My Own Race

“And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”    Hebrews 12:1c

Saturday I ran my first 5K!  “Ran”…I use that term loosely….runner, I have never been.

The day of the race, my dear friend and I lined up at the back of the masses, the gun sounded, and off we went. 

We stayed at the back of the pack…all the way through the race. 
And we finished last…dead last.

As I stood looking in my bathroom mirror after cleaning up from the run, chuckling that I was glad I finished the race, but not necessarily finishing as anyone else would want to finish the race, the Lord spoke to my heart – “You ran the race I called you to run.”  I wasn’t called to win the race or to beat anyone else.  I was called to run the race the Lord set before me.

It made me think of something I had seen on Facebook, “Comparing your life to what you read on Facebook or a blog is like comparing your gag reel to someone else’s highlights.”   Ain’t that the truth?  My gag reel of a life looks pretty messy compared to the highlights of many others’ lives.

What race has the Lord set before you?  We all have them, don’t we?  Some races are ones that we run with joy and abandon.  Others are races that we run with pain, each step slow and jarring as we trudge up the hill or slog through the valley.  “…let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.”  We’re called to keep on keeping on, not sprint to the end, not even compare how we’re running with the others in the race.

Whatever Your or My race is that is set before us, we are to run with endurance, not looking at how anyone else is running the race that has been set before them.  It does make it so much easier to run together, though.  So lace up those sneakers, and run the race that the Lord has set before you – maybe you can be the encouragement that keeps a Sister going when the race gets tough. 

Trusting Him,

Carrie