Side Stitches and Weary Spirits

Although I'm not the best, I like to call myself a runner. I run almost everyday, and I enjoy it. Without it, I would probably be a miserable, grumpy jerk.

I compare running to the Christian faith. Just like running, when I began my journey with the Lord, I started at zip, nothing. I started both out thinking though, "hey this isn't so bad". Of course, anyone who has ran even two steps will tell you though that at some point, it does get bad. The side cramps kick in, the feeling like your lungs are going to explode show up, and your legs suddenly morph into bricks that have trouble picking themselves up. The same thing happens with faith. We are going along the faith course smoothly when suddenly we run out of fuel for our spirit. We feel lost, our internal flame has dimmed and our desire to live righteously is small. With running, our bodies haven't built up the endurance yet, and with the spirit, we haven't built are solid foundation yet.

Getting to a point of stability in each area, such as gaining the ability to run long distances and a solid foundation to build faith on, takes time.

To become a better runner, we train our bodies to be more efficient. We eat the right foods, we work on the right stride and most importantly - we run almost everyday to build up our endurance.
Growing in faith is the same. God has given us the living bible to provide us with guidelines for life, which we should read everyday. He's given us the gift of being able to communicate to Him through prayer, which 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we should do continuously, and He provides fellowship for us which provides a place to grow with others.
I used to keep my running and faith separate, but as I've grown, both in running and spiritually, the Lord has shown that these two things can go hand in hand.
When I feel weak when running, I tell myself, "Think of this as your faith. You are going to keep going for God." While on the other side, when I feel dry in my faith and weary of being in the world but not of it, I tell myself "This is a race for God. Keep running for Him."

Hope this all makes sense! Blogging from an iPhone is difficult!

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