Keep Going

"....and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  Hebrews 12:1

It is pretty tough to run a marathon.  And while the race itself is a grueling twenty six point two miles, I think the toughest part is not the race, but the months of training before the race.
I've talked to people who have set out to train for a marathon and quit early on.  They start out and run two or three miles and feel horrible, after some quick math, it is concluded that if they feel this bad at two miles, how could they ever run twenty four more!  The problem is that they get overwhelmed by focusing on the longer distance, which they can't run.....yet.  The key to training for the marathon is to stay strong day in and day out at the shorter distances.  As you are disciplined in the shorter runs, soon running two miles will be easy, then four and eight and so on, until twenty six point two is not so overwhelming.
The problems you have today might seem as daunting as a marathon, and your temptation might be to throw up your hands and pull out of the race, thinking you can never make it.  If your focus becomes the how far, or the how long, you can easily get weary and discouraged.  Your job is to be faithful to Jesus day by day and allow Him to take care of the results.  As with marathon training, when you keep your focus on daily faithfulness, soon your strength will grow, and you will no longer be defeated by what once seemed impossible to overcome.