I Know This Much Is True

When I was sixteen (1985-86), I started running for the first time. Before this, I had run on soccer and softball teams and for P.E. But this time I was running on my own around the school track at Herman Junior High in South San Jose, California. 

Who inspired me?

I got the idea for running from this couple at church, who had recently started running and subsequently lost weight. They looked great. I was looking for truth – the truth about how to get in shape. I had tried a lot of other ways that didn’t work. My goal was to improve my fitness and shed excess fat. So, I thought I would test this running idea out. If they could do it, so could I.

How I incrementally progressed

I started with running one mile three times a week and did that for a month. Then I increased it to two miles the next month, then three. I was determined not to give up.

For the first two and a half months, things were going great. I usually ran in the late afternoons after school when it was cooler out and listened to music on my Sony Sports Walkman. I enjoyed the time alone.

A sharp pain in my shins

But when I got up to running three miles, I started feeling a sharp pain in my shins every time I went out to run. It just got worse over time. I tried to stretch before running but that didn’t stop the pain. I was stressed out because I really wanted to continue with this goal, but the pain eventually became too intense. 

Troubleshooting the problem

I needed more truth, so I called that couple from church and explained what was happening. The husband essentially said that I was too heavy and therefore could not continue running (I include a picture of me at sixteen here to show the actual). No troubleshooting. No looking into the facts before offering me this conclusion. Just suggesting that if running wasn’t working, then I should quit doing it. Was that the truth?

I worried that it was, and it really upset me. I was hypersensitive about my weight and had been for many years. I think this is typical for teenage girls, but it was especially intense for me because my brother had teased me about my body weight regularly in my younger years. Nevertheless, I would not give up on searching for the truth about fitness. There had to be a way.

“The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” 

– D&C 93:36

Before talking to that couple in my ward, I had felt so good about my level of commitment to my running goal. I believed I had finally found a true fitness solution for me. The track was close. I could run any time I wanted. It didn’t cost me anything. I didn’t have to depend on anyone to take me there (I didn’t have a car yet). I enjoyed it. These were important variables that contributed to my true success.

A second opinion

Next, I went to the doctor for a second opinion. The doctor told me that I had shin splints. That was the truth. But then his resolution process was for me to look into a lower impact sport like swimming. No troubleshooting the running goal. No looking into the facts. Just suggesting that if running wasn’t working, then I should quit doing it. Was that even true?

Swimming? There were no swimming pools near me. How the heck was I going to get there three times a week? I knew that wasn’t going to work for me. After I left the doctor’s office, I cried. I had to stop running, and that was the end of that.

I later became a fitness instructor

About ten years later, I became a fitness instructor. I had to read a few textbooks about things like anatomy, metabolism, exercise physiology, impact and reaction forces, cardiorespiratory endurance, kinesiology, and sports injuries. I had already been doing aerobics for a few years and had learned how to increase muscular strength, cardiorespiratory endurance, and flexibility. 

After 15 years of teaching fitness classes, reading more about fitness, and learning through personal experience, I now know the truth about what causes shin splints and how to troubleshoot the problem. I do not know why that couple from my church didn’t know it, let alone the doctor, but these are the questions I would have asked this teenage girl with this type of injury:

Number 1 

What kind of shoes are you wearing?

Answer: I was wearing a pair of pink Keds with no cushioning, stability, or impact protection.  

Number 2

What are you doing to warm up before you run?

Answer: A few stretches, but I didn’t start those until after my shins started hurting.

Number 3

What conditioning exercises are you doing to strengthen the muscles in your legs?

Answer: I was not doing any.

I know this much is true

I am not a distance runner now, but I have been running consistently for around 5 years. I have got up to eight miles but usually stay around three to five. Before I run, I warm up with squats, lunges, and hip strengthening exercises. I wear running shoes – Hokas, which have excellent cushioning, stability, and impact protection. When they start wearing down, I can feel it in my feet, knees, shins, or calves so I know it’s time to get another pair. When I injure my legs, back, or hips, I either have to stop running for a time so I can heal or wear compression socks and run slower for shorter distances.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 

– John 8:32

So, I know this much is true. I have learned that learning the truth about things empowers me. Troubleshooting before giving up on something entirely is an intelligent choice. And people who are able to give me correct information and guide me to identifying true solutions are my greatest assets. 

“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” 

– D&C 130:18-19

Born Again

In the past few posts, I've been telling the story about how the Savior has been changing me from someone who had the habit of Turning and Reviling Again to someone who Stands Steadfast in Him. While my entire life has been a training period to develop this skill, the level of training began to increase in 2005. That was when I finally had had enough of the way I had been living. It was when I stopped putting my trust in man and in the arm of the flesh and started putting it more in God. 

“O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.” ~2 Nephi 4:34

In the beginning of 2005 I began to write my prayers down and take my communication with Heavenly Father much more serious. I felt prompted to read a book called Drawing on the Powers of Heaven by Grant Von Harrison, which my mom had given me a few years earlier. Thanks to my mom and this author, I learned how to see my life as one goal achievement process after another. I learned how to use my prayers to work with God on each one of them. My daily prayers were official meetings with Him to which I needed to come prepared. These meetings took place in my prayer journal. I wrote my goals down and made them the topic of each of my prayers. I believed these goals were in sync with the things he wanted me to work towards. Here's the list I wrote down in May of 2005:

• Health: Get Well 
• Weight loss
• Mother: be a better mother, patient, loving, steady, wise spiritual instincts in every situation
• Writer/Teacher: finish my book, teach others what I've learned about nutrition and balance
• Marriage: Fall in love with my husband again

Then I wrote down all the things I promised to do on a daily basis that I knew Heavenly Father wanted me to do. These were things I had personal control over.

• Read scriptures (personal, w/husband, w/family)
• Read parenting book
• Pray (personal, w/husband, w/family)
• No yelling at kids or husband
• If I'm upset, leave the room
• Attend all meetings
• Act upon every spiritual prompting
• Make schedule, stick with it or revise
• Sleep for 7-9 hours
• Exercise--walks

These things became my commitments--my promises to God. His promise to me was to help me obtain my goals. 

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” ~Matthew 7:7

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.” ~D&C 6:14

Each day I would report on the commitments I kept. I would then write about the conflicts that came up in trying to keep them. I had questions about these conflicts so I wrote them down. In response, a scripture would come to my mind. Sometimes it was a song I knew or a story I had previously read. I realized he was answering me! And the method by which he was answering me was bringing things that I had read, heard, or seen in the past into my mind. So it was a good thing I had spent years reading the scriptures. He had a large volume of stories and key verses to choose from.

See another post on this topic: I Need To Communicate!

Whenever we repeat any process we become more efficient at it. It becomes an ability. A strength. So in the beginning of writing down my prayers, it took a little longer to receive the answers. And when they did come, it took me some time before I recognized them for what they were. More often than not he answered them through other people, their writings, teachings, conversations, and creations. As I continued this process, my faith increased incrementally. I was able to receive his answers much more quickly. In addition to the scriptures, songs, and stories, I started hearing answers straight in my thoughts--in an original idea or impression. I wrote them all down. So now he usually communicates what he's thinking through pure meaning almost like our minds are one. Then, when I write down what he 'thought to me' I use my own words to describe it.

“When it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance. That should not weaken our determination to record impressions of the Spirit. Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation.” ~Elder Richard G. Scott

See blog post: The Voice Inside My Head

Listen: When You Say Nothing At All by Alison Krauss

I began each prayer with, "Dear Heavenly Father..." and then continued with the rest of the prayer. In time I became more organized. We had an agenda for each meeting and it was important for me to stick to it as much as possible. 

I formed a new relationship with God, a closer one. It was more personal than it had been before. It was like he was committing to accept me into his family as one of his children. He would play the father role to me and I would play the child role even though I was almost 36 years old and married with 4 kids.

He is there for all of us no matter how old we are. He is our Redeemer. That means that he can make us whole even if other relationships have left us feeling alone, unable, and worthless. He will be our Father, our Friend, our Family.

“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;” ~Mosiah 27:25

Listen: "Born Again" by Newsboys