So I’ve been into running lately.  No, no, no…not training for a marathon!  I didn’t mean to try to impress you with that statement or anything.  This is just running to burn fat…nothing exciting at all.  I run like a grandma….does that help?  It’s really just so that I can eat more chocolate…no huge ambitions here.  But I got this neat little app on my phone that allows me to do “interval running” to the music of my choice…along with a “fitness trainer” who says things to encourage me along the way!  Her name is “Holly”. 🙂  She tells me things like “your rockin’ this workout”, “you’re doing great, buddy!” (that’s her special nickname for me…”buddy”). She had me believing her sincerity too, until the other day she told me I was her “favorite running buddy”.  Hmmm…do you think she says that to ALL her workout buddies or just me?  I have to wonder…and here I thought I was special! 😉

There are several things along my run that distract me from the discomfort of running. My favorite has been this cute little roadrunner that I see up the street from where I live.  Now, my Dad is an avid birder and he says this is a “famous” roadrunner.  People in the Bay Area will head to my street just to see this roadrunner because it’s so rare!  Who knew?!? Try to control your jealousy everyone!  Some believe it’s the only one in this area because roadrunners are not native here.  So it’s special…and I guess I feel a little honored now when I get to see this bird on my morning runs.  Please don’t think that I’m crazy, but thinking myself clever, I cheerfully said to it the other morning, “Hey, we’re both road runners!”  😉  We share a bond now.  I think if birds could roll their eyes, this one would have.

This blog has a point…really.  Just keep reading…

The other morning, I was running along as usual and I asked God if he would let me see the roadrunner.  I don’t know why.  Maybe because we bonded the previous morning! 😉  Maybe I had more to say to it!!!  Ha! Ha!  Well, I didn’t see it where I usually see it and I just kept running.  Holly said I had to.

I decided to take a different turn and go down a street I hadn’t run along before.  It was this tucked away cul de sac and I only chose it because it was FLAT and involved NO HILLS to run up!  I know…I’m such a die hard!! 😉  As I was making my way toward the end of that street, I was suddenly startled by something HUGE coming toward me from the bushes in the front yard to my peripheral left!  Now let me just say that brains (especially mine) are funny at times…especially in moments of surprise and panic.  For some reason, mine told me it was a little person coming at me!! I pictured a dwarf for some odd reason!  (Go ahead and pause here to laugh…it’s okay…)  Mike even laughed at me when I told him this initial thought that I had, and teasingly told me “Gimli is alive!” (If you have seen Lord of the Rings you will find his statement extremely funny.  Mike sure did!!).

Anyway, back to the story:  I jumped off the sidewalk only to find that it was something I had not expected to see along this street!!  It was a huge PEACOCK!!!! I promise I’m not even making this up!!  It sounds ridiculous, right?!!  It’s feathers were fanning out and it was enormous!  Peacocks are HUGE!!!  Especially when they are a couple feet away and jump out at you from the bushes!  One could even say “dwarf-size”!  THEN it jumped onto the fence!!  Well if the first “dwarf peacock thing” didn’t freak me out enough the first time, the JUMP  up to the fence did the trick!!   I jumped back again, but this time I did so while glancing around me to see if anyone else was seeing this!!  No one was there.  So, I did what anyone else in my situation would do….I took a picture of it with my phone (once I finished untangling it from my headphones, armband, and me hitting all the wrong phone apps!) I didn’t know if this bird was going to turn on me and attack, so I was keeping my eye on it while trying to get my camera app up.

I found out later from a neighbor walking her dogs that peacocks do indeed live on this particular street. I did not know that.  Now I do.  🙂  Better a peacock than a dwarf, I guess!!

Believe it or not, I felt like God was speaking to me that morning.  Here I was asking to see a little roadrunner, and God is like, “Oh yeah?  How about a peacock?!?  You’re asking too small, Tami.  I’m going to bless you beyond what you are expecting.”  God is like that…and not just for me or my family…but for ALL of us!!  We’re asking for roadrunners, and God wants to give us peacocks!  See?  He’s generous and He’s fun, and He loves us!!

This season has been a tough one.  We’ve been believing God for answers to prayers.  Mike’s been without a job since January and we found out at the end of June that our landlord wants to sell the house.  We’re packing up boxes and don’t yet know where we’re moving to.  Adventure is out there!!  😉  Our car engine light came on, our washing machine broke…everything seems to be happening at once.  That’s okay.  We know God’s got this and we know He’s at work.  This just makes for a better testimony of His goodness!  This is the perfect position to be in to see the miraculous!  It’s been a season of learning to have faith when our circumstances say otherwise…and as hard as that is…we know it’s a good thing.  BUT…not only does God love to provide, He LOVES to BLESS!  That’s why this peacock was so important!!  I knew what God was saying to me that morning.  I left that peacock encouraged and excited for what God has ahead for us!  I also came away with a little smile for God does, indeed, have a funny sense of humor.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  Thank you, Lord, that you MORE than provide…you abundantly BLESS us when we trust in You!