Perhaps one of my favorite memories from life so far took place my senior year of high school. It was the fall of my senior year and I was running a j.v. race in Butte, MT. Before every race, I was always so concerned that I hadn't trained enough. As I nervously waited for the gun to go off to start the race, I could feel my heart pulsing through my body. After the gun was shot, the pack was off. As we ran through the course, there was cheering from the crowd, coaches yelling times, and the ever frequent random person yelling "Come on, pass her!" Generally, in cross country races, there are places in the course where there's a big crowd of people watching and cheering but there are also many places where you're all alone and there's no one there watching from the side lines.
During this race, I was fighting an internal battle. I thought about pushing myself to run harder but I was worried that if I ran too hard, I might burn out. As I ran past crowds, I felt encouraged to run faster, but as I came through parts of the course where there was no one there, I found myself slowing my pace. I think that this is so true in life. When there are people there to cheer you one and to live life with you, it's easy to feel encouraged. But there are also times when there is no one there and it's easy to feel discouraged. As I ran through the part of the course where there was no one watching from the side lines, I could feel my pace start to get slower. Behind me, I could hear a girl approaching and I thought "I will just let her pass me." As I continued on the course where there was no crowd to be found, I suddenly saw my dad all alone on the side of the course. As I started to come closer to where he was, he said, "You can do this. This is the part where you need to kick it up a notch. Come on, you've got this." As a result, I started picking up the pace. As I approached the finish line, there was a huge crowd of people cheering and screaming. Through blurry eyes, I could see times flashing on the board. Encouraged by what my dad had told me, I ran faster than I thought I could. As I finished the race, I discovered that I had finished second. All I could think was, "how did that just happen? How did I get towards the front? " Psalm 16: 7 says, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I will keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Life has a lot of up and downs. There are times when there are people there to cheer you on and there are times when there seems to be no one around. What I love so much about God, is that he's there through it all. He's there when life is good and when life is bad. And through the entire course he is there, cheering us on and encouraging us to do and to be more than we ever thought was possible.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2019
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