Strong(er) in January

When I chose my word for 2025, I pictured myself focused, fierce, strong, brave. This month has not been that. Instead, I feel like it's been more of a grit-my-teeth, put-in-the-hard work kind of month. Everything has not been hard, but it has all taken effort. I think I always forget that. Good things take work. I need to put in some more before I really start to see gains. So here is the work I have been putting in for the three areas of my life that I want to strengthen:

Faith:

I continue with The Bible Recap reading plan. It has been a little bit of a switch to read my Bible every morning instead of in the evenings. I try to listen to The Bible Recap Podcast before I listen to anything else. I appreciate the fresh perspectives this practice is bringing to my faith walk. So far, I am really happy with this practice.

Marriage:

We did start a new marriage devotional from Jennie and Levi Lusko. That has been very good, with readings, discussion questions, and prayer to keep us focused on the Lord, which is where our ultimate strength lies.

I have listened to a few marriage podcasts. In my pride, sometimes I think, "I already know that," but then God humbles me and reminds me how much work I need to put into my marriage. Two specific podcast episode I would recommend are "From Conflict to Communication: How to Heal After a Fight" from A Purpose-Driven Marriage and "Tips for Planning Memorable Date Nights" from Focus on the Family. 

On that note, we have been slacking on official dates. We concluded our downtown scavenger hunt for the Gnome on the Roam. I proposed a year-long journey to visit all the public parks in our 138 square mile city. We started off strong, and have waned. Hopefully we get back to that pursuit. That is an area to strengthen for next month. 

Body:

I am keeping up with my physical therapy schedule. I have progressed at least two of the exercises in difficulty. Two out of my three ailments have gotten much better. Praise the Lord!

I completed the two week Perform 20 program with Nourish Move Love (NML) this month. It was the most accessible program from NML yet, but still a bit much with as much as I am running. A few times a week of strength work versus every day are better for my current schedule.

I am training for my next race. Overall, I have not getting back down to the paces I was running during marathon training, but oh well. This is where gritting my teeth comes in. Running is not agony for me. I like it, but it requires some strength of will to keep putting in work when not getting results right away. I keep trying, and we will see what happens.

I don't know if I will ever be able to do a pull-up, but my husband put back up his bar, and I bought pull-up assistance bands to start NML's pull-up program. I am far from progress, but am trying to grit my teeth and put in a few reps every other day or so. Will I gain strength? We will see.

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That's my recap for strong(er) January. May the Lord's strength carry me forward. To Him be all glory for any progress made.