Run - part two

Hannah, as you may know, this is my favorite picture from the Jesus Storybook Bible: 

This picture came alive to me through Anna's eyes when she was five years old.  On our very last day of an incredible trip to Kenya in 2008, we were on a mountain known as “Prayer Mountain” overlooking Lodwar and the surrounding villages.  She was looking through The Jesus Storybook Bible that she had heard me read countless times when she zeroed in on this picture.  She told me that she felt she was the little girl who was running toward God the Father in the picture.  Not only was this a defining moment in her own faith, but it became a specific marker for the direction I want my focus to be: to turn toward God rather than to be overwhelmed by anything that might close my heart to Him.

This picture has become embedded in my heart over the last 12 years reminding me that I have another path I can choose.  Rather than responding out of my own pain or failure, I am learning to pray and ask God to bend my heart to help me turn toward God and toward others.  This picture captures the way I want to live, no matter what the circumstances are. 

This is my prayer for you today and throughout these couple of months as I'm running for you and with you in spirit--- that you would run to God rather than away from Him no matter what may come your way.