A few of my favorite things...

...Or so I thought. A couple weekends ago, I got to spend the weekend in Hallstatt, Austria (which I still think it is the most beautiful place I have ever been). A few friends and I went there to run a half marathon around the beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. As I thought (in advance) about what I would say in a blog post, the title "a few of my favorite things"came to mind, because the weekend included all of these  great things together...

• Running
• Praying and talking about Jesus on our run
• Being outside in a gorgeous place
• Spending time with friends

  All of these things were true, but the end of the story was a little different than I pictured. As we ran, we started out pretty fast, and I selfishly was thinking about coming back to affirmation for "such an accomplishment" of running a half marathon (as if it's a new or extreme thing to do). Well, having gone a little too fast at first, about half way in, we slowed down and my friend said she needed to walk. As we began to run again, I noticed her breathing and her gate were abnormal. Before I knew it she had caught herself on the guardrail, and I was helping her sit down. Paramedics quickly arrived, speaking German (which I still don't know well, but especially not when I am flustered), who were very gracious and helpful. They took her off in an ambulance. So I turned around to realize I still had 4 kilometers left to finish the race  and meet our other friends who were waiting to cheer us on at the finish. Needless to say, I ran quite fast and was an emotional wreck trying to figure out what just happened. I did it - I finished, yet it wasn't quite the "accomplishment" or excitement I had pictured. None of that mattered any more, I just wanted to get to my friend and make sure she was ok. So I quickly found our two friends and headed to the hospital.
  We found her in the emergency room,being treated well, but totally out of it. Then, as we were about to leave to get her insurance info, I got really nauseous and got sick (I think mostly because I was emotionally worked up still and had had a weird sports drink). Therefore, my friends brought me to a nurse who quickly hooked me up to an IV too. I was fine, I thought, and kept insisting upon this with the nurse. Well, I did end up being just fine and wasn't sore at all - so runners, a piece of advice for best recovery - just hook up to an IV :). Anyway, they wanted both of us to stay overnight and determined it was a dehydration issue for my friend. Despite my insistence on being fine, it was a blessing we were able to stay together, and we had a beautiful mountain view out our hospital window. 

   So what is the moral to this crazy story - I need God's love, grace, and humility. I am competitive and wanted to finish that race in a decent time and prove that I could accomplish it. My mentality was all about me and seeking the approval of others. Yet, running the race of life for the Lord's glory is what ultimately matters. The reality was that God just wants me to be humble, love others, and surrender my goals and plans to Him. I am sooo glad that I was able to be there for my friend - as scary as it was. He then showed me His love through the sweet friends who took such good care of us while we were in the hospital. Also, our "family" back in Vienna was such a blessing as they were praying for us and so concerned for us. '
Be careful when you pray for humility - God seems to answer it in unexpected ways. I am so glad His ways are higher than mine! One of my truly favorite things of this weekend and this year has been seeing God answer prayer and show His powerful love!

The beauty of Austria

Sweet friends!

We painted our nails fun colors -
at least we looked good while running, oh yeah, and in the hospital 

Not a bad place to start a race, huh?

Not exactly the face I expected at the end of the race -
but I made it

Our friends taking care of us at the hospital :)

 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 "Don't you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.