We recently got an email from one of our cousins that we had been talking finances with that expressed their thankfulness for getting them back on track with their budget.  Oh wow, I didn’t know we had that much of an impact on them.

Then I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine that she wouldn’t be running had it not been for me. Woah. Talk about a compliment.

The power of living a life exposed for the world to see. You never know who is watching.

You see, I want to live a life that is pleasing and gives honor to our Heavenly Father. I want to live my life outwardly for all too see. That is why I am, we are, so transparent. I want you to see all my highs and all my lows. We have made plenty of mistakes along the way. We have also made some really good choices along the way.

So when I received those compliments, I thought to myself, this, this is why I live my life in a  transparent manner. Can you imagine someone doing something only because of you? It still blows my mind. If you don’t know, I became a runner as a coping mechanism for not being able to have our own children. It was my escape from reality. Fast forward almost 10 years and it is still my escape. It has become part of me and I part of it.  Then when someone thanks you and says that they would not have started running because of you. It blows your mind. Especially when, this friend, she is someone I have never met before.

Well, not until a few weeks ago. We met through a mutual friend online in an accountability group right around Thanksgiving time a few years back! You know the type of person that you meet and you instantly think, I want to be friends with her. Well, that is my Morgan! The person you meet and you instantly think, I hope she wants to be my friend because I really like her! The more we talked and the more groups we did together, the more I discovered we had in common. We were part of a fitness and healthy eating accountability group, so she knew I loved to run. Then, one day, I get a marco polo from her that she is running. What?! How did this happen? Crazy right. She commented all the time about how she did not like running and she wished she would run like me. I didn’t think she would ever become a runner. More or less become the one who would inspire me to get back to running more. She runs more than I do these days!

Then just a few short weeks ago we met in person. Y’all. I can’t tell you how happy we are that we met her and her husband. My husband and her husband hung out while we ran 13.1 miles around Minnesota. They cheered for us. They created long term plans for us. They bonded over their mutual dislike for running but would do it for their wives. We didn’t want to leave our new friends to head home later that day. In fact, we have been making plans to go back very soon!

It is in moments like this that I really realize God is bigger than anything we could imagine. How can he bring two people together, randomly from two different states and form a friendship? Over fitness. Makes me so incredibly happy and blessed.

Then, can you imagine someone saying thank you for helping them with their budget and how thankful they were that they got back on track and how much it helped them. Money is hard for a lot of people to talk about. Luckily for my husband and I we have never had an issue talking about money. We also want to share our passion for creating budgets, excel spreadsheets and numbers with everyone around us. It has become a calling for the both of us. But when someone expresses their thankfulness for it, it overwhelms you. It makes my heart want to explode!

My point. Live your life exposed. I know it sounds hard and scary, but someone might need to hear or see it to change their life. Be that person, even if for only one person, you will make a difference.  Thanks for being my one Morgan!