WE ARE NOT ALONE

 

WE ARE NOT ALONE

 

My husband loves to run, he often will take a run when he returns from work in the evening or occasionally in the morning when he wakes up. I am not a runner so it always fascinates me how after a long day at the office how could it possibly be enjoyable to go out running at night? what possible relaxation could he get from it? It seems like more work to me and definitely something I wouldn’t choose to do. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there is a tremendous health benefit to running but beyond that I couldn’t possibly imagine any joy I would get out of that activity.

I started pondering the idea of running today because our dear friends and ministry colleagues from Croatia are in town and they also enjoy running. So, every day they look forward to that daily run together around our neighborhood. One morning when they returned to the house from a run I noticed a glow in my husbands face. I remarked, “Honey, you look so happy!” He then said something in return that I cannot shake from my spirit, “It is so much easier and nicer to run with other people.” WOW!

Hebrews 12:1 immediately came into my spirit which says,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (NLT)

I thought about how hard it is to run alone, how easily we can get discouraged and slow down or even stop altogether. But to run alongside of someone gives us motivation and encouragement in the race we are running. Think about that moment that your legs are burning and you don’t think you can go one more second, you hear that voice beside you encourage you to press through and keep going. The Bible describes this journey of Faith here on earth as a race and we are to run it with endurance. I have heard this scripture over and over again in my walk with God, but this time the crowd of witnesses jumped off the page.

WE ARE NOT ALONE in this race! There is a HUGE crowd of witness cheering us on, and stirring us up to keep going. They are telling us to not give up! We also need to remember that not only are there a great crowd of witnesses in heaven but we also have our fellow runners in Faith by our side running with us. How much more joy comes when a brother or sister in the Lord is laboring with you and can come alongside of you to say, “You’re not alone.”

When I think about what the benefits are to running together I think:

 

• Accountability– It is so easy to simply skip a run, to hit the snooze button or to not run at all without people around us who know what goals we have set or even better may have similar goals to spur us on in our moments of weakness.

 

 

• Motivation– There is power in encouragement and the positive reinforcement of others. If we are running with someone side by side, your stride comes into sync with them. you know that what you are feeling they are feeling! They are running up the same hills and going the same distance. To have co-laborers in Christ is similar because they inspire us and motivate us on the journey. Isn’t it comforting to think we are not in this alone?

 

• Learn from each other– Many things in the sport running requires training and focus. Many people who are training for a marathon or specific type of run get a running coach to learn how to run more effectively. We learn from people who are more seasoned and have run longer than us to gain wisdom and strength to run the race ahead of us.

 

Be encouraged today that we are running a race, but we are not running alone! God has set a great cloud of witnesses in heaven to encourage us and we also have one another to motivate and keep us on course!

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Blessings,

Pastor Tarrah Deitrick