Here are the top 5 highlights of 2018:
1) Almost dying on United Airlines flight 878 and realizing the true meaning of life purpose (maybe we didn’t almost die but it was close enough for me). You can read about this here.
2) Buying our first home! If you didn’t know, we bid on 5 houses before God decided we had finally found our HOME.
3) Becoming a wedding officiant and standing up with two amazing couples in one of the most intimate moments of their lives.
4) Running with endurance. Hebrews 12:1 was a big verse in my life this year, both literally and figuratively. I ran more races and miles and trained harder than I ever have before. I also wiped out on a run again this year. Shout out to Dane for being an amazing trainer and training partner. Also, shout out to my sisters who agreed to run the Twin City 10 mile with me! We all CRUSHED it!!
5) Meeting God on a yoga mat. Keep reading below to learn about this one.
2018 begins and ends with yoga. I never thought I’d say those words. From 1990-2017, I did not like yoga. I thought it was slow, and boring, and a waste of time. If I was going to be exercising, I needed to be doing more.
I started going to yoga about once a week at the beginning of this year. I originally started going because it was heated and I needed a way to warm up in the wintertime. I can’t exactly remember when or why or how it shifted in my mind but I realized I LOVED yoga. Just one class a week was something I looked forward to. I started to notice physical and mental changes.
And then I went ice skating.
And then I tried to be fancy.
And then I wiped out (do I ever stay on my own two feet?!?!) and landed on my wrist.
And yoga went away until the fall.
Before the #iceskatingincident, I had decided that I wanted to do yoga teacher training. I have to fully commit to something if I’m going to do it so yoga teacher training seemed like the best way to do that. I tried to sign up 3 times in 2018. First, I couldn’t do it because I fell and my wrist needed time to heal. Second, I couldn’t do it because we bought a house and had to prioritize that financially. Third, I couldn’t do it because I had previously scheduled plans on the first three sessions of the next round of class. After all the times of hearing “no, not now” I told Dane that it would literally take divine intervention to get me signed up for teacher training.
And then I met God on a yoga mat.
Dane and I headed in to a yoga class in early November. I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen at this class. I had been playing around with using parts of class as a time for prayer. As the instructor guided us into savasana, our final resting posture (you just lay on your mat like a dead body), I started engaging with God in prayer. The weight of all the ups and downs of 2018 was weighing on my mind. I told God that I felt like I was on a stage in a spotlight and the entire audience was filled with anything and anyone who had ever been in my life. They were all looking at me like I needed to do something. I told him I didn’t know what to do and I needed him to help me. The second I asked for help I was overcome with peace and clarity and within this vision I realized that God, in the form of a glorious blinding angel, was holding me. He said to me “I am here with you. Let me help you.” I immediately started crying and just as soon as this incident started, it ended. I heard the instructor’s voice come back in and she guided us out of savasana.
Immediately following the class, I connect with the instructor (we had actually tried connected a few months earlier but timing was never right). And guess what she told me? There was a teacher training starting at the end of February.
I never expected divine intervention to happen to me like that. That seemed like some spiritual thing that happened to spiritual people.
I’m signed up for yoga teacher training in 2019 knowing that God is with me. I’m looking forward to what else comes out of this crazy yoga stuff.
Thank you to everyone who followed along this year with me. I know I was quiet… but I also know what is to come and I know you will all love it. I appreciate your support and readership more than I can express.
Happy New Year!
Kelsey