Preparation: Good dinner the night before to store up energy, a light breakfast in the morning to add to it. Let it digest then off to the field we go. Get acquainted with the course, then start the 15-minute workout. By this point adrenaline is just about in full effect, you’ll know when it’s truly maxed when you have to hit the pot to pop a squat.
Coming from letting it all loose, it’s time to hit the line. Excitement is at an all time high. Winning is the ultimate goal, but against 200 others, finishing is a success. For me, it had to be good, finishing last wasn’t an option.
Hit the line, the time has come, look over at coach and He says “I’ll see you at mile marker one”. Boom, there goes the gunshot and off we go, my focus is to get up in the ranks, so I’ll stay close to my goal.
Mile marker one coach says, “You’re doing great, keep your eyes ahead, I’ll see you at the end.”
I’m seven minutes in, it’s going quick, but in my body and my mind comes a shift. I can’t breathe and my body is hurting. I’m wondering what I’m even doing.
Here comes mile 2, the hardest part of the race to go through. I’ve been running too hard to turn back, but not hard enough to finish yet. Now, it becomes mind over matter. The body says we need a rest, but the mind says that it doesn’t matter. I want to push faster, but we still have two miles to go, so I decide to back off a bit and go a little slow. I adopt the mindset, “slow down if you must, but don’t quit”. I have to remind myself why I even started.
That’s where I am in life now. I prepared for this, I got excited and dropped all my shit. I went to the field, checked it out and got started. I went out with a bang and now I’m in the middle wondering where my fire went, wondering if what I thought, in the beginning, was all wrong.
Trust me I know the truth and the fact that I am even here is actually the proof. You see I learned this lesson before and I know that even though it hurts now, there is so much left in store.
I feel like I have slowed down, but I know I must not quit because I remember why I even started all of this. There is something God place inside me for a time such as this to point people in the direction of light because in a world filled with darkness, it gets hard to tell which way is right.
This is my story, but maybe I am speaking to you. Maybe you feel heavy and aren’t sure what to do. The answer is simple, get down on your knees and pray to the Father because even at moments like these He still sees. I know when things are hard, it sometimes gets hard to believe, to believe it will get better or that you will make it through this weather.
One thing I can say from experience is that even in times when you don’t know where God went, I can promise that He isn’t the one that walked away. All you have to do is turn back to Him and He will take those burdens away. I didn’t say it was easy, I know it isn’t, trust and believe me.
It can be hard to push through mile two, but in mile three the fire returns and you begin to run free. The pace picks back up and the finish line becomes easier to see. There goes coach again, “I’m proud of you kid, now bring it in”. There goes my focus again. I see girls in front of me but I’m running for the one in the front. I might not make it to her before she passes the line, but I passed up the few between me and her in the meantime.
Don’t just run to the finish, push through it.
It’s at the end that you find it was worth all of it. So keep running and slow down if you must, but whatever you do, don’t give up!
Contact: [email protected]
SUBSCRIBE at www.tattedtestimony.com
Helpful Scriptures:
Romans 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Galatians 5:7 “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?”
James 1:12 “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”
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.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”
Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
