Have you ever felt like you wanted to give up? That what you were going through was just too much for you to bear?

“Brethern, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind , and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”

Philippians 3:13-14

A couple of months ago I was in my very 1st 5k Chamber Challenge. It is a big event that happens in our city every year to promote wellness and health living. My job always participates each year. This year I decided to go. I walk often and the hills that we have at my job I thought that I would be prepared, but boy was I wrong. Some people ran and some people walked and even though I love to walk and do it often, it showed me just how out of shape I was.

TODAY’S WORD

en-dur-ance

• the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation
• denoting or relating to a race or other sporting event that takes place over a long distance or otherwise demands

My co-worker and I were standing at the starting line waiting for them to begin the race. I had this nervous energy because I kept feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom and I had already been twice. We were standing in the beaming sun and which made it even hotter, though there was a little bit of breeze. I started moving side to side hoping this would help calm my nerves and the need for me to go to the bathroom.

Finally, the race had begun and 30 minutes in I was feeling the pressure, the tightness in my legs. Once we had gotten to the top of the second hill I started thinking to myself , “Are we there yet?” I was definitely feeling the need to stop, but I kept going.

My co-worker told me earlier that she wasn’t ready, but she was doing better than me and I walk way more than she does.

We had another co-worker who came in and joined us on the walk. Truth: I felt like she was becoming a hinderance because she was wanting to socialize and I wanted to complete the race. That was causing me to lose my pace, but I continued to stay focused.

Dont’t allow the box of other people’s mind keep you from moving forward. They will never see what you see.

You know the old saying, “I look back to see where the Lord has brought me from”. It is good at times to reflect back, but sometimes if we look back long enough we can desire the things of old.

Memories are great to have, but the string of emotions that come along with them can sometimes cause you to have a set back. Have you ever reflected back, reminisced on the past and before you know it, it had you feeling some type away. You got all up in your feelings.

Paul knew that he wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but his goal was to be more like Christ and in order for him to obtain that he had to say good-bye to the things of old. He had to focus on the things which were in front of him.

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangelth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be soldier”

2 Timothy 2:3,4

Along this life’s journey we are faced with so many different obstacles, challenges, set backs, distractions, surprises, etc. but the goal is to keep moving forward. The challenge becomes when become weary, vulnerable and lose focus on the thing that it before us.

Life isn’t easy, in fact at times it can be very hard. In order for anything to be great you have to be willing to make the sacrifice. It’s not how many times that you fall, but how many times you get back up. You will get hurt, you will make mistakes, you will stumble and fall and at times be disappointed, but our life expereinces are only temporary. It is through them that we can grow and develop into just what we were created to be.

God has so many great things ahead of you, but you have to want what he has for you. There are somethings and even some people that you will have to let go off, but the most encouraging thing that I have found through my faith in God is that he has better for me than where I have been or even where I am now. It is that hope that keeps me moving forward even when what I see doesn’t match up with what he has shown me.

Moving Forwar Motivational Video