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Today was supposed to be another early wake up call, as we usually meet a group of friends to run at 6 a.m. Sunday mornings. Apparently we had a little miscommunication as to who was setting the alarm for said wake up call and Daniel woke up at 6:02. He immediately jumped out of bed and texted the guys to let them know he would be there in 10 minutes (we live 10 minutes away). Well I am just not quite that speedy, so I opted to stay in bed for a little extra snoozing.

We headed to church after he got home. This morning was the kick-off of the summer series on Ephesians and it started off great!

One of the reasons that I wanted to start blogging is to foster an environment of continual learning in my life. I have always enjoyed learning new things and I want to continuously improve the knowledge that I do have. I read once that the most successful people are those who constantly go out of their comfort zone by welcoming new challenges and new risks, constantly discovering new subjects, making this a daily practice in their lives and pushing themselves beyond their current limits. I want my blog to be a summation of the things that I am doing and learning each day.

As part of this process, I plan to summarize my notes from church and small group here, not only to reinforce the initial learning process, but also to serve as a reference to look back on later. Here are a few of my takeaways from the service today:

• Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the church of Ephesus to display the scope of God’s eternal plan for all of humanity. The first three chapters focus on what Christians should believe, and unfold the glorious riches of God’s grace through Christ Jesus. The last three chapters explain the implications of God’s grace for the church, individuals and families and commands us to stand with the armor of God against Satan.
• The first chapter, which we discussed today, is meant to be an encouraging reminder of what God has done for us, while the remainder of the book will instruct us as to what we can do to live in the will of God.
• Christians are saints in Christ. Sainthood is gifted to us because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. This is what we refer to when we talk about substitutionary atonement. Jesus lived a perfect life and died in the place of sinners as our substitute so that our death sentence was nullified and instead we have the identity of a saint. This doesn’t mean that we will not sin, but sin is an occasional activity because of our humanly flesh. It is not our identity.
• We have blessings in Christ. We are “in Christ” because the Holy Spirit resides within us. We are holy and blameless before God. We have been adopted as a child of God. He gave His only child so that we could be His children. We have an eternal inheritance. The Spirit of God is the down payment now on our eternal future. The Holy Spirit brings things into our lives now that are a foretaste of our inheritance.

After church, Daniel and I headed to Publix for our weekly grocery shopping. We like to do our shopping together when possible. In the spirit of learning, I decided to try something new … I bought ingredients to make food. I think some of you refer to this as “cooking.” You just think I am joking. My first experiment is going to be trying to recreate the Publix quinoa salad that is available in the deli section. I usually buy a couple of these salads each week. They are SO good, but can be a little pricey, typically ranging somewhere from $4 to $5 a piece. Being the dork accountant that I am, I am interested to see how the price per serving is going to compare when I make it on my own. I bought all of the ingredients below for $22.21 (not including sales tax). I will let y’all know how the experiment turns out and post my recipe if it goes well.

I went for a run later and Daniel was nice enough go with me and bike beside me while I ran, since he had already run that morning. We did an easy 8 miles. I try my best to avoid running alone. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband and a wonderful group of training buddies and friends to go with me and I have access to a treadmill if not. On the rare occasion that I do go by myself, I am always armed with mace and usually take my cell phone as well.

We met some friends for dinner at Sunset Pointe at Fly Creek Marina. This was our first time eating here and it was everything we hoped it would be and more! The location and atmosphere are unbeatable and the food was fabulous.

We had a wonderful time catching up. Carol is my original running buddy and our families have been friends for years. I will never forget going to her house in college to do my laundry and hearing her talk about how she ran 10 miles every Saturday morning. She was such an inspiration and has continued to be a huge part of my running story over the years, even though at the time I thought she was absolutely insane! My how the times have changed.

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing weekend like we did!

Well hello! Welcome to Mobile Bay Runner! I am Sam this blog will be about running (primarily) and my life on Mobile Bay.

Starting a blog is something that I have been thinking and praying about for a while now, and I definitely feel like it is something that I am supposed to do. I have always been a shy, introverted person, so sharing my story is something that feels very scary to me, but if the Lord can use me to have an impact on just one person, then I know that sharing my life and story with you here will be worthwhile.

I grew up in a small town in Alabama and was very involved sports. I started running my junior year of high school (the 800M), but tennis was my first love. I got more into running in college, mainly just as a way to stay active and fit. I ran a 5K, a 10K and eventually a couple of half marathons during my college career.

While training for my second half, my life was completely turned upside down. I went out for a run one Sunday afternoon in late November and the unthinkable happened. A stranger approached me as I was running, kidnapped me, raped me repeatedly, threatened me with my life, but ultimately let me go. By the grace of God, he let me go. Until this point in my life, I had a highly simplified world view that if you are a “good” person, “good” things will happen to you. Obviously random acts of violence don’t fit into this view. In the aftermath, I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and ultimately developed a full-blown eating disorder. I spent several weeks at an inpatient treatment facility going through extensive therapy in an effort to heal.

My recovery (from all of the things mentioned above) has been a continual, albeit gradual process over the last 10 years. It has been a beautiful journey, leading me closer to people and closer to God. I am a more humane person, to myself and to others. I am able to connect to people in a deeper way and I have a greater sense of purpose. God has a plan for me and for my life. Satan came for me, and God said no.

If not for these trials, I would have no frame of reference to comprehend God’s love, His mercy and forgiveness and ultimately His amazing grace. Every single one of us has a story and has endured trials. I would encourage you to never let the presence of a storm make you doubt the presence of God. You are in the storm for a reason and He is using them for His purposes (that we can’t fully comprehend in the midst of the struggle). Some storms are the result of living in God’s will. It is easy to get caught up in whether God “caused a storm” or “allowed it to happen,” but regardless, He USES it. The difference between where you are now and where you will be, in living out His perfect, ultimate plan for your life, is the storm that you have yet to endure.

We have to embrace our brokenness to heal. Being broken in one area can cause brokenness in other unrelated areas of our life. We become septic because we can’t compartmentalize our hurt. Wounded people try to hide their hurt, because they are afraid. We are prideful when we don’t admit that we struggle. So this is me, telling all of you, that I still struggle. A lot. I am a work in progress. I am NOT perfect, and it is okay! None of us are. Unfortunately, statistics show that 1 in 4 women have dealt with some sort of sexual abuse in their life. My prayer is that my story and this blog will give me a platform to reach someone out there who is struggling. Someone that needs to hear the good news.

Your body is not who you are. It merely houses who you are in this temporary, imperfect world. Satan may attack the temple walls, but when we are in Christ, the enemy can’t touch the treasures within. Know that you are a child of the King, beautiful, without spot or blemish, pure and undefiled, because Jesus makes it so. Hold you head up high, you are the bride of Christ, and it is He who is within you and beside you, and He who gives you great worth that nothing and no one can take from you. Not now, not ever.

I graduated with my masters in Tax Accounting and moved to lower Alabama (aka “LA”) in 2008 to start my first “real” job at a public accounting firm as a CPA. In 2009, I met my husband, Daniel (who is also a runner), and started running a little more seriously, as I began running with his training group. I added in a speed workout each week and saw huge improvements in my times. We got married here in “LA” on the bay in 2010. From 2010 on, we have both been steadily increasing our training intensity and weekly mileage. I ran my first marathon in 2011 and qualified for Boston!

I ran Boston in 2012 and have done a few marathons since then, with the absolute highlight of my running career coming in January 2015 when I somehow managed to win the Rock-n-Roll marathon in New Orleans. I was on cloud 9 for days weeks after that race. Running is one of my passions and something that my husband and I share. We have made some wonderful friends through running. I am thankful to wake up each day and be able to run. It has been a long journey with lots of highs and lows, but my prayer every day is that God will use my story and my running for His glory!