We must not go through life aimlessly either. Our purpose on this earth is to do our part in promoting the Kingdom of God. We are not here to build up wealth and friends, as useful as we might find them at the moment. Much like in my training, we need to reorient our focus on the end goal, which is eternal life. Once we remind ourselves that heaven is our goal, we will look at how we go about our lives in a new fashion. Instead of merely speaking to people in passing, we should do our best to get to know them and connect with them because one never knows who is searching for a friend in life. We can all use encouragement, and there is no better encouragement than the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If we are able to encourage others with this Good News and build a strong relationship with God through loving Jesus, then we have fulfilled our earthly purpose and maintained our spot in heaven.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Discipline and Focus
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 states, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." After reading this passage. it struck me that I was spending too much time aimlessly running instead of focusing on my actual goal for the marathon. My hope is that I complete it in under 4 hours, but I have not put in much time thinking over how I might accomplish this feat. After consulting my father, he reminded me to not go out too fast and to build up my core strength, along with my shoulder strength. His advice gave me areas to put extra effort into so that I am as prepared as I possibly can be on race day. This means I will need to discipline myself so that I can maintain an exercise routine that includes both running and strength training.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Teetering on the Verge of Despair
Proverbs 16:18 ~ "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." This particular verse came up at a Bible study I was at last night. The group was finishing up 1 Samuel and discussing King Saul and how his pride got in the way of trusting God. We also discussed how pride is actually the center of all sin and even depression. I found this to be an interesting perspective because one tends to think that depression stems from a lack of confidence, but it can actually come from thinking to highly of oneself. Discussion also swirled around whether we can truly be happy for another's success, which happened to be an idea I had been considering on my drive down to Bible study.
As a runner, you always strive to achieve certain goals and when you feel them slipping out of reach while other runners achieve them, you find yourself partly wishing that it was you in the midst of the excitement and but still finding the ability to be happy for their accomplishments. The root of that temporary hope for the focus to be shifted onto oneself is pride, whether we want to admit to it or not. Nobody ever wants to admit to being prideful, but it happens to everybody because it is in our sin nature. Romans 7:19 says, "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." Understandably, we want to do that which is good, but we must overcome our sin nature, which means that we must defeat Satan so that he does not control our minds and actions.
I had a very intense struggle on my run this morning with Satan, and I hate to admit that he got the better of me. Instead of trusting God to take care of me, I had taken a step back to my old ways and was relying on my own abilities to get me through to the end. This led to me feeling utterly defeated over the course of the 10 miles on a frigid run with my professor. To make matters worse, my health was still on the mend from my fever on Thursday and I was super congested, making breathing the cold air extremely difficult. Couple that with legs that did not feel like they had any sense of the word "turnover" and I was left teetering on the verge of despair and questioning whether running a marathon on May 15th was even going to be possible. I trudged along the entire way and finished in 1 hour and 30 minutes; the most miserable 90 minutes I have had in a very long time.
After my run, I had many things going through my head. I talked out these feelings with my brother, roommate, and training partners and they all came to the same conclusion. I should focus on the fact that I was able to finish a 10 mile run after not being healthy all week and not running in 6 days. As much as I really wanted to wallow in my own self pity, I knew that they were right. And I was able to think back to short periods in the run where I felt okay, and that was when I had lyrics from the Kutless song "It is Well" going through my head.
I do believe that today was a necessary learning experience. It was positive in the sense that I know I can still run even while I am recovery from a bad cold. That also reminds me that I need to fully recover my health and that it is important to be able to breathe to make running easier. I also need to not focus on past accomplishments and how easy running used to and not let my pride lead me down the road of depression. I am very thankful that I was able to avoid tumbling down into that dark abyss, and I would like to keep it that way. I just have to take it one day at a time and leave the negative from today behind so that I do not ruin my mindset for the rest of the week and future training sessions. I plan on working on building a stronger relationship with God and desperately trying to remind myself that He is the one that I need to turn to, and it is human to forget such a concept.
I am going to leave you with a passage that I opened to in the book "Pure Gold". The words are originally from an old hymnal, but they were very fitting and comforting.
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
As a runner, you always strive to achieve certain goals and when you feel them slipping out of reach while other runners achieve them, you find yourself partly wishing that it was you in the midst of the excitement and but still finding the ability to be happy for their accomplishments. The root of that temporary hope for the focus to be shifted onto oneself is pride, whether we want to admit to it or not. Nobody ever wants to admit to being prideful, but it happens to everybody because it is in our sin nature. Romans 7:19 says, "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." Understandably, we want to do that which is good, but we must overcome our sin nature, which means that we must defeat Satan so that he does not control our minds and actions.
I had a very intense struggle on my run this morning with Satan, and I hate to admit that he got the better of me. Instead of trusting God to take care of me, I had taken a step back to my old ways and was relying on my own abilities to get me through to the end. This led to me feeling utterly defeated over the course of the 10 miles on a frigid run with my professor. To make matters worse, my health was still on the mend from my fever on Thursday and I was super congested, making breathing the cold air extremely difficult. Couple that with legs that did not feel like they had any sense of the word "turnover" and I was left teetering on the verge of despair and questioning whether running a marathon on May 15th was even going to be possible. I trudged along the entire way and finished in 1 hour and 30 minutes; the most miserable 90 minutes I have had in a very long time.
After my run, I had many things going through my head. I talked out these feelings with my brother, roommate, and training partners and they all came to the same conclusion. I should focus on the fact that I was able to finish a 10 mile run after not being healthy all week and not running in 6 days. As much as I really wanted to wallow in my own self pity, I knew that they were right. And I was able to think back to short periods in the run where I felt okay, and that was when I had lyrics from the Kutless song "It is Well" going through my head.
I do believe that today was a necessary learning experience. It was positive in the sense that I know I can still run even while I am recovery from a bad cold. That also reminds me that I need to fully recover my health and that it is important to be able to breathe to make running easier. I also need to not focus on past accomplishments and how easy running used to and not let my pride lead me down the road of depression. I am very thankful that I was able to avoid tumbling down into that dark abyss, and I would like to keep it that way. I just have to take it one day at a time and leave the negative from today behind so that I do not ruin my mindset for the rest of the week and future training sessions. I plan on working on building a stronger relationship with God and desperately trying to remind myself that He is the one that I need to turn to, and it is human to forget such a concept.
I am going to leave you with a passage that I opened to in the book "Pure Gold". The words are originally from an old hymnal, but they were very fitting and comforting.
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Stumbling Blocks or Building Blocks?
Each person in life combats their own personal demons everyday. It makes it hard sometimes to get through the day because you feel like nobody can relate to what you are going through. I was reminded of this at a youth event at a church last night. The event was called "I'm screwed up; you're screwed up." It was nice to be confronted with the realization that we all have troubles in this world and that we are not alone. Numerous people deal with similar situations and can be a wealth of knowledge if you ever come across those individuals, and of course Jesus can relate to any and every kind of suffering here on Earth because He has experienced it.
When it comes to life and running, I must admit that my biggest obstacle is my own mind. For those who know me well, this doesn't come as any big surprise. For the rest who know me in passing, this may not be as apparent. In all honesty, each and everyday I personally struggle with some form of confidence issue, anxiety, or depression depending on the season and what the day brings forth. Like many, I am slightly ashamed to admit to these struggles, but I have slowly come to accept them as part of who I am and my hope is to be able to help others around me who have similar issues. But it is because of these mental struggles that I may appear anxious, distracted, quiet, or my words come out as a mumble. In recent months, I have been trying to force myself out of my comfort zone in order to defeat my inner demons. If I sense the stirrings of a round of depression, I force myself to socialize with people because I know that isolation is the worst idea in such a situation. I am also rebuilding my confidence in the area of running by signing up for the Delaware Marathon and am currently 8 weeks away from race day. My hope is to put the doubt out of my mind that I can finish the marathon since I dropped out at mile 22 of the Harrisburg Marathon in November 2007.
A verse from the youth event got me thinking that I can use my own struggles in running to help others. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, "Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Pondering this verse, I realized that my own doubts when it comes to the marathon and my experience of completing and marathon and dropping out of one could be used to help others who are struggling with doubt. I understand the many aspects of training and how one should feel leading up to race day, so I can utilize this knowledge God has blessed me with to help calm to anxiety of fellow runners. I have had to overcome my own anxiety, doubt, and confidence issues in the realm of running and God has comforted me whenever I have stumbled. I believe that He wants me to be an ear for other runners who also voice doubts so that I can try and provide comfort after understanding where they are at in their own training and mentality.
Instead of viewing my mental battles as stumbling blocks, I believe I should view them as building blocks for relationships with other runners. Without these hardships, I would not be the person or runner that I am today and it is foolish to try and outrun who I am because the Father rendered me into a unique being and He makes no mistakes. Proverbs 27:17 states, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I take this to mean that those of similar character, striving towards similar goals, and struggling with similar issues can help build each other up and strengthen the other's overall outlook and confidence due to shared understanding. This is why it is so important to be honest about who we are inside because you never know if the person next to you is dealing with a similar situation and can provide comfort and encouragement to get you through the day. In the same fashion, always be willing to listen to others and provide counsel because you never know who needs their faith bolstered.
When it comes to life and running, I must admit that my biggest obstacle is my own mind. For those who know me well, this doesn't come as any big surprise. For the rest who know me in passing, this may not be as apparent. In all honesty, each and everyday I personally struggle with some form of confidence issue, anxiety, or depression depending on the season and what the day brings forth. Like many, I am slightly ashamed to admit to these struggles, but I have slowly come to accept them as part of who I am and my hope is to be able to help others around me who have similar issues. But it is because of these mental struggles that I may appear anxious, distracted, quiet, or my words come out as a mumble. In recent months, I have been trying to force myself out of my comfort zone in order to defeat my inner demons. If I sense the stirrings of a round of depression, I force myself to socialize with people because I know that isolation is the worst idea in such a situation. I am also rebuilding my confidence in the area of running by signing up for the Delaware Marathon and am currently 8 weeks away from race day. My hope is to put the doubt out of my mind that I can finish the marathon since I dropped out at mile 22 of the Harrisburg Marathon in November 2007.
A verse from the youth event got me thinking that I can use my own struggles in running to help others. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, "Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Pondering this verse, I realized that my own doubts when it comes to the marathon and my experience of completing and marathon and dropping out of one could be used to help others who are struggling with doubt. I understand the many aspects of training and how one should feel leading up to race day, so I can utilize this knowledge God has blessed me with to help calm to anxiety of fellow runners. I have had to overcome my own anxiety, doubt, and confidence issues in the realm of running and God has comforted me whenever I have stumbled. I believe that He wants me to be an ear for other runners who also voice doubts so that I can try and provide comfort after understanding where they are at in their own training and mentality.
Instead of viewing my mental battles as stumbling blocks, I believe I should view them as building blocks for relationships with other runners. Without these hardships, I would not be the person or runner that I am today and it is foolish to try and outrun who I am because the Father rendered me into a unique being and He makes no mistakes. Proverbs 27:17 states, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I take this to mean that those of similar character, striving towards similar goals, and struggling with similar issues can help build each other up and strengthen the other's overall outlook and confidence due to shared understanding. This is why it is so important to be honest about who we are inside because you never know if the person next to you is dealing with a similar situation and can provide comfort and encouragement to get you through the day. In the same fashion, always be willing to listen to others and provide counsel because you never know who needs their faith bolstered.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Running to Regain Composure
Unfortunately I let my mind get the better of me today. There was a situation in my life that I thought I was okay with until I really began to think about it. And for those who know me well, you know that me and thinking are never a good match. I have this tendency to over-think, which of course leads to me being overly stressed. In this particular instance, I knew that it was a waste of my energy, but my mind was hooked on the principle of the situation, not necessarily the situation itself. Without delving into much detail, it involves a distant relative who, for uncertain reasons, has decided to stop communicating with me and my family. Given the fact that I was never particularly close with this relative, one would think no big deal. But given my brain's track record for questioning, I got to the point where I was extremely bothered on principle.
I would like to say that I was able to rest in the Lord through prayer, but that would be a lie. We all have our shortcomings, and allowing myself to become stressed over something insignificant happens to be one of my many shortcomings. Luckily God finds subtle ways to provide an outlet for my stress and anger. A friend of mine at school happened to stop me in the lobby of the fieldhouse to chat and he happened to notice that I appeared stressed and asked me to talk about the situation. He patiently listened as I awkwardly explained what was bothering me and then he suggested that we go for a run. At first I wasn't all about it because I was congested, but I eventually decided to take him up on the offer after I saw another friend of mine going out for a run as well. I am very thankful that this opportunity came along because that run was just what I needed. I took out all of my anger and frustration out on the short 2.5 mile loop that I decided upon.
Once back at school, I thanked my friend for running because it was just what I needed. I believe God knew this and provided me with someone who was concerned about my mental health to get me to refocus my attention. I talked with one other person about it and she told me flat out that it was useless and wasted stress by thinking on the situation, and I had to agree. I was very glad to find two people in my day to care enough to let me talk out my issues and give me the outlet of running.
I will leave you with a verse from the book of Psalm. Psalm 37:8 reads, "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil." My goal is to keep this verse in the front of my mind so that I continue to refrain from anger and not fret over unchangeable situations. I will do my best to remember that God is sovereign and keep Satan from taking over my thoughts.
I would like to say that I was able to rest in the Lord through prayer, but that would be a lie. We all have our shortcomings, and allowing myself to become stressed over something insignificant happens to be one of my many shortcomings. Luckily God finds subtle ways to provide an outlet for my stress and anger. A friend of mine at school happened to stop me in the lobby of the fieldhouse to chat and he happened to notice that I appeared stressed and asked me to talk about the situation. He patiently listened as I awkwardly explained what was bothering me and then he suggested that we go for a run. At first I wasn't all about it because I was congested, but I eventually decided to take him up on the offer after I saw another friend of mine going out for a run as well. I am very thankful that this opportunity came along because that run was just what I needed. I took out all of my anger and frustration out on the short 2.5 mile loop that I decided upon.
Once back at school, I thanked my friend for running because it was just what I needed. I believe God knew this and provided me with someone who was concerned about my mental health to get me to refocus my attention. I talked with one other person about it and she told me flat out that it was useless and wasted stress by thinking on the situation, and I had to agree. I was very glad to find two people in my day to care enough to let me talk out my issues and give me the outlet of running.
I will leave you with a verse from the book of Psalm. Psalm 37:8 reads, "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil." My goal is to keep this verse in the front of my mind so that I continue to refrain from anger and not fret over unchangeable situations. I will do my best to remember that God is sovereign and keep Satan from taking over my thoughts.
Monday, March 14, 2011
God is the Rock
Before my long run on Saturday, I opened up my Heart of an Athlete devotional to a passage entitled "Lean on Me." The verse highlighted was Isaiah 26:4, which says, "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal." I believe I was meant to read this before my run because I needed to remind myself that God is there for me to lean on in times of struggle, which is how I felt for my 11.5 miler.
I started out with a spring in my step, but only after about 1.5 miles my quads began aching due to the pace that was set. This was to be expected of course being as I was training with a running maniac and a gazelle (I use these as terms of endearment because I view them both as blessings in my life). Satan of course was hinting that I should give up, but I remembered the verse from Isaiah and kept pressing on even as the distance between myself and the other two expanded. The lyrics from the song "Lean on Me" floated across my brain as another subliminal reference to God being my Rock while I was in a tough spot. We kept trekking farther and farther from town to the point that I knew I really couldn't turn back. All that time I had this constant internal battle with Satan and tried my hardest to remember to just trust in my God given abilities.
At Gatorade stops, my two partners in crazy distance running waited for me to catch up, but I was thankful that they continued at their own pace so that I did not sense that I was being a burden. I was just happy to be out doing the run and realizing that I could do it by pushing myself being as I was lagging so far behind that I hardly saw the other two. Once we reached a spot called Hickory Valley, I could finally sense that the burden of running was slowly being lifted off of me. Sure my quads ached, but I actually felt like I was enjoying myself. It was a beautiful sunny morning and perfect running weather. I then began thinking about the latest Josh Wilson song called "I Refuse", which is all about listening to our calling from God and not making anymore excuses. When it comes down to it, I feel that my running is one thing that I have been making excuses about and refusing to do in a way. Instead of somehow being an inspiration to others by choosing to run for extended periods of time, I was choosing to determine I was too tired to even bother and leaving it up to someone else. But this long run after having a cold reminded me that I can do anything with God as my Rock and that I should not refuse my calling and actually perform the work of God through my running.
As I finally got closer to town again, I saw my professor waiting for me. She ran the last mile with me, which definitely helped, though I knew that God would be the one to get me up the last hill. What was nice to hear was how she felt I was mentally tough and able to conquer a variety of distances on varying terrains. Hopefully the Holy Spirit will continue to shine through me so that others notice the source of my abilities.
I started out with a spring in my step, but only after about 1.5 miles my quads began aching due to the pace that was set. This was to be expected of course being as I was training with a running maniac and a gazelle (I use these as terms of endearment because I view them both as blessings in my life). Satan of course was hinting that I should give up, but I remembered the verse from Isaiah and kept pressing on even as the distance between myself and the other two expanded. The lyrics from the song "Lean on Me" floated across my brain as another subliminal reference to God being my Rock while I was in a tough spot. We kept trekking farther and farther from town to the point that I knew I really couldn't turn back. All that time I had this constant internal battle with Satan and tried my hardest to remember to just trust in my God given abilities.
At Gatorade stops, my two partners in crazy distance running waited for me to catch up, but I was thankful that they continued at their own pace so that I did not sense that I was being a burden. I was just happy to be out doing the run and realizing that I could do it by pushing myself being as I was lagging so far behind that I hardly saw the other two. Once we reached a spot called Hickory Valley, I could finally sense that the burden of running was slowly being lifted off of me. Sure my quads ached, but I actually felt like I was enjoying myself. It was a beautiful sunny morning and perfect running weather. I then began thinking about the latest Josh Wilson song called "I Refuse", which is all about listening to our calling from God and not making anymore excuses. When it comes down to it, I feel that my running is one thing that I have been making excuses about and refusing to do in a way. Instead of somehow being an inspiration to others by choosing to run for extended periods of time, I was choosing to determine I was too tired to even bother and leaving it up to someone else. But this long run after having a cold reminded me that I can do anything with God as my Rock and that I should not refuse my calling and actually perform the work of God through my running.
As I finally got closer to town again, I saw my professor waiting for me. She ran the last mile with me, which definitely helped, though I knew that God would be the one to get me up the last hill. What was nice to hear was how she felt I was mentally tough and able to conquer a variety of distances on varying terrains. Hopefully the Holy Spirit will continue to shine through me so that others notice the source of my abilities.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A Reminder from Romans
Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Some choose to misconstrue this verse and assume that God only provides good things in our lives. This of course is not true. As a whole, all events and struggles work together towards good, but that does not mean that we will escape hardship.
I have been doing my best to remain focused on this verse this week because I currently have a cold. Some may think that this isn't a big deal and in the grand scheme of things, it isn't. But when training for a marathon, it tends to put a damper on routine training. Instead of being able to use my week of spring break to get myself on a running schedule, I have spent the majority of my time in a Sudafed induced stupor in my desperate attempt to get healthy. I was able to run a mile on Tuesday and then yesterday I ran for an hour, though I felt very winded with legs of pure lead. Truthfully, it is very frustrating to deal with, but I keep trying to remember that there must be a reason for this head cold. I may never know what that reason is, but possibly it is God's way of reminding me early that I must care for my body as I get closer to race day and also teaching me to persevere in times of poor health. I have another long run with both of my training partners on Saturday and I am more than a little uneasy about whether or not I will end up holding them back. The only solution is to lean on God, even when my gut reaction is to lose faith in my own abilities and get paranoid that I am letting somebody down in the process. All the more reason to pray as this is proof that I myself am still dealing with some inner demons and trust issues that God must want me to rest and meditate on. So I will continue to remember the words within Romans and understand that a minor head cold will in the end be beneficial to my life, though only God knows the reason why and I must relinquish control and be okay with that fact.
I have been doing my best to remain focused on this verse this week because I currently have a cold. Some may think that this isn't a big deal and in the grand scheme of things, it isn't. But when training for a marathon, it tends to put a damper on routine training. Instead of being able to use my week of spring break to get myself on a running schedule, I have spent the majority of my time in a Sudafed induced stupor in my desperate attempt to get healthy. I was able to run a mile on Tuesday and then yesterday I ran for an hour, though I felt very winded with legs of pure lead. Truthfully, it is very frustrating to deal with, but I keep trying to remember that there must be a reason for this head cold. I may never know what that reason is, but possibly it is God's way of reminding me early that I must care for my body as I get closer to race day and also teaching me to persevere in times of poor health. I have another long run with both of my training partners on Saturday and I am more than a little uneasy about whether or not I will end up holding them back. The only solution is to lean on God, even when my gut reaction is to lose faith in my own abilities and get paranoid that I am letting somebody down in the process. All the more reason to pray as this is proof that I myself am still dealing with some inner demons and trust issues that God must want me to rest and meditate on. So I will continue to remember the words within Romans and understand that a minor head cold will in the end be beneficial to my life, though only God knows the reason why and I must relinquish control and be okay with that fact.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Praying for Others in the Moment
Prayer is a very important piece of the Christian lifestyle. This varies from person to person. Some pray in the morning, others at night, and still others during breaks throughout the day. Also, these prayers take all manner of focus, and as much as we try, this focus tends to be on our own personal desires. Sure we might, at the last minute, remember a prayer request and include that throughout our prayers. Yesterday, though, I discovered how refreshing it is to pray for someone in the moment that I assumed that person was struggling, and in my mind, it was a prayer answered.
Early yesterday morning, one of my training partners set out for a 22 mile run. The plan was that I meet her around mile 15 so that she had the support for the last portion where it was most likely that she could hit the proverbial wall. When I first met her along the route, she was running strong and my main concern was whether I would be a burden by not being able to keep up the pace. Once we ran another 4 miles, though, I began to note slight changes in her posture and the intense concentration on her face. We had maybe 2 miles left with a brutal hill to finish a run of that length. I knew that I could not focus on my own abilities, but was there as a support system and the only thing that came to mind was to pray, and that is exactly what I did. I prayed first that God would ease the burden of heavy and weakened legs. This was to mirror the words within Isaiah 40:31 "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." The focus of my prayers were also that the Lord envelop her with the Holy Spirit in order to lift the heavy burden of the hills off her shoulders as we finished up at the university. After 5 minutes of relatively consistent prayer, we were literally booking it to the finish of the route that was mapped out. It was an exhausting push to the end, but my legs felt light and in my heart, I knew that God had heard my cries to watch over my training partner and help her remain determined to finish strong. It was so rewarding in my mind to again be reminded that God's presence is always constant and that it is even more important to remember our companions within our prayers so they too can be surrounded by Him.
Early yesterday morning, one of my training partners set out for a 22 mile run. The plan was that I meet her around mile 15 so that she had the support for the last portion where it was most likely that she could hit the proverbial wall. When I first met her along the route, she was running strong and my main concern was whether I would be a burden by not being able to keep up the pace. Once we ran another 4 miles, though, I began to note slight changes in her posture and the intense concentration on her face. We had maybe 2 miles left with a brutal hill to finish a run of that length. I knew that I could not focus on my own abilities, but was there as a support system and the only thing that came to mind was to pray, and that is exactly what I did. I prayed first that God would ease the burden of heavy and weakened legs. This was to mirror the words within Isaiah 40:31 "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." The focus of my prayers were also that the Lord envelop her with the Holy Spirit in order to lift the heavy burden of the hills off her shoulders as we finished up at the university. After 5 minutes of relatively consistent prayer, we were literally booking it to the finish of the route that was mapped out. It was an exhausting push to the end, but my legs felt light and in my heart, I knew that God had heard my cries to watch over my training partner and help her remain determined to finish strong. It was so rewarding in my mind to again be reminded that God's presence is always constant and that it is even more important to remember our companions within our prayers so they too can be surrounded by Him.
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