Being Refined

December 2017. I sat at a booth in an Eat 'n' Park and caught up with a friend on our life over the last year. At the time I was still smarting from my two failed attempts to break the four-hour mark in a marathon. Although my friend encouraged me to look at the positive--I did run TWO marathons within five weeks after all--I couldn't shake the funk of having put in months of training and not being successful in my goal.

February 2018. My sister informs me that the Marine Corps Marathon--one of the few races at that distance on my wish-list--is changing their registration. Every other year it had been lottery-style, but this year there would be a fifteen-minute window when anyone who registered (and paid the fee) would be an automatic entry. The only catch? That window was in the morning when I was supposed to be interacting with a classroom of Spanish students.

Registration day arrived--and with it a school cancellation. I was amazed at this moment working out, but this was only the beginning. I would go through another four months of training and then fight my way --mentally as much as physically--through 26.2 miles in our nation's capital. I would finish in just under four hours. I can still remember the absolute elation I felt at realizing I had done it.

I basked in my joy as I returned home and put my medal up on my shelf. I thought this chapter was wrapped.

September 2020. A Facebook group that I am part of for my writing 20Booksto50k posted that they were putting together an anthology of sweet romance short stories. I thought it was neat and wished that they would do that again sometime in the future when I wasn't drowning in teaching live and remote in what has easily been the most challenging year of my career.

Late October 2020. A reminder post popped up in the group that the initial 500-word submissions for the sweet anthology were due by Halloween. At the same time my phone sent me photo reminders of my marathon weekend two years earlier. An idea sparked and over the next few days, I sat down at my laptop and developed the beginning of the first story I had written since the summer. I e-mailed my entry but didn't expect anything.

November 2, 2020. I start my morning with a shriek as I open my e-mail and see that I have been accepted into the next round of submissions. The next three weeks I draft, rewrite, receive editing feedback, and finally created an 8k-word story that I was proud of.

December 3, 2020. By grace of the editors, my story joined twenty-five other stories about second chances for love as part of Sweet Romance: An Anthology. In a year of so many bumps, these tears were happy ones.

Here's the confession. I struggle with believing that we are always right where God wants us, BUT this success could never have happened without my earlier stumbles. Even though the Marine Corps Marathon always piqued my interest, I really don't think I would have signed up for it if I hadn't still had unfinished business with my goal time. When I thought I was failing, I was gaining life experience. I was being refined for something more.

This year hasn't been easy, but I am grateful for the reminder that even in the dark, God is working.