For a few months I was doing really well with the whole “exercise” thing in life, but recently I shifted things in my morning routine and am finding it difficult to carve out a new time (and more importantly, motivation) to workout. As I pondered this issue this morning and wondered what might re-motivate me to get up and get active, I considered signing up for a half-marathon. The last time I ran one it provided great motivation because I knew that if I didn’t get out and run, I would never survive the race. There’s one problem with this… nearly all half-marathons take place on Sunday mornings which doesn’t work so well for this church worker.
In deciding to train for the same distance without being a part of an organized race, I recalled this beautiful blog post I read a few days ago. While I do not personally know Grace, the author of this blog, many people dear to me call her “friend”. Grace is in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl named Samantha from Bulgaria. Grace just got to meet Sam for the first time in April and recently returned to the United States to await the completion of the adoption and the day she can bring her beautiful daughter home.
In the waiting process, Grace is asking people to pray… a lot… 5,577 miles to be exact. This is the current distance between Sam and Grace. And so here I am with a perfect opportunity to run with a purpose… to motivated by something so much greater than “I should exercise.” Like the prayer runs around the high schools that I began last fall (and am excited to start up again this coming week) I will now also be running/praying for Sam.
My plan? Train for a half marathon… for Sam.
100 miles by July 15th, the day the Bulgarian Court takes its recess.
100 miles of prayer to bring a little girl home.
Want to walk or run for Sam as well? Even just one mile? Be sure to check out the details here and join in praying for “Love’s Ransom”.
joyfullyblessedblog.com 
Hi, I am Gracie’s sister, Katie. I have been recording all the prayer-walking miles for Sam and got your e-mail today (I will forward it to Grace’s personal email address). I love that you have pledged 100 miles and have encouraged others to walk as well. 🙂 Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!!
Neat idea! (And kinda funny, Bekah – I am running a different race in honor of a different little Sam!)
I was thinking about your post about that as I wrote this post. Isn’t it so cool how God can take something so ordinary and use it for His extraordinary purposes! Only our God!
I was so excited when I read this Saturday night! I read it to my mom and texted Grace the link right away! You are awesome, my friend! 🙂