These 2 pictures showed up in my TimeHop feed today & I literally gasped when I saw them.  I’ve seen a ton of pictures of myself from my “fat years” & of course I actually lived it, but it’s amazing how a picture can still shock me to this day.  Seeing these pictures was actually exactly what I needed this morning.  I spent most of 2014 injured &, as a result, I  gained about 40 lbs back.  Since then I’ve struggled quite a bit to get my running back (& hence, get the weight off) to the point where I’ve really struggled lately with the current state of my body & getting back to my fit self.

Which brings me to seeing these pictures today.  These were taken at a friend’s wedding 9 years ago today.  That was a year & a half before I changed my life forever & decided to allow God to lead me to a life that was so much more than I possibly could’ve imagined.  I realized there’s no reason to feel sorry for myself today.  Yes, I’ve gained some weight back & I’m not who I was 2.5 years ago.  But I’m also not the girl in those pictures anymore either.

That girl had accepted a life of being obese. 

That girl feared that she’d always be a bridesmaid & never a bride. 

That girl never would’ve imagined that she’d ever run a 5k (let alone half marathons, marathons, triathlons, half ironman triathlons & a full Ironman)

That girl never would’ve imagined that she had the potential to get into the best shape of her life. 

That girl, while believing everything is possible with God, never truly believed that applied to her life.

Thank God, that girl was wrong.  Thank God for bringing a revolution to that girl’s life to completely transform it into something she couldn’t possibly imagine.  Thank God for the reminder of what was, so that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

When I saw the pictures, I immediately sent them to Brad.  His reply was “at least you still had that smile back then.”  What he saw in that girl was the same smile of the girl he loves now.  That girl just might become a bride someday after all. 🙂

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible.  But with God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:26, NLT)