Water for Kenya

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We had a streak of extremely hot and humid temps in Chicago this summer but it seems those days might be behind us. Thankfully the weather hasn’t seemed to affect my training runs like I thought it might. Frankly, I’ve found my heart to be much more of an obstacle during this training than any outside factors.

I’ve had my fair share of painful blisters and seem to have a weekly battle with my water belt, but my heart still seems to be the biggest hindrance. For some reason I’ve had a hard time getting the commitment I have made from my head down to that small but powerful organ in the middle of my chest.

Today on my run, in between spurts of conversations with my Team World Vision running buddies, I tried to think of things that might inspire me to be fully heart-committed as well. One of the first thoughts that came to mind is my mom. She had her fourth child at 32 and I’m pretty sure that childbearing and child rearing are much more difficult than training for a marathon. If she, at 32 could continue to be committed to another child, certainly I can be committed to a fourth marathon.

And then of course my mind wandered to the mother in Kenya who can’t feed her children right now nor simply supply them with clean drinking water. And I wish I could say the inspiration came flooding into my heart like those epic scenes in movies when the hero finally recognizes he is a part of something greater than himself. It wasn’t like that. Instead I just asked God to burden my heart for the people of Kenya that desperately need the water well we are helping to raise funds for.

As the end of today’s run was approaching I was exhausted. At 14.8 of the 15-miles I was ready to stop and walk. My knees ached and my hips hurt. I could feel the hotspots that were most likely the beginnings of more blisters on my toes like coals in my socks. But I had committed earlier in the run that I was not going to walk {not that there’s anything wrong with walking, it’s just I knew if I began walking I was giving up}. But I also knew something had to change.

I began to pray and ask the Lord for strength. I quickly realized in my spirit that this was the wrong prayer and began to pray for a burden. “Lord, burden my heart for the mothers and children and families that need this water so desperately. Lord, give me the heavenly perspective of this situation, your heart, your eyes and your love for these children of yours stuck in a situation they did not chose but cannot leave.”

And I began to run hard. For the last .2 miles I took off with long strides and purposeful prayers.

I finished my run well today and I’m thankful for the strength of the Lord to complete the run but my prayer is still the same, “Lord, burden my heart for this nation and it’s people.”

I learned that the money our Chicago team raises, if we meet our goals, could provide water for 20,000 people. That is a lot of people. I can’t imagine not being able to place my cup under the faucet for a glass of cold water. I can’t imagine looking at my child’s face and only being able to give them the muddy waters that run through the trickle of a stream that used to be a river. I can’t imagine being the mother who doesn’t even have the stream to dip from and longs for that muddy water because at least then she had something to give her child.

It is such a desperate situation in the horn of Africa right now, but I will continue to believe that my God is bigger than the circumstances. Please join me in praying for the people of Kenya and for God’s miraculous hand to move on that nation.