CORE STRENGTH

Well ladies it is happening, after a six-year hiatus, I am getting back to running. Running and I have a love hate relationship. I love it as I am engaged in it, but I hate to start. I was a faithful runner for seven years. I ran all kinds of 5k races, 10k's, half marathons and I even endured two full marathons. I was by no means a professional runner, although that would have been so nice. I was just a girl who enjoyed walking and jogging races that ended with a pretty medal around my neck and most of the time a shirt that declared my completed goal to the world. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work! Y’all, I like to sleep and found that training for runs kept me from sleeping in. I was up at the crack of dawn in order to have decent temperatures and enough time before work to put in training runs. I was also up with chickens on Saturday mornings running miles and miles all before 9am. It took so much discipline, and effort, and consistency!!! I hated it, but I loved how it made me feel in the inside.

I didn’t realize just how much it fulfilled me until I wasn’t running anymore. When I

stopped running, the discipline, consistency, and internal gratification and joy all

stopped. My best friend often tells me that I need to go back to running because it

makes me happy. And to tell you the truth, it did. It was the best mental health therapy I

could get for myself. During my training runs it was just me, God, and nature. That’s

when I listened to music, podcasts, thought and processed my life, and had many,

many conversations, and fights with God. It was my happy place. And as a perk, it kept

me in better health, physical shape, and mental state. Running helped keep my core

strong. It’s why I need it back in my life. It’s a relationship I need to mend.

As I thought about everything that I am telling you, I realized that my health since that

time has not been the best and I struggle with every type of body ache because

physically my core is super weak. You see, strong core muscles help the body. Weak

core muscles cause a person to be more tired, less able to endure, and it causes

ailments and injuries. A weak core causes poor posture, and all sorts of aches and

pains. The more I thought about this and all the benefits of a strong core, the more God

spoke to me.

While it is important that physically I have core strength, it is even more vital that I have

core strength spiritually. Life has a tendency of coming at us with great intensity. Life

issues don’t wait for us to be strong. Struggles and circumstance will hit us hard and if

our core isn’t strong, we will suffer pain and aches. So many times, we make the

mistake of waiting to strengthen our relationship with God until the hard times come and

we feel we have no other choice but to go to Him. The issue is that we can’t run the

course of a difficult process with a weak core. With aches, and pains, and bruises. If we

wait to strengthen our lives with God, the process will be longer. But what would happen

if we decided today to strengthen our spiritual core? What would happen if we decided

on being disciplined and consistent in our relationship with God? I’ll tell you what would

happen. We would be strong! Our core strength would be ready to take on whatever

comes our way. When we are ready and strong before the trials come, then we will not

fall. The process will still be there, but it will be manageable because the core of our

lives is strengthened by Him.

Too many times we focus on making everything else in our lives strong that the last

thing we concentrate on strengthening is our spiritual core with Him. It’s why we fall; it’s

why we struggle.

Fearless chicas, let’s decide today to strengthen our relationship with God. Because,

when our relationship with Him is strong the other areas in our lives will align

themselves. Honor God, and He will honor you! Do something different, so that you can

experience something different from Him. It’s not easy! It will take your time, effort,

discipline, and consistency, but you can do it!

It’s time to engage our core ladies! Let’s run the race of a life founded in Him and let’s

accomplish the purpose He’s placed in our lives.

With love,

Mimi