TeenConnect: Your Healings
August 2, 2022
The strength to run my race
My friends and I had decided to run a 10K race in Arizona, and I was getting more and more excited. I’d been running for a couple of years, and it had turned into something I really loved to do. We were all looking forward to the race and trained for months leading up to it.
Finally, the day of the race arrived. I had never run a 10K before, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how my winter training would pay off.
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As the race began, I felt strong and fast. However, about a mile in, I began to feel tired, my muscles ached, and I started questioning whether I would be able to finish the race—let alone finish it with a good time. These thoughts got into my head and started to affect my running.
A mile into the race, I began to feel tired, my muscles ached, and I started questioning whether I would be able to finish.
That was when I decided to pray. I’ve been a Christian Scientist my whole life, and I’ve learned that I can always turn to God in times of need. I began praying by reminding myself that God was with me, and that I wasn’t doing this race by myself. God is the actual source of all my energy and activity.
I also thought about the opening lines of Hymn 148 from the Christian Science Hymnal:
In heavenly Love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
(Anna L. Waring)
I realized that because I’m living and moving in Love, which is another name for God, there can’t be a moment when pain is present, because strength, grace, and perfection are always present, always being expressed. And that can’t change; God’s perfection is constant and ever present.
God is always here, giving me grace and strength to get through any challenge that might come my way.
As I thought about these ideas, they took my focus off of how I was feeling physically and made me conscious of God and God’s qualities. The pain and fatigue subsided, and I was able to run my race with strength and speed.
Yes, my physical training definitely helped. But I was more excited to discover that it was really my spiritual training that made all the difference. And as I’ve run other races since then, these ideas have continued to be a support to me—especially in the “race” of high school when I’ve felt the stress of all my academics and activities start to overwhelm me. I know now that God is always here, giving me grace and strength to get through any challenge that might come my way.