It’s always funny to me the way that God gets my attention sometimes.  This particular instance was at spin class just a couple of weeks ago.  I walked in a little worn out…thinking too much about the load of cares and worries I was dragging in there…you know how it is.  I didn’t really feel like exercising, come to think of it I never really do…but the weather’s now changing and my jeans are too tight!  Ugh!!  Anyway….back to the story! 🙂

I hopped on my bike ready to start.  This new teacher walks in…one we’ve never had before because she usually teaches the morning classes and we are the “evening gang”! 🙂   “Great…a sub.  I hope she knows what she’s doing…” is what I’m thinking.  Aren’t I such a nice person in my thought life?!!  Patting myself on the back for that sweet thought…NOT!

She didn’t look like a mean person or anything…but after only ten minutes of what is an hour long spin class, I thought, “she must have read my mind because now she’s out to kill us all!!”  I was literally whining like a child inside my head!!  I’m used to a longer warm up song or two at the beginning of class…but she seriously had us climbing “hills” in the second song.  The SECOND song!!  It’s just not done!! 😉

Now for those who don’t know what spin class is…imagine your’e on a bicycle and you are biking (for an hour) either super fast as if you’re in some kind of a race, or up and down the most enormous hills you can imagine.  There are 10 second breaks for sips of water in between…and all of this happens while listening to the teacher’s favorite fast songs blasting over the speakers!!  It’s usually dark in the room with 6 fans blowing at your face and the AC on full blast!  You leave wet, weak, exhausted while thinking to yourself, “what just happened?” …that’s if you do it right!  😉

But this day, I was wiped out in song #2!!  But by the time the fourth or fifth song came on, she had us all biking up an incredibly long hill for what seemed like eternity and she suddenly said something that hit my ears and went straight into my spirit and my soul!  Seriously!!  Could God be speaking to me through the spin teacher sub lady??  She was encouraging us, telling us there was only thirty seconds left until we were at the top of this “hill” and then she said, “Come on everyone…just work through it!”  JUST WORK THROUGH IT.

I don’t know if it was my attempt to escape the pain that I felt in my legs at that moment, but suddenly I thought about my life and the trial we are facing right now. Suddenly it was as if God was saying to me, “Tami, it’s just a hill…you’re almost there…just “work through it.”

Then I thought of childbirth.  A normal afterthought, right?  😉  I remember giving birth to each of my kids and thinking, “there’s only one way out of this pain…to go forward and get this baby OUT!” 🙂  In other words, I need to just endure this pain…for at the end there will be a beautiful baby and it will all be worth it!!  Just push!  Or better yet…”just work through it!!” 😉

My revelation at spin class was this: God wants me to endure.  He wants
me to stay the course, keep peddling up this tough “hill trial thing” because there is something wonderful up ahead!  I just need to work through it and ENDURE.  “Okay, God.  I’m in!  Let’s do this!”

It’s funny but I think my feet peddled a little faster after that! 🙂

In Romans 5:3-4, Paul tells us to “glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the LOVE of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

I love what my Bible’s study note says.  It says, “when our Christian character goes through hardship, hope of receiving what God has promised GROWS STRONGER.  We know that hope of great future blessings will not turn out to be false, because the Holy Spirit gives lavish evidence in our hearts of God’s love for us.”  Cool, huh?

God’s love for us.  So amazing!!

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the perfecter and founder of our faith…”  Hebrews 12:1-2