hey guys!

I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet, but I have a couple of things to share with you today …

First of all, it is April 15th! Can I get an AMEN?! Technically the tax filing deadline is April 18th this year, because of the Emancipation Day holiday in Washington DC. The holiday marks the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which president Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862, and celebrates the freedom of slaves. It is being observed on April 15th this year. We are just going to keep that little secret between you and me though and pretend like tax season is O.V.E.R. Deal?

Secondly, my devotion was so on point yesterday that I really wanted to share it with you in case someone else needed to hear it to. The scripture is Leviticus 24:1-2 (NIV): The LORD said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.’

I don’t know about you, but I likely would have read that verse and not really even given it too much thought, but after reading the following passages, which were written by Lysa TerKeurst, I was kind of blown away.

Where light is needed, oil is needed. But getting the oil from the olive requires a pressing and crushing I’m sure the olive would rather avoid. However, this hardship of the olive is what allows the most valuable part of the olive to emerge … the oil. The oil then can be turned into glorious light.

Think about what a miraculous process this is! The olive’s greatest hardship turns into it’s greatest purpose. And I think the same can be true for us.

I know some of these deep hurts personally. I’ve been right where you are. But I’ve also seen God do something miraculous and holy with my deepest hurts and most devastating heartbreaks. He’s turned them into light that I can shine into other people’s hurts to give them hope.

And when my hurt turns to hope? My soul is ignited with a fresh sense of purpose and deep assurance!

God truly does everything with purpose and a passionate love for His people. I wonder if He had them touch the olives, hand crush the olives, feel the oil, and then watch it turn to light so they could witness what could be true for them as well.

Broken, hard pressed olives becoming the most beautiful, bright-burning lights for a high and holy calling! And like today’s Scripture says, not only do we bring our light but we keep it “burning regularly.” Yes, this is my prayer for you and for me.

Isn’t that so awesome?! The timing of this devotion was so perfect too (I love it when The Lord does that), because I have really been praying and thinking about some pretty big things along the lines of using my “toughest hardship” for (what I hope to me) my “greatest purpose.” With tax season behind me, I am excited to pursue some new paths!

More to come on that, so stay tuned!