Endurance, Encouragement, & Hope!

Do you feel some days you struggle with stamina for your life?  I definitely do!  I'm not good at long suffering or perseverance either.  I get a little better as I get older but it is not my strong suit.

So this running thing for me is going to stretch me! A lot! As a kid I was always good at the short races. Put me in a 50 yard dash any day! I won in  5th grade :)  But I stunk in the mile run. I just couldn't wrap my mind around running that long.  I had no endurance.

I have run 6 of the last 8 days trying to get ready for the running part of this team triathlon.  I almost didn't run tonight because I wanted to eat dinner with my folks.  They eat dinner early and I try and run before I eat dinner, but I ran 2 hours after dinner with them, and it went good.

Something that is helping me is that I am using my inhaler before I run.  I have exercise induced asthma and before I knew that fact, running was just miserable.  It isn't too bad now.  It is nice to run without feeling like you are dying to catch your breath.

I notice I am able to run longer since I start,  3 minutes straight now at a time.  I know to many of you that may sound ridiculous, but for me this is an achievement. I do feel my body get stronger and am able to keep the pace going.  It is really interesting now being able to monitor my muscles and such now that I'm not gasping for air.

So as I was running tonight and feeling the increase ease of running little longer, I was thinking about how God strengthens us and gives us endurance for our lives.  We all need Him and His inhaler :), the Holy Spirit to keep running the race of faith.  We are all at different stages of our endurance.  But life's bumps and huge waves continue to give opportunities to call on and trust God to build our strength and endurance in Him.

• Romans 15:4-6 has such great message for this: " For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
   May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" NIV

This passage of Romans reinforces God is the giver of endurance and encouragement and how the scripture teaches us endurance and encourages us for giving hope and glorifying God!

Wherever you are at in the race, the beginning, middle, or have been in the race for a long time, God can and will lift us up and give us the endurance and hope we need for the race.  It's not easy some times but over time, we can start to see that we don't get ruffled as easily with circumstance we had a melt down over even just six months ago. Slowly but surely we start to feel those spiritual muscle flexing and our lungs begin able to go longer and longer with less effort, because we are growing in God!

Whats is demanding endurance from you right now? Work, family stress, a sick loved one, or maybe you are ill and suffering. God is with you and is longs to help build your endurance and encourage and give you hope! Stay in the race! In God you are stronger than you think!