Endurance

For the first time in my life, I joined a sports team this past August. 

There are limited options for sports as a homeschooler, so when my dad became a high school Mountain Biking coach, it was really the only option.

My dad has always been a mountain bike enthusiast, and I've ridden with him all my life. But if there is one thing that I do not enjoy about any sport it is competing. 

I am very competitive at home with friends and family, but to go and race twenty other girls from all over the state, that I have never met before was not my idea of a good time.

To prepare for the races, the team would ride three times a week, anywhere from ten to twenty miles each ride, over rocks, up the steepest inclines, and down pencil thin winding trails.

During just the first few weeks, I learned that I was not fast or skilled on a mountain bike, and that I lacked one thing: endurance.

Back up to just a few months before I joined the team. I had been struggling with a lot of health problems for nearly a year, which led to my diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (abbreviated as POTS).

Symptoms include:

Rapid heart rate (tachycardia) or heart palpitations. 

Lightheadedness, feeling like you might fall, or fainting.

Blurred vision, tunnel vision, or blacking out. 

Shortness of breath when standing for long periods, climbing stairs, or with light activity.

Extreme tiredness.

Weakness or heaviness in the legs and arms, musculoskeletal pain, or chronic aches and pains.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for POTS and is something I will be dealing with for the rest of my life.

This created a huge obstacle when I joined the team. 

I almost quit over and over. There were times when I honestly thought I just couldn't do it anymore. I admit, that if the decision was completely up to me, I would have quit. But my parents strongly encouraged me to stick it out to the end.

After weeks and weeks of training, and miles and miles of riding, it came time for the first out of four races (not including state championships).

Each race course consisted of two six-mile laps. Every course was different. One had more feet of elevation gain, another had serious rocks and roots, the next had windy fast-paced downhills, and one had so many trees, that you almost couldn't fit your handlebars through.

I was called up to the starting line eighteenth out of twenty, and I finished in twelfth place. 

Crossing that finish line was one of the most incredible things I've ever accomplished. My teammates, including my brother, and my coaches, including my dad were there to cheer me on and congratulate me. 

The months dragged on, and I still dreaded every practice and every race. But every finish line that I crossed encouraged me just a little bit more to keep going. 

After the second race, I damaged a nerve in my neck. It would cause pain and panic attacks as I was riding. 

And in the last race, I twisted my shoulder out of place. 

During the last race, I rode my bike for twelve miles, crying out to Jesus to help me finish it. Asking Him to help me endure the pain. And when a panic attack would start, and I couldn't breathe, I asked Him to calm my fears. 

As I crossed the finish line, I fell off my bike in tears. Tears because I crossed the finish line. Tears because the people I loved were proud of me. Tears because I was in pain. And tears because Jesus gave me the strength to finish, and answered every prayer I ever prayed during that race.

I finished in eighteenth place and still qualified for state championships, but unfortunately, I was unable to ride or race any further because of the damage done to my neck and shoulder, so I didn't race state.

Those months of mountain biking taught me so much about not my physical, but my spiritual weakness. 

And as I've studied what scripture says about endurance, I realize just how much I lack in it.

We read in Romans 5:3-4, "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."

Similar to what we read in James 1:2-4, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Believe me, just because I did one season of mountain biking, and finished, most definitely does not mean that I am able to rejoice in my sufferings or endure the trials perfectly.

I tell this story simply as a reminder to myself and to anyone reading this that we do have the strength to endure what is difficult. And only because Jesus Christ gave us the hope to do so. He gave us a reason to rejoice. 

As it states in Romans in 12:12, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

We were promised a lot of things, but we were never once promised that life would be easy. But as this verse tells us, we are to rejoice in hope. Looking at the verse I mentioned earlier, we are also to rejoice in our sufferings and count it all joy in the trials. 

This ties into what we read in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice." 

Also read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

We are to rejoice in suffering and in hope. Rejoice always. 

In the moment of suffering or trial, it's can seem impossible sometimes to find a reason to rejoice.  

Looking back on the mountain biking season, I could have found more reasons to rejoice. In fact, I don't know that I tried at all some days. I wish I would have chosen to see the many blessings I had, and that my sufferings weren't going to last forever. I always had the hope of the final finish line, but I often didn't choose to see that, but instead focused on the suffering, and didn't rejoice in that either.

Be assured that God doesn't give us any task He hasn't already equipped us for. He doesn't place any trial in our life that we don't have the ability to endure.

Endure the trial. Rejoice always. Rest in hope.