The Journey is…defeat.

IGNORING YOUR WORST CRITIC

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.-Theodore Roosevelt

When reading this quote, I think of my own worst critic…ME!

I consistently remind myself of my own shortcomings & failures.

This is what I will think instead:

Every person alive will experience moments of defeat.

Defeat is simply part of the Journey.

After the defeat,

Be proud of yourself for getting in the game in the first place!

Give yourself some credit…

The mere fact that you are still here

is in itself it’s own great accomplishment.

…and then….

keep

moving

forward.

It takes much bravery & courage to stay in the arena.

Perseverance, when you’d rather just watch from the sidelines, is the only path to

VICTORY!

~Ignoring Myself,

 Julia

The Journey is….Victory in Jesus!

Woke up singing this song today & thought I would share.  Enjoy!

Victory In Jesus

I heard an old,
Old story
How a Saviour came
From glory
How He gave his life
On calvary
To save someone like me

I heard about
His groaning,
Of his precious blood’s
Atoning
Then i repented
Of my sin
And won the victory

Oh, victory in Jesus,
My Saviour forever
He sought me
And he bought me
With his redeeming blood

He loved me
Ere i knew him
And all my love
Is due him
He plunged me to victory
Beneath the
Cleansing flood

I heard about his
Healing,
Of his cleansing pow’r
Revealing
How he made the lame
To walk again
And caused the
Blind to see

And then i cried
“dear Jesus,
Come and heal
My broken spirit”
And somehow Jesus
Came and brought
To me the victory

Oh, victory in Jesus,
My Saviour forever

The Journey is…addicting

RUN “GRUMPY”!

I have a confession to make….You would think that with all the victory I have experienced this past year…I would just jump out of bed every morning…anticipating the morning’s run.

Instead, my first thought is…..”I don’t like to run.”    Most days I don’t even want to run.  I even get grumpy at the mere thought of having to run.

So why do I run?

When I make myself run “grumpy”, I feel:

-like a winner…I win over myself, my excuses, my flesh.

-in charge…In the life I have happily chosen, I am often pulled 15 different directions…attempting to make everyone elses life the best it can be.   At times things feel quite out of my control.   When running….I choose if I’m going to run, where I’m going, how long I run, which direction to go, what to listen to, which races to enter.

-alone…I cherish rare quiet moments.  Even when running with a partner or during a race with thousands of people…somehow…I still feel alone, and I like it.

-loved…God speaks to my spirit & ministers to my life the most when I run.  I’m sure that’s why He tried to get me to start for all those years.

I have found that…”grumpy” always, without fail, turns into “happy”!  Satisfied.

I do have a theory…the more I choose to listen to my Spirit, my flesh will fall into submission.  I believe the day will come that I will wake up…excited about lacing up my shoes!

There was a short time in my life where I felt accustomed to losing.  Running makes me feel like the winner that God created us all to be…and I like that!

I like it a lot…You might even say I’m becoming addicted to winning!