Running...

"God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore it is vital that we serve each other. So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving mundane help with mundane tasks-- but what glorious consequences can flow from mundane acts and from small but deliberate deeds." --Spencer W. Kimball

I love this quote from President Kimball. There have been many people who I feel have done many generous and kind things for me and I believe that they were sent from Heavenly Father. I do want to talk about one of these people right now... From this title you probably think this post is about running... but it's really not. It's actually about my friend *Heidi* (whose name may or may not have been changed for privacy purposes...)

Heidi and I were actually not friends until a few months ago. We were acquaintances. We've lived in the same ward for a little over a year now. We would say hi to each other at church and occasionally chat at playgroup while our kids were playing. But that was the extent of my relationship with Heidi.

When I was on bed rest several sisters from my ward would bring dinner over. Heidi brought dinner one night. If I remember correctly she said something like, "I know that we don't know each other very well, but if you ever want Tru to come and play he's more than welcome to come over..." Something like that. She was right, we didn't know each other very well. I had a really hard time at that time sending Tru anywhere so I never took her up on her offer. Then I lost the baby... and you know what.... that's when I really got to know Heidi.

Heidi didn't give up on me. Even though she really didn't know me, she was constantly inviting me to go do things with her. Invited me to go to water aerobics with her, go to the park with her, go to story time at the library. I'm pretty sure that I turned down every request for one reason or another. A lot of it was that I was struggling a lot and didn't really want to get out. But mainly it was that I had such a hard time physically recovering from having the baby and I couldn't just go out and do active things for a few months. Heidi still didn't give up on me, even though I turned her down time and time again.

Then finally we found our knitch. As soon as I got the okay from my doctor, Heidi asked if I wanted to start running with her in the morning. Of course I wanted to! I told her yes even though I was scared... it wasn't just that I hadn't run for a while, I hadn't done anything! I had been sitting around for months and months and was in the worst shape of my life! Never the less we started meeting bright and early at the track to go running. I was beyond slow at first, but she didn't seem to mind. As the weeks went on we (meaning I, she was fine the whole time...) started getting faster and less winded. We started actually running a full mile without stopping, and then a mile and a half....

Any of you who are runners or who run with a partner know that you really get to know someone when you run with them. Nothing to do but talk and make it a few more steps. Heidi and I became fast friends. We found out that we have a lot in common. Getting up in the mornings to run with Heidi became one of the highlights of my day. It made me feel like me again.

Heidi was one of the few people who I told about the lump in my neck when I was trying to figure out what it really was. Then as the diagnosis came we kept running, and she became a great sounding board for me to try and figure out how I was going to handle this situation. So many things to figure out, like how was I going to take care of Tru, what does having cancer really even mean, what am I going to do about this, or that, which kind of help did I realistically need???

I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for this girl! She is busy, she has a few kids, a big calling in our ward, a husband with an even bigger and more demanding calling! She has a full load on her plate and she has gone above and beyond to help... me. I can't even tell you how humbled I have been by Heidi's example. She didn't even know me! Yet she has gone beyond what most people would ever dream of doing to help me.

This last Sunday Heidi sent a sign up around my ward to see if anyone was interested in helping me, since I live hundreds of miles away from any family and I have a husband who works full time and goes to school ;). I can't even begin to tell you how touched I was at the number of women who signed up to help me. Seriously, way more than I could probably ever use. It took a few days for me to even think about that list without getting emotional. I'm so blessed to be where I am at this time. I'm so grateful for the compassionate sisters that live in my ward.





I love you Heidi (or Hailey, or whatever your name is...), I'm done embarrassing you now! I mainly wanted to share this story so that I can remind myself to be more like Heidi. To be less selfish, less shy, less busy, and more giving. More humble. More friendly. More willing to serve.





Such a simple mundane task... to wake up and run a few laps... has become so much more than that!