Running in general is hard, but trail running is harder in my opinion. When you run on a road or track it is normally very easy to set a pace and keep it and other than the occasional cars passing by or if you are in Huntsville, the huge hills, there is not much distracting you from your pace. When you are trail running you set your pace, but just when you are in the "zone" you come across an uphill covered in tree roots, maybe some sand, or sometimes a fallen tree that you have to jump over. Sometimes the uphills last for what seems like a mile. If you have not figured it out yet, trail running is hard and it is a challenge.
I ran the 25k Hog's Hunt trail run on Saturday. I had many physical, emotional, and mental obstacles to overcome. Not even 5 miles into my run my stomach decided it was going to hurt and cause me some problems. Even though I want to go into detail, I have decided that I will not because I am hoping your imaginations can figure out what I am talking about...if not lets just say think of the worst stomach issue scenario you can think of. With that said I was pretty positive that I would have to drop out of the race because I was afraid of dehydration. I had plenty of stuff with me to prevent that from happening, but I had chill bumps all over my face, arms, and legs and it was starting to send me into a panic. I decided that I was not going to drop out of the race and I immediately gave my panic to God. This was not easy to be honest but I had to learn to put my faith into action.
During my entire run I was constantly in prayer. Eventually my stomach issues went away, but just the pain that my body was feeling due to the 15.5 mile run was getting the best of me. I knew that God could carry me through this race if I would allow Him to and I truly believe it was because of my faith and trust in God that I finished because I was not feeling good at all.
The day before my race I was reading my book by Joyce Meyer and she was talking about how King David would pray to God about everything. King David gave every emotion, fear, worry, and panic to Him. When King David would feel alone or abandoned by God he would cry out to Him asking where He is, but instead of King David giving up on God, at the very end of prayer he would say I trust in you Lord and I KNOW you will come to me and help me. King David always knew God would come to his aid. My prayer to God during my run went like this "Lord, I am hurting, I do not think I can finish, and I feel like I am going to drop out, but Lord I know you are there, I know that you are with me, and I have faith and trust in you to carry me through this run and lead me to the finish and I thank you and give you the praise and the honor that you deserve". I repeated that throughout the entire run.
It does not matter how big or small your problems are, God wants to help us and carry us through them. But, we must have faith and trust in Him that he will help us. Tell Him like I did what you are going through and give Him thanks for bringing you through your problems even before they have been fixed. We must speak things into existence! When I was praying during my run, I did not immediately feel better, but I knew if I could speak it and give God the thanks for making it happen, it eventually will. I made it through this race because I trusted God.
Big or Small, give it all to God and whether it is healing that you need, a breakthrough, if you need to pass a test, or if you need advice on something, please give it to Him today. My prayer is that people would stop believing that God does not care about the small things in life...He loves us SO much and wants us to come to Him.
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest".
-Matthew 11:28
It must have been difficult to trust God when you were in such pain. Even in the rough times, I find if I can just get through the next moment, I can thank Him for it. It's easy to trust God in the easy times, when everything is going well, but when the tough times come, that's when it takes real faith. Even when you don't see your prayers are being answered, you have to have faith and trust Him. He knows what's best for us, and what is in the next trial around the corner and what kind of stamina we will need to get through it. Callye, I admire you as a young woman of God and this blog continues to inspire me. Right now, going through pain most of the time, I press through, and I thank you for training me, and inspiring me to keep going. Keep up the good work and your faith will continue growing and God will continue molding you into the awesome woman of God that he plans for you to be. To God be the Glory!
ReplyDeleteYes,it is easy to be good-weather trusters in God. But the bad weather shakes out our faith and we know then how much we really have.
ReplyDeleteI did a bike event on a hot, hilly course. We were about done and I found myself singing that song, "Through It All." "I thank God for the mountains. I thank God for the valleys. I think God for all the trials He's brought me through.-----"
Congratulatins and bless you on your walk with the Lord.
Marv, your post makes me fight through those hard runs even more than I thought I could! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete