How Are You Going to Go Through This?

The test is during the training, not the race. The past two weeks have made this more clear to me than ever! Today ends week two of my running training. One of the things I’ve committed to in this season is running a half marathon. Woooooaaaahhh dere! Lol! I know! He’s got me though! More than the marathon race itself, for me, this run is about the grit that I give in my everyday life.

I’m in a season of strong transition and one of the things that is essential to going through transition is your disposition while tarrying to the next destination. Habakkuk 2:3 says, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” The Message Bible puts it like this,

“And then God answered: “Write this.
    Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
    so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
    pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
    And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
    It’s on its way. It will come right on time.”

When you haven’t exactly reached where you are going, but you are in route to that place, that’s when you need to show up as the highest form of yourself. I use to think “Race Day” was the day I gave my all, but these last couple of weeks of running training have taught me the exact opposite.

Anyone who has run any distance knows that running is primarily made up of mental stamina. A small portion is dedicated to your actual physical strength. Contrary to popular belief, getting your body in shape isn’t the tough part. Getting your mind in alignment, now that’s where the rubber meets the road.

I’ll be the first to admit, these last couple of weeks have been mentally exhausting. Breaking through your comfort zone requires a lot of courage, faith, & steadfastness. I can easily recall the day I was on the verge of vomitting and just plain ole’ giving up and I heard my trainer in my ear saying, “Noone ever drowned in their sweat!” My thoughts went immediately to the rebuttal, “How do you know that?? Have you researched it? Listen I’m the one over here putting in all this work. Let me do it my way!”

Do you see and here my disposition? How can you rest in the victory that was paid for you if you’re warring within yourself? Every battle begins internally, and if you’ve lost it there, you are certain to lose it elsewhere. It was in those very type of moments this week where I learned to bust through the barrier of myself. Whenever I got to the point where I ran out of steam, I just forced myself to take a deep breath, blow out every step that I’d taken to get me to that point, and bust through the wall of mental limitation that told me my body had reached its max. Yall, it was GLORIOUS! I felt like I crossed over into a runner’s high of sorts where I was literally galloping over the air!

So, why did I take the time to recount this story? Well, it’s simply because I believe running is a kind of type and shadow for our life. When you get to your tipping point in this transition season are you going to give up because you don’t see change coming quickly enough or are you going to force yourself to take a deep breath, exhale everything that has lead you to this moment, and burst through that wall of limitation?

It’s all a choice! You don’t wait until Race Day and say I’m going to give this race my all. Race Day is actually on “training days.” It’s during the training that you have the time and space to push your abilities to the max. It’s there where you force your mind to surrender to your body. It’s there where you develop your bravery and optimistic attitude that NOTHING is impossible. Your body will do the work! The question is will you position your mind to submit to you? Those training days are EVERYTHING!

I’ll end with this. Most people play around with training days because it’s not the “real thing.” However, let me submit to you if you don’t show up in the form of grit on training days, once you finally get to Race Day, it’ll mimic Day 1 of training precisely. Do the work!  Yes, it will suck! I’m not going to lie to you. However, it will get better as you gain mental acuity and strength with each new training session. Push past what is familiar. You have to let the “old you” die, if you want the new version of yourself to surface. Stop holding on. Chart new territory. Don’t look back. Train each day like it’s Race Day, and watch how beautifully your encore will unfold! Chiiiillee, I’m right here with you sweating, training, and bursting through with you!

In peace,

His Daughter