Skip to main content

Stay Focused.....Stay the Course

This year I decided to participate in the Ukrop's 10k and the training that they offer.  Training sessions are usually every Saturday morning and then they give you a schedule to follow during the week to help build up your strength, speed, and endurance.  Well, as you know today is Saturday and it's rainy.  So you know my flesh wanted to stay in my bed and sleep but I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 A.M. and really contemplated not going.  I even went as far as texting my friend girl to see if our group was still training in the rain.  However, after no response from her I reached out to my training group on their Facebook training page but still no answer.  I then sat on my sofa and went back and forth about going.  After a short while, I got up and began getting dressed. Before I knew it I was at the 10k training session. 

Well, once I arrived at the session we warmed up and we started on our four mile journey.  As I was running, I noticed how I ended up with the second group of novice runners who weren't that far from the first group of novice runners.  Somehow I was able to catch up with the first group and that is where I remained until I finished.  In the meantime and in between time, I found myself becoming unfocused and worried as I would stop, look back, and continue running. I did this a few times during my journey and I heard the voice of The Lord say, "Stay Focused and Don't Look Back."  However, I was getting tired and bored, ready to throw in the towel.  I ended up running alongside the first group of novice runners which gave me a little motivation to keep going.   I still continued to battle with just walking the rest of the course so I stopped. The first group was a little ahead of me and the second group was a ways behind me so I ended up running alone until two young boys gained on me and was running along side me.  Then eventually they passed me but by this time I was close to finishing and that is when God continued to speak to me saying, stay focused, stay the course, and don't allow distractions, which could be your thoughts, people, things, or anything that takes your attention away from focusing on the goal, the prize, and/or the victory.  He also said that though I may not see him during the course, he sometimes places people on the path as encouragement.  There are also those times when you have to travel the course alone, but if you stay focused and stay the course, He is always at the finish roooting for us to receive the reward in the spiritual just as the coaches were rooting for me to finish in the natural.

So I leave with you this scripture, Hebrews 12:2-3 that says: We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. (NLT)

Be Encouraged.

Comments

  1. LeighFebruary 18, 2014 at 12:14 AM

    Yes!! It is so easy to loose focus and start looking around finding every reason to stop moving forward but we cannot settle for that! It's like when Jesus gave Peter the command "Come" and he stepped out the boat and onto the water. As long as Peter was focussed on Jesus, he was able to walk towards Him. The minute Peter lost his focus and began to watch the storm and the waves, he started to sink and had to call out to the Lord to save him.

    Thank you so much for sharing!!
    xoxo, Leigh

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bound by Shame: My Unborn Child

During my undergraduate career, I found myself at a backslidden state in my faith walk.   It was my first time out on my own without the supervision of my mother and I allowed the freedom to get the best of me.   I allowed myself to get caught up in the lies of guys and fall into sexual sin.   Though I had morals and respect for myself by not sleeping with a lot of different guys, I still fell into the trap of the enemy.   After my first year of college, I got involved with a guy that I was dating off and on for about two years.   We engaged in sexual sin and I ended up pregnant.   When I first learned that I was pregnant, I was about 6 weeks along and there was no doubt in my mind that I would be getting an abortion.   In my opinion, neither of us could afford to bear a child.   Furthermore, as sad as it may sound, I had no sense of feeling or emotion about the abortion at the time; all I knew was that I was not going through with having a child ...
13 comments
Read more

The Fatherless Home

Growing up for me had its challenges, as my mother raised my little sister and I without either of our fathers being physically present.  Now, don't mistake me, this is not a blog post to speak negatively about either of our fathers, I simply have the intention of taking you down the road that I traveled while growing up in a "fatherless home." During the first five years of my life, my mother and I lived with my grandmother, aunts, and uncles.  However, at the the age of five, my mother moved out on her own, and my life began to change.  Once my mother moved out, she no longer had the physical and financial support she needed to provide for both of us.  I watched her work hard, day in and day out, to provide us with the necessities needed to survive.  Sometimes, before school, I would have to stay in the home alone just until it was time for me to head out to the bus stop, because my mother did not and co...
7 comments
Read more

Numb to the Disease

Have you ever had something happen to you that was so shameful and/or embarassing that you blocked it from your mind and became totally numb to the situation?  Well, I had an experience like this my sophomore year of college.   At that time, I  began  to engage in sexual sin with a gentlemen I was involved with for about two years off and on.  I thought it was the thing to do since I had been with him for some time and the relationship seemed to be pretty exclusive, or so I thought.  After having the abortion, I was scheduled to come back within the next week or two to have a check up done to make sure the procedure went well and that there was no problems or concerns thereafter.  The check up went well, however, they also administered a pap smear where they checked me to see if I had any sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).  A couple of weeks after having the pap smear done,  I received a le...
8 comments
Read more