HIS Faithfulness Endures

Endurance. I’ve been thinking a lot about what this word means and what endurance actually takes as we are now one week away from the St. George Marathon in Utah.

This training cycle has been almost flawless for me physically, so I’ve spent more time focusing on mental preparation.

The journey during marathon training is hard. It’s supposed to be. That is how we grow. That is how we get stronger. We are intentional in our training and have faith that the work and prep we put in for months leading up to race day will have us ready to cross both the start and the finish line in good form.

Marathon training also takes perseverance and resilience. You have to keep going through the wind, rain and hilly courses.

During a recent sermon at Valley E Free Church, I was struck by how closely marathon training aligns with our walk with the Lord. It requires us to overcome fear in order to grow. It requires us to get outside of our comfort zone in order to improve. It requires us to be bold.

Earlier this week, Josh and I were approved and went on ‘active’ status to adopt our second child. If you know us, you know the journey to adopt Lyla was a long, bumpy road with many trials.

We went into this process a second time with the mindset of having patience and knowing that God’s timing is so much better than ours- something I struggled with BIG time the first time and feel complete peace about this time.

A few hours after we were active, we received our first profile to review for a baby girl due in just 2 weeks! It felt crazy to even consider saying yes when we were prepared to be in this process for the long haul. NOT necessarily prepared to have a new addition to our family in a short two weeks! On top of that, there were some other factors that we needed to consider and discuss that would impact our decision. We decided to sleep on it.

When we woke up, we both agreed there wasn’t an actual rational reason to say no, other than out of fear. We both felt a nudge- and urging- if you will, that we needed to just trust God and walk in faith.

We said yes. It felt scary because it was now out of my control. At the same time, I kept telling myself there was less than a 1% chance that we would be chosen for the very first profile we reviewed. That just doesn’t happen to us. (Ummmm hello! Remember how long it took to adopt Lyla?!)

Two days later, we got the call. This birth mother loves us and wants us to raise her daughter!

We were in shock, to say the least! (and quite honestly, we may still be!) We were overjoyed! And once again completely amazed by God’s faithfulness. Trusting in Him completely in this decision continues to give me peace that He has got us. He will not give us more than we can handle. He provides for us. He blesses us in ways that are beyond our imaginations.

Today, as I reflect on the word endurance, I am thinking about my walk with the Lord. My walk in faith and trusting Him. He is always beside us.

We don’t know if we will actually be able to run the marathon next weekend or if we will be on a completely different journey to meet our new daughter.

Regardless of what the next week brings, I am ready. I am prepared. I have both the endurance and perseverance required for actually running a marathon or this marathon called parenting.

We are truly blessed. And it is all because HIS faithfulness ensures.