Ready..Set..It's go time!

I don't know about you but watching the Olympics makes me totally motivated to go out and run my heart out.  Okay maybe at that pace I could go a half of a mile and then walk the rest but still I become so motivated by the athletes determination, skills, and most of all their commitment.  While I find it so much easier to sit on the couch with a big bag of salt and vinegar potato chips or a cherry popsicle and watch the Olympics on TV, I have also realized that once I make that decision to go for a run I can accomplish so much more than I thought I could.  It's all about our commitments and where priorities lie.  These Olympic athletes are incredible and I cannot imagine all of the hard work and dedication they have put into becoming the people they are today. 

While training for this half marathon, set to be run in November, is quite difficult and strenuous, it is because of something bigger than myself that I am able to accomplish my goals.  I have a determination and I have to fight from within to run and train.  Not everyday I do good.  Not everyday do I run.  Not everyday do I push myself as hard as I could go.  It's a process, one that I am taking step by step much like this journey of life.

I have been praying for God to reveal Himself to me in such a real and tangible way as I make a new home for myself in North Carolina.  I am reminded that life is a definite journey and requires more than one leap of faith.  While praying what I thought was a simple prayer "Lord, I want to be a part of somebody else's story.  Please use me to impact their destiny with You,"  God totally spoke to me and answered my prayer. 

On August 1, 2012 - I woke up just like any other normal day.  I got out of bed and contemplated what to do with my day and worried about not having a job.  A phone call changed my life.  I received a call from the National Bone Marrow Registry in which the lady on the other end stated, "Courtney, you're a perfect match."  My response was jumbled for a few minutes but after I fully realized what she was saying I was excited and looking forward to the opportunity.  Only later did I become nervous and a little overwhelmed!

I am incredibly humbled still, as it has sunk in a little more what I will actually be doing.  It's most definitely teaching me that my life is not my own.  That I am living for a greater purpose.  That if I stop worrying and focusing on the things that can make me feel so "ugh" that God will allow me to soar and do incredible things for Him.  And that's just what He is doing.  A friend pointed out to me what a gift I am giving this girl who is suffering from leukemia.  Someone I don't even know is counting on me.  I am still so amazed at that.  I wonder what she and her family are thinking about the process that is going to be incredibly greuling for the patient, both pre and post-transplant.  Please be in prayer for this patient and her family as they take steps toward transplant, that they would feel the hope and peace that can calm their worries and fears.   

God truly had His Hand in all of this.  In allowing me to join the Bone Marrow Registry two years ago with my mom, moving to Little Rock to begin my professional career, and to move back to North Carolina to begin seminary closer to my hometown, family, and friends.  God knew all along I would be the match this girl needed.  Wow.  God has allowed me to have good and bad days.  All to learn one thing:  "If God brings you to it, He'll bring you through it." 

I challenge you to dream big dreams and to keep praying those prayers that you may feel aren't getting answered.  It's taken months since I was first told that I was a possible marrow match.  And it will be weeks before donation day arrives with a lot of days in between that plans could change, but in it and through it all I know that God has a plan and will work His plans in people who have their hearts and minds open.  So, take a leap of faith.  Take more than one.  Leave a legacy and become a part of somebody else's story.  Ready...set...It's go time!!  :)

Somebody Else's Story (John Waller)   

"So lead me to that someone, I pray

Lord, I want to bring You glory

In somebody else's story."