I’ve touched on my own personal faith here and there on this blog, but only recently has this come front and center for me in a big, big way. The whole concept of training to run 26.2 miles has forced me to face my faith in an entirely new way.
I’ve been thinking a lot about faith lately and how hard it is to truly own your faith – faith in yourself, faith in your path, faith in your relationships, faith in your own little corner of the world. Faith is both a very powerful emotion but also a very scary one to truly embrace — especially for a Type A-er like me who loves to be in control, loves to have a plan…and has very little patience.
But right now — in ways well beyond the marathon thing, my faith (and my patience) are being tested and I’m figuring out just how much room I personally have to grow in my own faith. I went a little crazy on pinterest last night and found some hugely inspiring and poignant words to describe what faith means to me, more and more and more these days.
I hope ya’ll don’t mind the diversion away from my usual running and other sweatfest-inducing talk today but I just felt so compelled to touch on this today. Because honestly? No matter what (or who) you believe in (or not), faith is something we all face (and often grapple with) every single day of our lives.
…it’s a scary thing to trust in the unknown and uncharted, isn’t it?
(admittedly, this last one is the toughest of all for me to fully embrace. Blind faith means true faith, but it also means taking down the walls, letting go of control and believing in what lies just around the bend in your path…)
love it! no need to worry – God’s got this!
Absolutely right. He does have my back through and through, I have to constantly remind myself to throw myself at his mercy, knowing full well that He has everything under control.
I too have gone down this road during training. Sometimes it’s these moments that are more uncomfortable than the training itself! But that’s how we grow stronger mentally and physically. Keep on sista!
I’d absolutely agree with you — it’s those moments when you start to let fear creep in, or anxiety over what’s coming next that can be totally overwhelming. But if you can firmly step back and remember to have faith, suddenly everything seems a little bit less scary, less anxiety-ridden, less impossible. Yeah?
That last one really was meaningful to me. Last month (okay, really up until last week), I was obsessing over whether or not something would happen. It didn’t end up happening, and now I look back and wonder why I put myself through that. If it happened, it happened and everything will work out either way.
YES. Same for me. It is SO HARD to give up control and to let the chips fall where they may (I hate that phrase btw but for some reason I’m using it here?? lol) — but whether we want to believe it or not, everything DOES happen for a specific reason, always always. Even if we have no clue what that reason is…yet. There’s always something more meaningful going on, just around the bend.
Faith is one of the hardest things for all of us, I think, because it is intangible, in a way, and you just have to TRUST (the second hardest thing! trust!) and know that it will all come together in the end. Love you sis, Lindsay is right, God’s got this. XO
Faith and trust – they go hand in hand to me. It is SO hard to blindly let go and trust, faithfully. But more and more, I’m realizing I need to surrender myself to that blind faith/trust thing, even if it’s scary as hell.
Congrats Jess–you had faith you could run 20 miles and you did! You must be off the wall proud of yourself, huge accomplishment!
You are absolutely right — I am TOTALLY and utterly proud that I had the faith in myself to run those 20 miles. It is UNREAL to me that our bodies can do that!!
I LOVE this post! I just wrote about faith on my blog on Sunday. I’m going to pin away:)
I LOVED your post on faith girlfriend!
Faith is a huge thing for me. And I often look for different words to describe it when I’m wellness coaching because many people automatically associate it to religion or dogmatic principles…and obviously that’s not the aspect I’m referring to (even though that’s fine too…). I think that having faith is a major player in feeling comfort in life—that when you have faith in the people and things and outcomes in your life, you can relax a bit. It reduces the need to micromanage the moments in life, and helps to reduce the feeling that we should be controlling outcomes. I’m SO in the middle of that right now! I keep just having faith that the very best outcomes and opportunities will arise, and really, if I’m trying to force anything I think I’ll be more likely to recognize them when they come up!!!
Thanks for talking about this
Oh girl, I just love, love, love your perspective. Always. I think I say that every single time you leave me a comment. You always bring a unique and fresh spin on whatever it is that’s been rolling around in my head. How do you do that?!?!
As always, I love reading your thoughts and reflections. They capture the journey so beautifully. You are strong…definitely have faith in yourself and the God who loves you. You soooooo got this!
Aww thank you friend, you KNOW I’m a big fan of yours too…at least I hope by now you know this
Having faith in the God who loves you and me is such a comforting feeling, isn’t it?
SO comforting, and so true. Great post, Jess
I’m so glad it resonated with you Paige!
I love this post! I struggle with this myself. I’m in the midst of a career change, taking on yoga teacher training and so much more. So many things that are beyond MY control which is terrifying. It’s so hard to trust in ourselves that we give everything our best, that people can appreciate and respect what we have to offer and have faith that things will work out for us. And just as much as we put faith into good things, we have to put faith into the disappointments and let downs and know that is all part of our plan. It’s so hard but like you I feel like I’m putting more and more faith into everything I do. When you completely surrender to that feeling it can be incredibly comforting. You’ll be amazing on marathon day…I have complete faith in that!
when things are out of your control entirely, it is damn scary. And damn hard to blindly follow that path without really knowing for sure how it’ll all turn out. It’s that Type A in us that needs to be in control all the time that makes having faith even harder. Completely surrendering is the most freeing but also the most terrifying thing you can ever do for yourself. But I’m SO GLAD you’re working towards that my dear!!
Great post! I LOVE that quote about peace… just pinned!
I’m glad you loved it!
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I really love this – it’s not just faith in terms of a higher power. There are so many forms of faith aren’t there? Something I know I don’t think about often. And it can really and truly be scary to trust in that faith sometimes.
There really are so many forms of faith – doesn’t have to be of the ‘higher power’ variety either, honestly faith belongs in all of our lives in whateer shape or form we’re comfortable with. Even the scary kind of faith that leaves us trusting in the unknown.
Beautiful post. I am constantly reminding myself to be faithful. And not only that, but thankful for what I have and everything I have been given. Life is truly a gift. The ability to train/run is also a gift. XOXO
YES. Faith and giving thanks come hand-in-hand in my view as well. You absolutely cannot have one without the other. I love that reminder from you on life being a gift — it truly is and we should never, ever let ‘life’ get in the way of us remembering how fleeting our time here truly is.
Great post, I think faith and spirituality are somewhat interlinked and it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. I’m having a really good year and it feels like everything is coming together and in some ways, I definitely feel that I’ve been guided towards the right path for me.
I am LOVING how great of a year you’ve been having my dear. You just sound so much happier and settled and at peace with your path, I LOVE that!
I love this so much, Jess. I’m going for my first run in a month today before class. I’m nervous…hoping that my weak butt got a little stronger with all the stairs I climb every day now. lol I need to just remember the faith I had with training and push through. Running is far more spiritual to me than it is physical, and I truly believe that’s why I love it so much.
I am SO glad you got a chance to read this one before your first run in awhile…I hope it totally helped you run with joy and faith and strength!!
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