Faith

Today's story is about faith and what it means to take that step or leap of faith.

I meet a lot of people and listen to a lot of stories. Faith is a topic that comes up in a lot of conversations. So I thought about what faith means to me...

I think we can all agree about the way we define the word faith as being something we cannot see and yet we believe. Websters dictionary says faith is a strong belief or trust in someone or something. Taking a leap of faith or that step of faith means having a strong belief that no matter what happens you will succeed in the path you are taking as long as you believe.

The marathon runner

His dream was to run a marathon. He has all of his friends and family there cheering him. The gun shot goes off, the marathon begins and he is off and running. He is proud to be running with the professionals and keeping their pace. Then he begins to slow down and it is only mile six. His breathing is inconsistent and his body feels heavy. A friend on the side yells, "It's okay if you have to stop", "It's not worth killing yourself over", "There's always next year." He hears these words from his friend and realizes that everything his friend is saying is true, he is tired and if he has to stop and quit, he can always try again at the next marathon why keep this up, today? He decides to give up the marathon and apologizes to his friends for coming out to support his effort that ended too soon. They all say they understand and everyone goes home. He goes home, slowly takes off the damp running gear and showers. His friends supported him and said they understood, however, he feels empty. He stands in the shower feeling a deep sense of loss not noticing the hot water has gone from hot to cold. He does his usual routine and at the end of the day grabs a cold beer and sits in front of his television to watch the local news. On the news is a story about a man who was the last one to cross the finish line. The man's friends are throwing him a tailgate party. The news reporter explains that he began the marathon running with the group of runners almost ten hours ago. They marvel at his courage to keep going explaining that there were moments in which he had to stop running and walked part of the way. When he had gathered strength he would begin to jog and then run, again. He kept doing this until finally he crossed the finish line. When the man was interviewed the reporter learned that he had twisted his ankle and still kept going in pain with only the finish line being his goal. The reporter asked him why he kept going and he said it was because he had faith that he could finish and everything would be okay once he crossed the finish line. His friends cheered and though many admitted to leaving the marathon they still returned to celebrate his courageous run and the fact that he finished.

Faith is what keeps a person going forward with the goal of reaching the finish line. Faith is what encourages a person to keep going even when everyone else is saying it's okay to quit. Faith is the friend that supports you and will be there at the finish line ready to celebrate your success. Faith is not simple, it will hurt and there will be moments that seem unbearable but the reward is in knowing that you believed in yourself and had the faith to keep going and not to give up.

My journey is about faith and today, things may seem unbearable, scary and hard but I am a fighter, an adventurer and passionate about my path. I don't believe in quitting on faith.

Thank you for following along on my journey.

Kendra


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