I have to admit, I wasn’t in the mood to go to the gym yesterday. After a mere 4-5 hours of sleep, my body was raging war with me and my mind was thinking about all that I needed to be doing. However, I had a standing appointment to workout with my friend at the gym, and I’m not one to back out for no good reason.

Turns out my friend was having a similar ‘blah’ day and she wouldn’t have made it without our set appointment, either. (Note: confirmed appointment = actually doing something!)

We started off with a 1-mile warmup around the track.

Funny how running that same mile by myself feels like A LOT of work (and sometimes pointless, like a hamster running around a wheel going nowhere), but when running with my running buddy, we both run faster times than when on our own, and rarely get that “I don’t think I want to go another lap!” feeling. Somehow we manage to chat back and forth which keeps our focus on something other than what our body and mind are trying to tell us.

After we had finished the rest of our workout, consisting of weights, cardio and other muscle-straining activities, we declared our workout to be accomplished.

Then I don’t know why, but the words came out of my mouth, “Hey, let’s do one more mile.”

When she realized I was serious, she paused a bit but said, “OK.” And off we went.

I know my marathon and triathlete friends are laughing right about now, but seriously, sometimes the thought of just 1 more mile to us “common folk” is pretty intimidating! There’s NO way I would’ve even had the thought to do another mile after all we had done if she weren’t there to run alongside me.

As we were running, we talked about the differences of running with a buddy verses running alone. I mentioned that I should invent a “shadow running buddy” that projects a lighted image to make you feel like someone is running beside you — you know, like you push a button and it makes you think that your ‘shadow friend’ is speeding up, so you have to go faster to keep up, and another button that records what you’re saying as you talk to your friend and tell them all of your ideas that you’ll later use for blog posts….ok…I’m telling you WAY too much — no one steal my idea before I have a chance to patent it, OK?
But seriously, this isn’t just about running around a track, is it? We all would like to have a ‘shadow buddy’ to run life with, wouldn’t we? I know that some of you reading this are struggling because you’ve lost your spouse, or you long for someone worthwhile to fill that daily void. Some of you have friends that have moved and you’re feeling like you’re alone on this journey day to day. Others of you have ideas and dreams that you know you should conquer, but you’re afraid to take the necessary steps because no one else is going that direction, and you fear going it alone.

Believe me, you’re not alone! I think it’s cool how God actually knows our every thought and even converses with us. I was working on my Bible study later that evening and in it was exactly what He wanted to tell me in response to my earlier thoughts:

Joshua 1:9 (NLT) “This is My command – Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO!”

He wanted to remind me yesterday that I’m NOT a lone runner in this journey of life! He IS that shadow runner, that running buddy, that we often need in order to keep us going, and to encourage us along the way!

If we invited Him to go alongside us every day, wherever we go in life, how much more could we accomplish? How much further could we go? And faster? Not only that…how much more would we ENJOY the workout?

Curious…is anyone going to go make that appointment? Feel free to leave your comments below!

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