In the last couple weeks I have started a training schedule to get my body in shape for The World Race. I am quickly learning that running is HARD! Physically, it’s hard, in fact, it HURTS especially in the beginning. It takes time and energy to train your body to be a good runner and to get into shape. As hard as running is physically, it is EVEN TOUGHER mentally! 
I have realized that while I am running, the mental battle going on inside of me is often worse than the physical pain I am feeling. I have to keep telling myself over and over, “Breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose…in through your mouth, out through your nose…You can do this, you can do this…You’re not gonna die, keep running…just a little bit farther…” Not only that, but for as long as I can remember I have listened to the lie that I can’t run….listened to other people telling me I can’t do things. Then, all of a sudden I start doing it and begin telling myself, “Yes!!! You can do it!!!” And thus begins the mental battle in my head.
I have realized that while I am running, the mental battle going on inside of me is often worse than the physical pain I am feeling. I have to keep telling myself over and over, “Breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose…in through your mouth, out through your nose…You can do this, you can do this…You’re not gonna die, keep running…just a little bit farther…” Not only that, but for as long as I can remember I have listened to the lie that I can’t run….listened to other people telling me I can’t do things. Then, all of a sudden I start doing it and begin telling myself, “Yes!!! You can do it!!!” And thus begins the mental battle in my head. The other day when I was running, I thought to myself, “Running is a lot like life.” So, naturally I thought about this for a while. What happens when you are running and it starts to get hard? The road starts gradually getting rougher, potholes, rocks, and roots, seem to jump out at you trying to trip up your every step; sometimes it rains, sometimes it’s unbearably hot. And before you know it, you find yourself struggling to run each step…asking yourself why on earth are you doing this in the first place? Sometimes every breath can be a struggle….making you ask, “Why don’t I just quit…it would be so much easier to just stop…why press on?” Running is like life….are you going to throw in the towel just because it hurts? Are you gonna call it quits just because the road has suddenly become steep, narrow, and difficult? OR…are you going to press on, knowing that you AREN’T gonna die, that things will eventually be ok!?
The other day as I was running, the pain in my shins was almost unbearable…it consumed my every thought. As I was in that moment, I began to pray, “Lord, give me your spirit of strength and endurance….Lord, this really hurts right now but I don’t want to quit…please help me!” And then the Lord spoke these words to me:
“Bev, I know what you are feeling. I know what it is like to feel physical pain. Take the pain you are feeling in your legs and multiply it by about 10,000, and that is the pain I felt on that day. Unbearable pain….a crown of thorns pushing into my brow, a body so broken, bruised, and beaten it was hardly recognizable, the weight of the World on my shoulders….I’ve been there. But Bev, if I had to do it again, I would…the pain was worth it. The pain was for YOU, because I love you…”
“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.” Hebrews 12:1
