Yesterday was the second group run for my church's marathon training and can I just say, OWWW!!! I have never been a runner, my furthest distance has been just over a mile. But for some crazy reason God's like "You know what, you're going to run a half marathon this year!" So now I'm learning how to run. Anyway, this group run ended the second week of training and overall I've been feeling like I've been doing alright. On my run days I'm doing intervals of 2 minutes running to 1 minute walking and repeating that over and over until I hit the time limit, which on Saturday was 35 minutes, the longest yet.
For most of my runs so far I've had no problem getting started and just doing it. But yesterday, for some reason, as soon as I started I wanted to stop. I told my running buddy and she pushed me through it, but throughout the entire run I felt like I was dying and couldn't wait for my phone to tell me it was time to walk again. I had a tough time regulating my breathing and figured I was going to land one of my slowest mile times yet (which at this time all averaged around 12 minutes 30 seconds). As my phone alerted me that I had completed the first mile I fearfully waited to hear my mile time until I heard "11 minutes and 40 seconds"! I thought my phone was broken, there was no way that I had broken the 12 minute barrier! And even if I had, I was probably going to get a slower time for the second mile. I kept going.
A painful while later my phone dinged again signaling the second mile. My time? 11 minutes and 30 seconds! I was shocked! I couldn't believe that on a run where I was feeling so bad that I was recording my best times so far. For the first time I hoped that I'd finish with an average time under 12 minutes. My friend caught up with me (after lapping me) and she went the rest of the way with me, encouraging me the whole time. I pushed myself through. Finally I finished the run with just over 3 miles and an average time of 11 minutes and 45 seconds!! Personal record! Who knew?
As I drove up to Michigan State to visit my brother I reflected on the morning's run and brought it to God. Why, when I felt like I was doing my worst running, did I ended up doing my best? And God told me, "Sometimes the biggest blessings come out of the toughest situations". A reminder of trust, a reminder not to be afraid of difficulties, a reminder to have faith that God was in control of all circumstances. That message was a blessing in and of itself.
So today I encourage you, if you're going through a really tough situation, bring it before God and trust Him with it. He will turn your difficulty into a blessing, He is in control. And because He loves you He's going to show you by coming through for you and blessing you beyond belief!
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment