Church and Shoes

I'll start with church. Last night we went to church for our Wednesday night activities. M and the kids go to choir practice for the Christmas play. I teach a class for the women. The class is based on the book What Happens When Women Pray by Evelyn Christensen. This week's lesson was called "God Doesn't Make Mistakes". There didn't seem to be a whole lot of material to teach in the chapter so I supplemented it with the Prayer of Suffering from Richard Foster's book on prayer. I thought I had this great lesson. I read everything carefully and even had a great illustration about walking a friend through a hard time. But I think the lesson flopped. Actually it drowned. The women showed me so many holes in the lesson that it never even had chance. I don't know how I missed all those points, but by the time they were finished asking questions and discussing the topic, the lesson I had prepared appeared severly flawed. And it was. I'm grateful for their input because it helps keep me from teaching the unrealistic. Even so, I'm so disappointed. They seem to come at things from a different perspective than I do. That's a good thing. I just struggle with the need to feel like I did a good job. I know the discussion was good and that reminds me that this class is not about me. It's not about my teaching abilities. It's about prayer. And I need to get back on track.

And now the shoes. Last Saturday I walked 3 miles in preparation for the 8K I'm walking in a few weeks. When I got home I was limping because the bottom of my foot, under the knuckle of my big toe, had become inflamed from rubbing on my shoe. My legs felt like jelly and by that evening I had unbelievable hip pain. My hips were so sore, stiff, and painful that I could hardly move! Lucky for me, my mom was here when I got back from the walk and she took me out to buy good walking shoes. We went to the New Balance store and I got a great pair of running shoes. The guy at the store said that most women prefer a running shoe for walking because of the extra padding. Well, yesterday I walked again...a little more than 3 miles this time. I can not even express the difference! No foot pain. No jelly legs. And best of all, not even a hint of hip pain! It is just amazing what a new pair of good shoes can do! Thanks mom!