"Dashing Divas" Are Now An Official Team!

Thank you for signing up for 26.2 with Donna

The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer

This registration is for the race on February 21, 2010. 

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"Ours is not an endless hope - our hope is endless"

Well, there is no turning back now!  I officially registered today and paid my dues!  I had to fill out a questionnaire and they asked what my purpose for running was.  I answered to raise awareness for the cure.  But after I thought about it there is something more important I want to raise awareness of - HOPE.

I think holding on to HOPE is the most important ingredient in finding the cure.  HOPE IS the cure.  HOPE is expecting to get what we want and I believe it is from this fountain that all else flows.  HOPE is what kept me hanging on in the darkest of nights during my own journey through breast cancer - in the greatest of pain - in the most fearful moments - when I had no guarantees -  when I had no one but God who could help me. HOPE kept me alive.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes about hope:

I HOPE you never lose HOPE whatever battle you are fighting today!

Hope is a waking dream.

 

~ Aristotle ~

 

To the sick, while there is life there is hope.

 

~ Marcus T. Cicero ~

 

Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.

 

~ Abraham Cowley ~

 

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

 

~ Martin Luther King Jr. ~

 

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.

 

~ Barbara Kingsolver ~

 

He who does not hope to win has already lost.

 

~ Jose Joaquin Olmedo ~

 

Hope, the patent medicine for disease, disaster, sin.

 

~ Wallace Rice ~

 

He who has never hoped can never despair.

 

~ George Bernard Shaw ~

 

Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.

 

~ Samuel Smiles ~

I originally had planned to "race to the starting line" of the marathon by myself but several people have asked to join me on the journey.  I am very touched and excited to have company in my glorious quest!  So I am forming a team called "THE DASHING DIVAS" to trail in the footsteps of Donna Deegan for this heavenly cause!  Does anyone else want to join the team?  Remember - the goal is to GET TO THE STARTING LINE.  Any step beyond is a victory in my book!

I signed up for the half marathon which allows you to walk  (just as far as you can.)  My mission is to raise awareness and possibly donations for the cause.  I am in the process of putting together a gameplan for THE DASHING DIVAS team to come together for possible meetings, workouts, walks, and motivational sessions.  We OF COURSE need to design our team "uniforms" diva style that we will be wearing to compete.  I am also looking for "cheerleaders"  who can show up on marathon day for moral support and pep club duties!  The following divas are the first to express interest in joining me in the race:

1.  Kelly Black

2.  Elayne Mines

3.  Missy Losco

4.  Debi Rochford

5.  Helen Martin

Let me know if you would like to join the team!

I appreciate any prayers for "The Dashing Divas" and the marathon cause.  Let's put a little hope in our hearts.  We'll see you at the starting line!

Yours in HOPE,

Dashing Diva Rene

 

The Dashing Diva Has Arrived!

"Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"   Esther 4:14

Now I am really in gear because I "got my diva on" thanks to artist extraordinaire Stacy Aasved!  Stacy will be helping me document my "work in progress" as I go along.  Thank you Stacy!  Check out the rest of her creative genius at her website:

http://creepykidz.blogspot.com/

So what's a diva to do?  I think there is a "DIVA" in every woman.  Each of us is DARING - IMAGINATIVE - VIVACIOUS - AUTHENTIC.

We each have a sleeping DIVA inside us  waiting to be roused by the kiss of a prince!  Jesus is the "prince" of my life who whispers to my heart and soul.  He beckons me to shine my light.

He encourages me to be DARING.   I have been attending bible study classes with my daughter Scarlett each Monday night,  and we have been studying the Beth Moore series on the book of Esther.  Reading about this mighty queen renews my faith that I was born "for such a time as this!"  Last week the lesson addressed the issue of fear.  It really hit home as I made my first atttempts to DARE to believe I could actually participate in this marathon and follow in Donna Deegan's footsteps.

I realized that sometimes fear makes you take a few steps backwards.  I have done this over the last few weeks as I attempted to launch my mighty crusade.  But here is what I have learned.  The sneaky ole devil uses fear to paralyze us most often with what MIGHT happen - all the "what if's" of life.

• WHAT IF I can't make it to the even the starting line?
  
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• WHAT IF I can never eat my favorite foods again?

• WHAT IF I don't have enough faith to see me through?
  
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• WHAT IF my cancer comes back?
  
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• WHAT IF I lose everything?
  
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• WHAT IF I never change?
  
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• WHAT IF my heart never mends?
  
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• WHAT IF all my greatest fears come true?
  

Esther teaches us by example, when she issues the most powerful statement a DIVA can make in the face of any dire consequence - "If I perish, I perish."  When Esther says this she is telling God that no matter what the consequences of being courageous, she is trusting HIM to see her through.  She is hanging on to hope.  She is believing that her God is bigger than any problem she might have.

A DIVA uses her IMAGINATION to think on what God tells us to in Phillipians 4:8:

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable,

if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise,

think on these things."

I have created affirmations that I read aloud each day to imprint the truth on my subconscious from which all my actions will flow.  I also believe that our thoughts are electromagnetic forces and like attracts like from the universe.  I think this is what God tries to teach us in the bible when he tells us to "renew our minds."  Here is my morning "championship"prayer I pray each day" in addition to reciting various bible verses - especially Psalm 91.

DIVA CHAMPION PRAYER

With God all things are possible.  God is the source of endless possibilities and endless blessings.  God is good, very good perfection now.  With god, each day holds the promise of new achievements.  Every day is God's new opportunity.  Yesterday is over and done with.  Today is the first new day of God's blessings.

God is the perfect champion.  God is the perfect re-creator.  God is the perfect remodeler of my body.  God is the miracle maker.  God is the way, the truth, and the life.

I am created in the likeness and image of God, therefore, I respond to life's challenges as God would - by knowing the truth that sets me free and delighting in the discipline process necessary to remodel my body to perfection.

I therefore claim for myself, Rene Williams, the perfect body transformation to my ideal size, shape, and weight or better.  I now know that I AM restoring my body to its greatest potential and healing my relationship with myself.  I now heal and release all thoughts that interfere with this claim, whether known or unknown, conscious or unconscious.

My thoughts are now one with, the same as, and in tune with God's thought.  I invoke His Divine Presence to heal my limitations and negations of fear, rejection, sadness, limitation, confusion, lack of faith, lack of trust, resentment, anger, pain and frustration now.  These false beliefs are healed, forgiven and lifted into the light.

I AM enlightened.  I AM strengthened.  I AM forgiven.  I now welcome positive thoughts and emotions of love, self-acceptance, happiness, joy, unboundedness, clarity, faith, trust, forgiveness, wholeness, wisdom, healing and peace.

I thank You Lord that I am whole, complete, and free as you created me to be.

I now release this prayer fully and completely into God's hands knowing that God answers all prayer.  I decree it and it is so.

God wants us to be VIVACIOUS women.  We were born to be lively and spirited.  The dictionary also defines VIVACIOUS as "hard to kill."  Divas do not give up!  We Do It Victoriously Always!  We are tough cookies.  Tough times never last but tough cookies do.

Most of all Divas are AUTHENTIC.  We are honest and trustworthy.  We are REAL WOMEN.  Our souls magnify the Lord.  We understand our purpose in life is to shine the light of joy in the world for others to follow.  Donna Deegan has shined the light on my path,  inspiring me to pursue a glorious quest to conquer cancer one woman at a time.  If Donna can do it I can too.

I invite you to join us in the cause.  Get involved and make a difference by believing that anything is possible with God and a DIVA on a mission!  See you at the starting line!

Have a heavenly day.

Rene

Take These Buns and Shove It!

"A faithful man shall abound with blessings"  -  Proverbs 28:20

I am happy to report to you that I am starting to build up steam in my training program.  I am walking faithfully each day at least 3 miles.  I am getting a grip on healthy eating and have reduced my calorie intake.  My meals are mainly vegetables, protein and either grains or fruit.  I drink several protein drinks a day made with whey.  I take my vitamins, drink a green drink and drink plenty of water.  I have dropped a couple pounds and am starting to feel alot more energetic and clear headed.  I'm catching up Donna Deegan!  I can't wait to meet you at the starting line!

This past Sunday morning my girlfriend Debi and I headed to Jacksonville beach for a sunrise walk.  That day would have been my 34th wedding anniversary but God called my sweetheart home after a knock down-drag out battle with lung cancer that ended 7 months ago.  Debi and I made it to the beach just in time for a glorious sunrise with a picture-perfect sky.  Brilliant red clouds flanked the horizon as the sunlight peeked out from behind them.

Then suddenly as we strolled along, we looked to see a perfectly formed huge heart shaped hole right in the middle, with the sun shining through.  There was no "kinda looked like" to it.  It was a big beautiful heart.  Wonder who made that?  Then as we walked further we spotted a message in a bottle in the sand.  A folded piece of paper stuck out from a crack in the plastic bottle.  We couldn't resist.  We pulled it out and opened it.  There was the following hand printed poem written on the paper:

You Who Never Arrived

 

   You who never arrived

in my arms, Beloved, who were lost

from the start,

I don't even know what songs

would please you. I have given up trying

to recognize you in the surging wave of

the next moment. All the immense

images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt

landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and

unsuspected turns in the path,

and those powerful lands that were once

pulsing with the life of the gods--

all rise within me to mean

you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all

the gardens I have ever gazed at,

longing. An open window

in a country house-- , and you almost

stepped out, pensive, to meet me.

Streets that I chanced upon,--

you had just walked down them and vanished.

And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors

were still dizzy with your presence and,

startled, gave back my too-sudden image.

Who knows? Perhaps the same

bird

echoed through both of us

yesterday, separate, in the evening...

Rainer Maria Rilke 

Haunting huh?  What do you think are the chances of finding a heart in the clouds and a message in a bottle with a poem about someone not being able to find the one they love?  Two miracles in one day - the anniversary of the day our two hearts became one.  I know that Johnny knows I keep searching for him and wondering where he is now.  He knows I still wake up each morning with an expectant heart looking for him in the form of blue butterflies.  I know he is trotting beside me each moment while I train for a glorious quest.  He would want me to be victorious.

I count my victories every six months at Mayo Clinic when I report for my cancer check-ups.  My next one is coming up in a few weeks.  This year I am 5 years cancer-free.  Thank you Lord that I am healed.  The victory is always Yours.  Now onward and upward to resurrection and becoming who I was born to be.   The starting line is where I'm headed that leads to the next beautiful chapter of my life.

Have a heavenly day!

Rene