STILL RUNNING THE RACE - Jennifer Reid

John & I in front of Robert Indiana’s Love Sculpture on Sixth Avenue in mid-town Manhattan

I’ve been home from my dream holiday for a couple of weeks now and have so many wonderful memories, especially of my visit to New York. So many people have asked, “Do you feel depressed that it’s all over?”

My answer is, “No, it’s great to be back home. And I’m now looking forward to my next adventure!”

I’ve been thinking back on the last few years of my life and stand amazed at how far down the road God has brought me. Back in August 2010, I wrote a post titled “Running the Race”. I had no idea where my road was going to take me…all I knew is that I wanted to keep running the race.

Below is an excerpt from that blog post. I really want to share it again, not so much to remind you of how far I’ve come, but to remind myself.

My hope is that the breast cancer journey I’ve been experiencing, the race I’ve been running, the road I’ve been traveling might encourage you in whatever race you’re running…

From “Running the Race”, Tuesday 31st August, 2010:

Great cupcakes take effort, practise and perseverance.

I’ve made some pretty good cupcakes in the past, but as I admitted earlier, I’m in pursuit of the perfect cupcake. But if I don’t persevere, if I give up, if I don’t put in the effort, if I throw in the towel (and the wooden spoon), I’m never going to achieve what I have set out to do.

When you set out to bake cupcakes, you can’t just stop half way.

Imagine the excitement when you declare to your family that you’re going to bake cupcakes…..”Yay Mum, can I help?”; or hubby says “Oh that’ll be delicious. I felt like something sweet with my coffee!”

So with gusto, you begin making the cupcakes. But imagine now, the grave disappointment, if you just stopped. “What’s wrong?” your family would ask. And you’d say something like, “I don’t feel like making them anymore”, or “I’m too tired”, or “It’s too hard”. Whinge, whine, complain. A sad lack of perseverance.

In life, there will be times where we lack perseverance, which will undoubtedly lead to failure and disappointment. But when we fail, we must try and try again. We must run again, laugh again, forgive again, love again, trust again.

Life can be hard, but we mustn’t give up. Life can be scary, but we mustn’t hide. We need to realise that every morning is a new morning – we get to start again! So whatever mistakes we’ve made, or whatever we’ve failed in, it doesn’t matter. While ever we still have breath, it’s never too late to start again! As long as we never give up!

I’ve always admired the many people who enter the City to Surf (to raise money for surf life saving), or the Mothers Day Classic Fun Run (to raise money for breast cancer research). I know I would have no problem starting such a race really well, but I’m not quite sure with my health at the moment, whether I could actually finish the race successfully. Therefore, on my extremely long “to-do list”, I aim to enter one of these runs for a good cause one day, even if I end up just walking!

Starting the race will be the easy part; finishing it will be the real achievement. This means I’m going to have to prepare myself. I’ll need to research what sort of training I must do. I’ll need to build my confidence and practise some self-talk…”you can do it Jen, you can do it!” And I’ll need to ask the people who love me to support me. Not only will I need their financial support to raise funds for whichever worthy cause I’m racing for, but I’ll also need them to cheer me on. This will give me the motivation to believe in myself and to keep up with my training. It will also keep me going during the race itself.

One of my favourite verses in the Bible is in the Second Book of Timothy 4:7. It says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Life is like a race….in order to finish well, sometimes we need to fight a good fight, sometimes we need to keep running even when we’re exhausted; but all of the time, we need to keep the faith. Never lose hope. Never stop believing in yourself. That gorgeous guy dumped you? Well, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. You lost your job? Look for another one. You’re sick? Do whatever it takes to get well. You don’t have enough money? Start saving some. You want someone else’s life? You’re not going to get it, so start loving your own.

In April 2009 I had a bad fall and severely injured my right ankle. All of a sudden, my race came to a stand-still. I was held up, but didn’t give up. About a month later, I was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer. This was the blow that could have really knocked me down. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, in December 2009 I fell and broke the same ankle that I’d injured exactly 8 months before. But was I going to let these obstacles completely wipe me out of the race? NO WAY!

My faith kicked in and began to help me run the race. Positive self-talk began to spur me on to greater things. I truly embraced those people who are my willing supporters. They are vital to my race – when I’m weak, they cheer me on; when I’m tired, they get alongside and run with me; and when I think I can’t take one more step, they pick me up and carry me (which is exactly what my husband, my very own angel, has done for me time and again!)

I’ve chosen to fight the good fight, to run the race to the finish line, to keep the faith! My hope is that you do too!