Let us Run with Perseverance

For quite some time my baby girl has been desperately seeking some athletic endeavor that she could excel at. She tried out for basketball, realized that wasn't her thing and just hadn't found her niche quite yet. Until now. A couple of weeks she came home and said she wanted to join the Cross Country team. She certainly has the build for a runner, long and lean, so her Dad and I thought she should give it a shot. She has never run before, except for just playing. She went to the first practice and came home excited but a little down that everyone seemed to run faster. We told her it is not about being the fastest but just finishing. So one morning she wanted me to take her to the park to run. I put on my walking shoes and off we went. We get there and she is stretching and says to me, "Can you run a mile Momma?" Well yes. I mean I think I can, I don't really want to but I felt on the spot by my smiling youngest child. What else could I do? Hadn't I been saying, It is not about how fast you go but that you finish. So I ran. And I was miserable. I wanted to stop and quit, but as I looked up ahead, at times way far ahead, and saw her running I started to pray. Lord, please let her always approach life and trials with the attitude that she can do all things through You, please let her know that she can push past her fears and her doubts and know that she can persevere to the finish. And Lord more than anything can she see that in her Momma. That I will push past my fears and doubts and dare to step beyond what I think I can't do. You know what, before I knew it I ran that whole mile and when I came around the corner, my baby was cheering for me like I was finishing a marathon and I felt like I had. She was so proud of me and what a feeling that was.
Yesterday was my turn to cheer for her. She ran her first Cross Country event and it was only a mile. It was different than what she was used to because it was an up and downhill course. She had never been in a race and when those 90 something kids took off from the top of that hill I found myself praying out loud, "Lord please please don't let my baby fall down and get trampled." They sounded like the Running of the Bulls coming down that hill! I couldn't find her at first but then I saw that pretty little head fly by and I was so proud of her! Every time she came by us she looked like she was going to throw up. Up and down the hills was hard for her. But she kept going, and pushed past her fears. She finished 49th out of 90 something kids. She finished faster than she had ever run before! She was so proud of herself and her Mimi and I could hardly contain ourselves.
She has found her sport. I am so inspired I think I am going to do the Couch to 5K challenge. What a feeling when we see our kids succeed. It must be the same for our Heavenly Father. When He sees us do what all along He has known we can do. When we trust Him to work through us and in us to accomplish what we never could on our own. Dare to push through and do what you think you can't. Then be sure He gets the glory.

Here come the Bulls!!!

Our little runner.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12: 1-3