Last night at sunset, I went for a run with Jess and Jordan. We are back at the farm, so there and back on their dirt road driveway is a total of one mile, a half mile uphill and a half downhill. During our second time running uphill, the only thing motivating me was that I would soon be running at a decline. This reminded me a bit of our journey in life- the uphill made the run a good one, just as trials are what shape us as people. I would not have been sweaty and tired in the same way at the end if the entire 3 miles was downhill. It would have been a breeze, but it also would not have had the same effect on my body. If our entire lives were super easy and had no difficulties, we would not be the people that God has worked on us to be. But also, there is a little less comforting truth, in the running situation, I could tell myself that I had .3 miles left until the easy part, but in life, there is no finish line to our trials. God remains our comfort throughout, but we don’t know when we will “turn around” and things will get easy, and we also don’t know at what point we will see the fruits of the difficult run. These are just some quick thoughts that I had while running, but I want to leave y’all with a verse that this reminds me of: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” -Romans 5:3-5
Running uphill and choosing to continue running when it becomes painful are what build your physical endurance. So emotional trials and continuing to follow God in times of suffering likewise build your emotional endurance, and thus your character.
