RUN WITH A PURPOSE

I started running last year to lose weight because I came back just a liiiitle bit heavier from my Thailand mission trip lol. My friend Xitha challenged me to do the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half marathon. It was such a strenuous but fun battle to get fit and trained up for the race. I developed a serious love for running in this time and even started a mini running club #teamhope21. I tried to infect everyone with this bug and some of them caught on, even my parents. I simply just love it ❤

Last month my friend Monique, her brother Christian, my mom and I did the Sanlam Cape Town 10km. All 4 of us were stoked by our finishing times and the way we ran, so much so that we were managed to be convinced to do the half marathon for the KFM Gun Run in TWO WEEKS. Lol, it’s like we were on a running high and you could have convinced us to run up the Drakensberg or something crazy like that. For usual 10km runners, to do a 21.1km race with two weeks training, it was basically the same as running up the Drakensberg mountains anyway.

So I had two weeks to get ready but I only managed to get about 3 days of training in as I had hectic deadlines at work and worked really late, so by the time I got home, it was too dark to train (and it was my birthday 🙂 ). So needless to say, I was completely unprepared for what I had to face yesterday. .

My strategy:

1. Run 10 km flat (I can do that; I’m a 10km runner)
2. Push for an extra 5 (I’ve done that before)
3. After 15, I can walk run walk run (that’s ok, I’d have done super by now)
4. Let my head do the running and not allow my legs to overpower what I    mentally know I can do (running is anyway about 80% mental strength
5. Run with and for God and with a purpose (to show that I can do all things through Christ)

It was going to be ok…so at 6h30 AM, I set off. Check this fresh excited face lol

(That’s Christian in front of me)

I ran 16km flat_ 10 was normal, the next 5km was prayer and mental convincing that I can do this and I WILL NOT walk yet! After 16km, my legs had enough, I started walking and I couldn’t start running again. I ran walk ran walk but it was as though my legs had turned into bricks. I felt like I was dying the rest of the way lol (OK, I’m exaggerating, but maybe I’m not). The next 5km was a serious mental, emotional and spiritual battle! I started hating everything. I hated Monique for convincing me to do this race, and then I started hating myself for allowing her to convince me lol. That didn’t last long but I needed to hate someone lol. I then started hating my legs, the air, even the poor marshals who kept telling me I’m nearly there. (Yeah right! I’ve been almost there since 3km hey -_- ).

I really wanted to cry around 18km. I thought I wasn’t going to finish. I had a lump in my throat. My legs didn’t want to carry me anymore and I just wanted to run to the car, it was probably closer than the stupid finish line anyway! But I couldn’t give up; I came to run with a purpose! I can do all thing right???? God’s Word says that. So I told myself that that’s enough cry baby stuff! (I couldn’t cry anyway, there were people around with cameras). I asked God to carry me to the finish line, to run with me and push me. I started singing through You, I can do anything _ in my head obviously coz I didn’t even have energy to open my mouth. This was around 18/19km; I was like an old car trying to be jump started again. I’d kick off and after 200m, I’d slow into a walk again. Then I’d need a kick start and the same would happen, about 3, maybe 7 times lol. At 20km my engine was up and running again…God was in this. I honestly felt like I was being carried all the way to the finish line (toe begin ek amper weer huil lol).

God is sooo good, even for races. He is so beautiful in every way and He just wants the best for His people. God wasn’t just in that race from 19km but from the moment that gun went off. I knew from the start why I was doing this and even though I struggled to get to the end, I got there, but not without God. And that’s life hey, we can’t have summer without winter first. We have to run this race and trust in God to get us to the end, we just gotta keep moving our legs, let Him use them for His glory. Matthew 5v16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Through this race, through my life, I want neither glory nor credit, I want all that I do to be a reflection of His great works. Of what He has done in my life and can do in yours too. I’m not saying go and run a half marathon without training (lol, no that was just risky), but I am saying trust God, because He can and He will. And when He does, let’s pray others don’t see you, but they see Him.

This is me finishing the Gun Run 2015 half marathon yesterday morning, look at this picture and don’t see me, but see how God carried me to the end. Coz it was seriously only by His grace…

It’s going to be tough…but it’s going to get done if you have God with you. Luke 1v37 “For with God nothing is impossible” … go run that race.

Thanks for reading, chat soon ^^,

Be ready_ be available

For the past few weeks I have just been feeling utterly purposeless here at work, in fact, in my life in general. I can’t wait to move on and do what I know I am destined for. I am involved in various ministries at church, I always jump at any opportunity to do outreaches, but I still just felt blank. I don’t know if it was because of my own frustrations in my life of everything standing still, or if it’s because everything seems halfhearted because I spend SOO much time in the office and doing nothing to impact others’ lives.

Last night I was feeling so helpless, I just wanted to sleep and do nothing. I didn’t even go to Bible school. I wanted to sleep but I couldn’t even do that. Something was eating at me. I decided to write in my journal. Just to cry out to the Lord.

The Bible says in Philippians 4 v6&7 “⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.

So I did that, I cried out to God, laying it all down on paper. He already knows what’s on my heart and what’s eating me; He knows more than I even know about myself. So I wrote down what I knew was eating at me _ this purposelessness. What point do I have here at PetroSA??!!! I don’t even know if people can see God’s light shine through me anymore?? Did they ever?? This morning I was reading my journal from when I was doing missions in Thailand. Among the entries was of when I had to do the interview for this very job. And I just smiled at how powerful God is. He really showed up in that time, I could see it and feel it and others could too. Such a powerful testimony! And in the entry, I prayed that if God wants me to get this job, may His light shine in the workplace, may He be exalted and not me. I was so ready to spread His love here at the office. Reading that, encouraged me to find that zeal again. So today as I walked in to the office, I prayed that God allow opportunities to talk to my colleagues about Him. And give me the boldness to follow through in the conversation. I was ready.

One of my colleagues, Sindiswa, is going through a particularly difficult time. Her contract is coming to an end here at PetroSA and because of the economic climate here, there is no chance for renewal or extension. She NEEDS to find another job_ she’s been looking. Going to countless unsuccessful interviews. Sometimes I don’t know what to say to her. But the other day I did. She had again just got news that a job she thought was hers came back as unsuccessful. And I told her that sometimes we go through things in our lives so that we are forced to completely rely on God and no one else. We are pushed to our limits, so that we know that God has none. We are to look to God, not our boyfriend, parents, friends or anyone else. Only the Lord. We go through tough times so that we can see that only God can get us out of that situation. I wasn’t sure if she understood what I meant_ I know I wouldn’t if the roles were reversed. When you’re at your worst, that’s NOT what you want to hear. This was last week I think.

A few minutes ago, she came to me to show me an daily devotional that was sent to her. It was titled: How God uses our stress for our good and His glory. I was stunned. Lol. God confirmed what I said in that daily devotional. I thought it was so wonderful.

We always think that we are too small and insignificant and we feel unworthy to receive anything from God. But God loves us. He loves us so much that He still takes time out to send us a word of encouragement. He uses everyday people like you and I to do His work, no matter where we are. He uses us even though we are not even aware of being used. And how wonderful is it to be used by Him. Lol. By this glorious King. He is so mighty, yet He cares so much that He doesn’t want us to feel terrible; He wants us to understand the situation we are in right now. To listen to Him.

Eish, I’m getting a series of revelations at once hahahaha. That’s ok. But I want to leave with you is this… be available. God is always using us. I mean, God used me to encourage Sindi. God used Sindi to open up a conversation about Him here at work. Now I have a fresh excitement of why I am here. His light still shines through me and others can see it. You might not realise it, but as you read and share His message, God is using you to spread His word. Be available, be ready. You are significant. Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus (Romans 8 v38&39). His love is constant, you are His child. So be ready to be used by your Daddy

“I’m convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1 v6