Over the past 12 weeks I have been gathering with a small group at Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church preparing for a 5K. The devotional is called Run For God. Each week they emphasized running YOUR race, and not anybody else’s, both physically and spiritually. When sitting down in the group setting this seemed very obvious to me and did not really move me until race day. I had convinced myself that I was going to keep up with my cousin completely taking what I had learned the past 12 weeks and threw it away. I did not want to look slow and out of shape. I wanted to keep up but why? To impress people? To convince myself? if so, of what? After lining up at the starting line I put my headphones in and pulled up my contemporary christian station on Pandora. Instead of listening to country or top 40’s I decided that the only way I was going to make it through this race was through Him. The first couple of songs that came on were so motivating I felt like they came on just to get me through this race. I was so touched and had so much joy that I just started to cry. They were not tears of pain but tears of joy and pure happiness. This was the point that I knew I had to run my race. I would be sharing this experience between myself and God. After passing the 2nd mile mark I prayed for God to get me though the last mile. To give me strength and perseverance to finish strong. About the time I was starting to wear thin and give up I saw my cousin coming back for me to finish it with me. I could not have asked for a more motivating experience than I had this past Saturday. I not only learned that I have to run my own race I truly felt God’s presence with me every step of the way. I am going to take this experience and apply what I have learned and felt with me on the World Race. Yes I will be going with 45 other people but this will be my Race. I am excited to see how my (F)amily, the F squad will help me grow and mature on my spiritual race but also how I help myself and learn from what God shows me.
