This weekend I accomplished a over two year goal with my beautiful friend Laura.
(we have been friends since were are children!, just kidding only 3 years)
She is my running friend. It is because of her I pushed myself to run more than 3 miles, because I seriouslly believed my body physically could not, but she said I could and she was right! A year later, we signed up for my first half marathon!
She and I have been talking about doing a triathlon together since the spring of 2010. We had been biking all year together, running some together and had just started swimming together. For such a long time it was only a dream. This past May, Laura graduated and today is moving out of the state for a job!! Then come January I will be leaving and who knows when we would have mutual time and when I will be able to have time to train again. So we decided it was time, we had to do it!
Race Day!!
Before the race I was praying and asked the Lord for His strength. Then suddenly a foolish prideful thought came to my mind saying "I dont want to have to rely on Your strength, I want to be strong enough on my own. I have trained for this, I can do it". That was the end of that, no room or need to correct my thought.
The first leg of a triathlon is the swim. The weather was much warmer than I anticipated and I was so glad. I should give the Lord thanks, because all week I prayed for warm weather! We were wading in the water about to begin while rain was falling on us,and the gun was sounded. As I was putting my head in the water I realized my goggles were on my forehead, so I paused to put them on my eyes beginning a bit behind the rest of the women. I was hiting a few of the other women, I couldn't breathe, water was splashing and I began to panic. I honestly thought, I have to quit, I have to get out, I have no energy, I may die (maybe a bit dramatic), but then…
I called on the Lord saying "I NEED YOU!" and instanly I recieved what I needed, because that is how God is; He hears us and answers us. He wants us to need Him, not because He wants us to be incapable on our own, because He makes us to be strong and able to climb to the heights (Hab 3:17). But he wants us to need Him because we are CREATED TO NEED Him and when we realize we need Him; that we are incapabable on our own to live a life that is led by the Spirit, and that is a carrier of life to the world. Only in His strength can be walk in Godly power and authority.
And how foolish was I to want to be strong enough on my own?! It is embarrasing to admit, but that just shows there are more areas of pride to be dealt with. But my strength, if I can even call it strength is NOTHING compared to the Lord's. I am thankful that after maybe the first minute I was no longer swimming, biking or running in my strength but in God's.
The rest of the triathlon was smooth, fun and almost completely pain free. Which again was a miracle because the past two to three weeks my body has been full of pain in various places. The bike was beautiful as we rode up and down hills in the Appalachian mountains riding along the Watauga River, seeing grassy land and grass fed animals that were full of life and giving life. Then came the run.
As I hopped off my bike I realized I had been moving for an hour and fourty five minutes. I had fourty five minutes to run 5 miles and be under two and a half hours, which I knew I could do. Before the race I had figured I should be done between two and a half hours to two hours and fourty five minutes. Being under two and a half hours would be awesome! So I began running starting with about a quarter mile windy uphill as bikers and fast triathletes were coming down. Near the top of the hill I passed a man who had Philippians 4:13 on his shirt, I told him "thank you for the reminder, we are relying on the Lord's strength". The run was much fun passing bikers and runners telling them all how great they were all doing. I was full of joy and thankfulness. One man told me "good job triathlete!".
Needless to say, I finished the triathlon in 2:27:58, the 12th finisher of the women and 2nd in my age group. I could not have been more excited and rejuvenated.
And eventhough my pride did cause a fall, God lifted me up when I called on His name. And while God was teaching me about this yesterday, He continued today. At church this morning my former youth pastor, whom I love and cherish dearly, shared Hebrews 13:5-6, "Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?". He was speaking on how we are to be content with what we have, because God is our helper! He is our strength!
I then was reminded of a song by Bethel which says "I need You more, more than yesterday". There were a few weeks this past school year where that was my initial and only prayer every day, and I saw the Lord to be faithful and miraculous every day.
Again, God wants us to realize we need Him, because it is true. When we rely on Him, He is able to move or lest we only operate in our own strength which is nothing compared to the Lord's. And how is God to receive glory if we do not surrender ourselves to Him and rely on Him?! I want to live a life that is surrendered to God and reliant on God, because then I cannot claim any glory and do not want to claim any. For the Lord is who is to be glorified forever, Amen!
