How To Find The Inner Strength To Keep Going

(00:00): I wonder if you've ever run a marathon or a half marathon or a mini marathon. I have to confess that I never have, but boy, in my day, have I run a lot of races? Have I trained for a lot of things? And maybe most importantly, have I been exhausted from trying to run a race, whatever that race may be. If you resonate with that and you're exhausted, stay tuned because we're going to talk about how we can have endurance in all these races that we're trying to run, whatever your race may be. Welcome to episode 50, one of the well-versed woman podcast, I'm Renee teller and I'm Theresa Morgan. You see Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women who have a heart to share our life's journeys, our races, if you will, with you and the testimonies that have come from it to give God the glory and boy have we run some races and boy, do we have some testimonies?

(01:15): But most importantly, we love to share the testimony about how God helped us through every single race we had to run. But before we get started, we know that the only way we endured was we plugged into the power source. We plugged in just like we plug in all our technology today to recharge. We recharged by plugging into the very creator that made us. So we do that by taking 20 seconds before we start and sit very still while we take some deep breaths and ask God to be with each one of us right now, opening our eyes, to see our ears, to hear and our hearts to feel the deep love he has for us. So those 20 seconds start right now.

(02:29): [inaudible],

(02:29): That's it. That's 20 seconds. And you know, I love to encourage you to grow that 20 seconds to much bigger time, even five minutes, which seems so little when we sit still that five minutes can seem like an eternity sometimes, but let's go back to this idea of running a race. And as I said, I've never run a marathon every once in a while. I think about it, but I do so much running in my life, Teresa and so much pushing of myself to climb a mountain or climb a Hill. And I'm always wondering where that endurance comes from. How was I able to get through that one? And that analogy I'm sure resonates with every single one of us, because as humans, we're all running somewhere,

(03:24): Aren't waiting every day. That's so true. And my, I have two sisters and we do something every Sunday morning. That's called pillow prayer, you know, instead of pillow talk, we do pillow prayer Sunday morning. And, uh, any times, um, as I'm praying during the week, okay, Lord, you know, what would you have, uh, Renee and, uh, myself talk about. And we were talking about how the Lord has changed our lives and how he's given us the strength in the endurance to stay in challenges until we see the blessing manifest. And so, uh, I often I take notes while my sisters are chatting away and you know, I'll say to them, thanks guys. You know, this is what the Lord would have us remind our listeners or inform our listeners. My one sister has, um, met some challenges, uh, with her occupation of going back to school later in life and becoming a special ed teacher.

(04:24): And she's really had to endure some things to get there. And her favorite scripture is I can do all things. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so he gives us the endurance is we're going to see today. You know, our first scripture that I'd like to share with our listeners comes from Hebrews chapter 12, verses one and two. And God's word said, therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great, a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every way in the sin, which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. So in every challenge in it, in every wonderful situation we find ourself in, but especially in the challenges, the best way to, uh, run our race is looking upon Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

(05:24): The scripture goes on to say who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, Renee, when I think of our Lord and savior and the path that he chose to walk and the nails that were put into his hands, his feet, um, the death, he suffered on our behalf. You know, he who he knew no sin. He became sin to take our punishment, to stand in our place. He, he looked at the joy set before him. He knew at the end of his race, should he choose to endure that race? That he would reunite his creation, his human beings back to the father and for that joy he endured. And so I love what the Bible says here, Renee, that through our challenges in life, we look to him, you know, he's our model, if you will. And we know that, you know, his precious, Holy spirit that resides within us will continue to strengthen us, will continue to give us wisdom through each and every challenge each and every leg of this race, we call it.

(06:42): Mm. You know, what's coming to mind, as I listened to you, Teresa is this idea. First of all, that the stories in the word of God, give us hope. Give us the ability to understand a situation, understand what Jesus must have endured that allows us to go on. And then, you know, sometimes I honestly say, well, wait a minute. He was Jesus. He was God, but he still endured the same slushy pains that we went through. And I don't mean just physical. But the other thing that came to mind very vividly for me just now was can you imagine what he was thinking about enduring the pain of going to the cross for a crime? He didn't commit right. For a crime. He didn't commit. He did it because he knew what was on the other side of it for us. So in his mind, he said, if this is what I have to do, if this is what I have to endure so that these people can be where the me and my father in heaven, he knows what heaven's like. We're, we're reading about it in the, in the Bible, but we've never been there any of us. But imagine it's just given me hope tree saw that he endured that much suffering because he knows how great it is on the other side. And I love that thought that just came to me

(08:21): So true. I think about how he suffered in the garden of Gethsemane 70, you know, thinking about, uh, what was, what laid before him. You know, the Bible says that he, he, when he sweat, he sweat drops of blood and physicians say that only occurs under duress, extreme, extreme duress. So he knew what was set before him, but he also knew the costs. You knew the cost, but he knew that the great prize was us. I love what the Bible says, Renee, Philippians chapter one verses four to six, it says Paul is praying. And he says, I'm always in every prayer of mine. I make requests for you all with joy. Isn't that beautiful? So again, you know, every prayer going up to the father, I'm making requests for the Philippians. He makes those requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day, until now being confident of this very thing that he, who has begun a good work in, you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

(09:27): You know, when Jesus walked the earth, he pulled away, you'll see in the gospels, he was always pulling away and he was finding a secure, a secluded place, a special time to move away and to pray to his father. In during those times, he would be strengthened. He would be encouraged. And that same pattern is left for us today. As believers, when we pull away, when we pray the joy and the confidence in the relationship with God is built to the point where we know that his word is going to work out all things together for our good, we know that his wisdom is going to give us what we need. We know that he is moving on our behalf. And so we can, even in the midst of our painful trials, we can look like he did at the ladder. And in say, you know what, for the joy that is coming, I'm going to endure this, knowing that God is working at all together for my good

(10:35): Exactly. I'm also reminded of when those of us that have children and doer a pain for a moment because we know what's going to come this beautiful baby in the end. And so I think for me, what I love about the word of God is gives us all these examples about why we endure. And we're talking about how can I get the Endurant sign I need for the particular trial that, you know, we might be in, in this very moment. And it's that bless it. Assurance, like we say, in the word of God that he, who began a good work in, you will complete it. I'd love that scripture to Teresa, that he's not finished with me and I'm going to endure this because in that he who began a good work will be able to complete it. If I stay in the game, right. We can't give up, we have to stay in the game. Just like I remember for me when Patrick was, uh, I was in the, in the, not the ER in the birthing

(11:54): Room, whatever we called it back then, uh, I remember Teresa saying, you know, I, I wanted to try not to use medications or any kind of drugs. And I got to a point where I said, okay, I can't endure any longer. I just can't please give me something. When the doctor examined me and said, you know, I'm sorry, you've, you've passed the point of no return, so to speak. And I had no choice, but to endure, right. I had no choice, but do our, and you know, clearly I did, because here he is today, you know, this beautiful young man, but we endure because we know what's coming on the other side, the hope that we have on the examples that we have in the Bible through Jesus Christ, allow us and give us hope for that tracer. Yeah. That's so true. I love, I love that.

(12:50): Stay in the game. You know, I think what God is trying to resonate through this podcast today is to encourage everyone to stay, hang in there, stay in the game because there's great. Blessings ahead in, you know, our faith is the blessed that assurance the word that we see in the, you know, the words in the pages of our Bible bring us, they had steadfast faith at immovable position that says, I know God's word is true. And I know he's going to bring all these things to pass. I love what it says in Philippians chapter two, verses 12 and 13. Again, Paul is writing and says, therefore, my beloved is you have always obeyed. That is in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.

(13:50): So there have been times in my life where, you know, and, and, and probably every, every Christian has gone through this where you're saying, Lord, I don't feel you. I don't see you moving in my situation, but this scripture always reminds me, you know, you don't have to see it. You don't have to feel it. God's word is either true or it's not. And I've come to the place in my life, Renee, as you know it, because you've come to that place where we know every word is true and we know God is working it out and he's working in us, he's working in us to will and to do for his good pleasure. So we have to say to ourselves, he's either working or is, or he is not. His word says that he is father. I believe you're working. And I believe you're a rewarder of those that diligently seek you.

(14:46): I believe in all of a sudden when that word comes to my heart, all of a sudden that encouragement comms to endure another day and things start happening in the most amazing, amazing ways. This is one of the things my sisters and I talk about because we pray on Sunday mornings together. And then the next Sunday we'll get together and we'll have testimony like, can you believe God, I was praying for this? And I was thinking he was going to do this, but that thinking was a little bit too small because he actually did such and such. And the way he answers prayers is so much more glorious. It's bigger. There was a situation where, um, you know, my sister being a school teacher was, you know, in a school situation, we were praying for, uh, you know, a situation with the kids in her classroom, um, to change. But what God did was he not only changed her situation in her classroom, he changed it for the whole district. Can you believe it? He changed it for the school. And, and it was like a boomerang, a boomerang effect. So that my sister and her kids were not only blessed, but it extended past that. And that's what God does because he's God.

(16:10): Hmm. Wow. That's amazing. I mean, the other beautiful thing that we have today, Theresa, with the computers and the Bible being on the computer, when we're trying to endure something, you know, we can Google scriptures that relate to us to, to the situation that we're in, that give us that bless it assurance to endure.

(16:36): Right. That's so true. I love that you brought that up Renee because yes, boy, that's all we have to do is Google or whatever search engine you're using. You can Google scriptures for anxiety, scriptures for bodily aches, scriptures for, uh, I'm needing deliverance, or I'm needing a healing or gee scriptures for prosperity and beautiful scriptures will come up. And when we start confessing them in, when we start meditating on them, that faith in that endurance in our hearts begins to rise. And the Holy spirit takes hold of that with us. And before you know it, we're flying on the wings of faith.

(17:18): And I think so many early believers before you don't have these years of experiences and testimonies where you see God do it over and over. And trust me, even though

(17:34): I've seen God do a lot, I still

(17:36): Fall short, but I love Theresa the Jeremiah 29, 12 and 13 scripture, because it says that we'll call upon him. Can you that one that, that we, we will call upon him and he'll listen. And it's like, is he really going to, well, wait till you hear what Theresa's about to read. Oh, wow.

(18:01): I love this to Renee. And you know, uh, Jeremiah 29, 12 and 13 says, then you will call upon me and go and pray to me. And I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart, isn't that beautiful. You will find me when you search for me with all your heart. And I love to interject my name into my prayers and into my confession of the word. I just love to say, father, I thank you that your word says when I call upon you. And when I pray to you, you listened to me and Lord, when I seek you with all of my heart, I find you, I thank you father, that I find you today. I thank you that your ears are open to my prayers. I thank you that you care.

(18:51): So for me, I thank you that I'm the Apple of your eye. That when you think of me, your dance father, your thoughts of me are more than the sand on a seizure. You can, you, you can tell these are all scriptures that just come up from my heart. And before you know it, any place of doubt that I might be thinking any, um, you know, thoughts that are on lovely, all of a sudden they're turned into those thoughts that are lovely and pure. And all of a sudden, as the Bible says, you know, think upon these things in, when I do again, my faith is my faith rises, uh, to a place where I'm encouraged, where I can then go on again and I can look for God in the midst of it. So,

(19:39): So true. And it just kind of blows my mind to be honest, that he says, I will listen to you. It's like, Whoa, wait a minute. You're God, you don't need to listen to me. You're in charge now. That's how amazing he is. And that's how gentle he is. And what a friend he is that I will listen to you, you know, God is not this, this guy up there that some of us have the vision of that. He's so big that he can't possibly hear us. Tracy, that just really blows my mind. Like, then you will call upon me and go and pray to me. And I will listen to God. You'll listen to me. Little old me. It's so hard to grasp that. And yet when I have my alone time trace a morning after morning, right? He shows up and I feel him there, me, I can cry with him. I can laugh with him. I can dance with him. I can, you know, just be silly with him. Like, I love that God that I've gotten to know.

(21:01): No, that's so true. And I that's in that is so beautiful. And you know, he wants, they had for every one of his children, as you were talking, I was thinking of a companion verse to Jeremiah 29, 12. And it's in Jeremiah chapter 33, verse three. And it says call to me. And I will answer you in, tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Isn't that amazing. God just says, call me, I will answer you. I will show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. You know, when you draw on to me, I will draw nigh unto you. He's just waiting for an invitation. He's such a gentleman that he's not going to just come bounding in pounce on all of your, your, your life situations. He wants to be invited in. And when we just look his way, Y you know, I'm thinking Renee of the parable of the prodigal son, this a Bible says that when this son that went away squandered his father's wealth, squandered his inheritance, he woke up in the pig sky and said, boy, I had it better in my father's house.

(22:19): And when he, he said, I'm going to go, I'm going to apologize to my father. And I love this. The Bible says when he was returning home and he was a far off distance, the father was looking for him, caught his eye in prepared. A big celebration for his son had returned. Isn't that beautiful? And that's, that's the heart of the father. That's the heart of our God. Even if you say, you know, I once was walking closely with God, but boy, I really have I strayed, will he even take me back? Will he even consider me at this point? I done X, Y, and Z. And I want to encourage our listeners today. He's looking for you. And when you make one little step toward God, he rushes in with forgiveness and love and encouragement. And it's, it's, it's, uh, he's a beautiful God with a lot of mercy. A lot of grace, his word says that his mercies are new and fresh every morning. So really that's the place we want to be is right in father's house.

(23:33): You know, we're talking about how do you have endurance? And this conversation is around and about this idea that God is always with us. He's not going to leave us. He's not gonna move. As long as we stay in the game, like we were saying, Theresa, he will be there. He throws our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. The Bible says, and we don't need to be guilty or think that, you know, they're going to get thrown up back to us. And so the scriptures are meant to encourage us to endure no matter what he is there he is real. He is alive and will never leave us or forsake us Teresa.

(24:31): So true. I love, I love that scripture. And it's actually Psalm one Oh three verse 12. It says is far as the East is from the West. So far. Has he removed our transgressions from us? God's mercy is, is so big. It's so magnanimous Renee that, uh, we cannot send God, we can't, if you will, we don't want to sin, but his mercy is just a huge for us. You know, I, I love what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 22 to 25. It says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. So, right. That's what we're talking about. Faith in the word, faith in, in what he says will come to pass. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast. The confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

(25:26): And let us consider one another in order to stir up loving good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of somebody exhorting one another in so much. The more as you see the day approaching, this really talks about the body of Christ. It talks about getting together with another mature believer and praying for one another, because when we can get together with another believer, we can have that assurance and encouragement. So, so many times of, you know, I'll call Renee and say, Hey, Renee, I have this situation and you know, we'll pray together or vice versa. And it's a real blessing, especially in the times in which we're living, um, where God says, make sure you get together with one another, because in the midst of tour three, right, the Bible says, as we pray right in the midst of two or three, he is, he is there.

(26:28): He sure is. Which is why as Theresa says, we go two by two and Teresa always calls me her two by two year by two by two day. I love that and exactly why we're here and why we're here for you every single week. And let me encourage you to stay tuned because next week is celebration week, we will be recording or airing episode 52, which if you know, there's 52 weeks in a year, and we're so excited that you've been with us, possibly, you've been with us all 52 weeks. But if not, we've been here 52 weeks and we will continue because we just so enjoy getting the word of God out over the airways so that you can be uplifted and encouraged and draw close to him every single day. And we've coined our favorite scripture tree. So right where we have her and they will have to think, Hmm, maybe for the next 52 left to protest the Lord to give us another runway. Do you think we'll have to talk about that? But at any rate we love face, right? We love faith. God loves faith. So our cornerstone scripture is Romans 10 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Thanks so much. We hope this encouraged you to continue in the race. Don't give up. We're here more importantly. God's here until next week. We love you. We love you. Bye.

(28:08): Yeah.

(28:11): Thanks for listening to episode 51. And we want to encourage you to subscribe to this channel, to rate and review and contact us to send you a very free well-versed woman journal. We also have a Facebook group please search well-versed woman on Facebook, and we'll put you inside that group. And last but not least the show notes, the show notes have all these scriptures that we talked about today, about endurance. You can print them out and use them to help you endure through whatever you have happening right now in your life. We'll see you next week.

(28:54): Bye now,