Never Give Up

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

1 Corinthians 13:7

 In this verse God tells us that with love we should never give up, never lose faith, always be hopeful and endure EVERY circumstance. 

Wikipedia states that Endurance is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue.

I believe that by taking the time to work on your physical endurance with exercise it can produce the endurance you need in your life to help you endure the emotional/mental side of life. Up until recently (when my jogging stroller broke LOL) I was a runner. A few times a week I would run 3-5 miles. When the runs got hard, or tiring or it was a day I did not want to run there was this voice inside of my head encouraging me along. A voice saying: "If you can make it up this hill you can make it up the hills life throws at you. Finishing this run will give you the power to finish whatever comes your way. Being strong now will pay off because it creates the strength you will need for later." Thoughts like that. 

And it is true. Being physically strong and healthy has helped my mind to become strong and healthy. Life has thrown me some curve balls. Life has thrown us all some curve balls. We all end up in situations where we look up to God and ask, "Is this for real? Do you really want me here? This is what I must endure?"

And after reading the bible verse above and the definition of endurance it is clear that endurance is not necessarily a pleasant thing. Yet endurance is something we need to overcome as Christians in this world. One of the the fruits of the Holy Spirit is long suffering. Long suffering is having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people. 

How do you prepare for the situations you would rather not experience? How do you train your mind to stay calm when things get crazy? How do you teach yourself to respond instead of reacting? By taking the time to work out and learn how you think and react when things get hard. Working out is a great way to get you know yourself. It is one situation where you voluntarily put yourself under stress. Working out is hard. It is not supposed to be easy, but the benefits of pushing yourself both mentally and physically and teaching yourself how to overcome old thinking patterns while you workout will spill over into other areas of your life. 

God says endure all things. Not pray and try to change them, run away or live in denial. He says patiently endure all things. Which means there are some seasons where you need to stay where you are and weather the storm. Because it too will pass.It is in the fighting of what we must face that we lose the battle. 

Being patient is not easy. Enduring hardships is hard. But with God all things are possible.Take the time to grow in your endurance. Push yourself to do something that makes you a little uncomfortable so that you can see what comes up. WIthout judgement acknowledge your thinking patterns. Practice for life while becoming fit and healthy and using exercise as a way to gain the strength you need to face life. That is one of the things I love about yoga. You don't do yoga, you practice yoga. It is a constant practice because we are never perfect and there is always room to grow, learn and expand. Yoga is a great example of one way to practice mental and physical endurance while gaining physical strength and being able to restore and maintain health through physical exercise. 

Take 30 minutes today. Go for a walk, get out on your bike and go for a ride. Try a new workout or finally try Zumba for the first time. (Trust me it is as fun as it looks!) Don't hold yourself you back. Release your strength and increase your potential. If you would like more help for ideas on how to get started contact me at fitmommyforlife@gmail.com !

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a blessed day!