Our finishing struggle

Our finishing struggle

...

Making it to the end 

& Finishing strong.

{ When you feel like you have nothing left to give. } 

Casia:

"This last winding down week in Tahiti has been a lot harder than most of us expected. 

We have taken a lot more time to debrief together before going back to France, as well as process individually with God. Even though we have been doing a lot less ministry things in this last week as we wind down, in many ways it is one of our harder weeks. This is because we are nearly at the end of it and it’s easy to shut down and just look towards the next season of our lives instead of remaining in the present. It has been raining almost nonstop, and many of us are getting sick as a result of our exhaustion. We need to continually encourage and lift each other up as we finish. We want to finish strong."

During worship the other day, Kelly had a scripture and analogy to encourage us to finish strong:

Hebrews 12:1-3

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Kelly:

"For my last year of high school, I decided to run cross country. For each of our meets or races we would have to run a 5k (3.1 miles). In each of our practices we would train to not only endurance run, but also to sprint, which at first didn’t make sense to me...My coach told us that at the end of the race when you have that .1 mile left, you are supposed to sprint. So when I ran my first meet, I had to put this into practice. It was extremely difficult for me, because usually after mile 2 I am dying. My coach would not only push me to keep that pace, but to be ready for the end as well. So when I was at the last .1 mile marker, I am able to see: all the people waiting for me, the timer, and the finish line! It is such a great sight! haha. But when I get to that point, I have to run as fast as I can, in order to get a better time, pass others next to me who are slowing down, and to finish strong. So even though at this point I am exhausted, fatigued, drained, and just ready to be done… I know that I can’t stop and this is the time I am supposed to give my best for the race.”

Prayers for our energy, health, & perseverance would bless and lift us so much.

We are almost home!!!

We are going to finish strong.

{smile}