When I was 21 I decided I wanted to begin training for a body building competition. My mom participated in one when she was in her early 30’s and I remembered how hard she worked and how great she felt when she accomplished her goal at the end. During the 12 month transformation of lifestyle, dietary, and eating habits, a lot was going on in my personal life that challenged me in more ways than one. I was working full time,taking 15 units at a community college, and tried to manage a personal life. This commitment I had made to compete in this event required a lot of sacrifice and I had to often question why I was putting myself through such discipline. If it was torture, why was it worth it? What made eating on a diet regimen or working out multiple times so miserable? Werethe sacrifices I was making something I wasn’t ready for? I would spend days crying and worrying about whether it was allgoing to be worth it or whether I was going to accomplish my goal at all. It wasn’t until one day my mom seriously asked me, “Breanna,if this is making you miserable why do you do it? What is it youare striving for?” She told me to think about it long and hard, let it simmer in my soul, and next time I felt defeated and can’t go on remember my “Why”. From that day forward I reminded myself my why was not to win the competition, or be sponsored by a nutrition company and make it big in the body building world. No, in fact my why was personal. I chose this goal because I knew I had the to prove to myself that I had the strength and I could do anything I put my mind to. Amongst chaos around me I had a fire burning within me that wanted nothing more than to say every day that I did my absolute best and never gave up. Once it was time for my show, I knew in my heart I was ready regardless of the outcome. I then placed fourth in a very tough competition and was so elated with how I had done.
The reason I am telling this story is because often times we are faced with challenges in our lives where we think we can’t go on, that God has left us, or we have nothing left to give. But I am here to tell you what you may already know, we are wrong. God never leaves us. He empowers us when we are weak. When we didn’t even ask for it, he designed us knowing our capacity to persevere even in our hardest times. I am often pleasantly surprised by the strength he gives us when weare following his will, his path for us. So with all of this being said, what is my why for participating in the World Race? Why am I doing this? For those that don’t know me very well I will tell you that growing up my heart for people has grown larger and larger. One Christmas I asked “Santa” to stop world hunger, but because that is a seemingly impossible feat for a 12 year old, “Santa” made a generous contribution to help those in need. I have tried to carry that same hope as I grow older, but now it is time to follow through with action. I want to help people in a way that is bigger than money, whatmoney can buy, and what standards society has placed on people. I am not only going on the race to bring glory to God’s kingdom helping wherever is needed, but also to show people there is so much more to life than their circumstances. That they can be happy and have joy with what they have, but that they deserve more. They are just as beautifully and wonderfully made as anyone else here on earth, they have a purpose, and they are loved by an almighty and powerful God. It is not my job to save people, that’s Jesus, but I can help guide them to finding out their ‘Why’ along the way.
