Running. Some do it for relaxation. Some do it for exercise. Some do it for competition. Some even do it out of necessity.

Run…..To Run. An irregular verb that means Literally, to travel to someone, something, or some place by running.

I started running at a very young age. I ran from the mean kids in my class that bullied when bullying wasn’t talked about. I ran emotionally into a shell that was hard and impenetrable by their laughter and mean words.

I continued running into my teenage years as I learned that new relationships were easy. The longer you were around people… the harder it got. So I ran from one friend to the next. Never really committing to any of them. I even did this within my family. I ran from my mothers home where I didn’t feel wanted… to my fathers home. I stayed long enough to have to start building relationships, working through problems, talking it out. Then I ran. Back to my mothers house.

I stayed there a little over a year. This started a series of running- a bunch of mini marathons. One boyfriend turned into more which turned into marriages which turned into divorces. I was running, never looking behind at the carnage I was leaving. Only ahead, stretching my legs out into a steady stride. Breathing in and breathing out. But suddenly I realized I didn’t even know where I was running to. I knew what I was running away from. Rejection, embarrassment, anger, Jealousy, bitterness, pain, betrayal, fear, lies, shattered dreams, heartbreak.

But to what or who and where was I running? I hadn’t stopped long enough to think about it. I had always just ran. I never let myself take a long enough breath in to let my mind clear, my pulse to slow, my heart to heal. I just looked ahead for the next starting line. I was a good starter. Just a poor finisher.

^{In the Bible, Matthew 6:32-33 says this: “}These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

God began working in my life to help me understand where I was running to and then, and only then was I able to understand why I started running to begin with. God began to heal me from the inside out. He placed in my heart a joy I can’t explain. He made right all the wrongs and took my sin as His own. I am far from perfect and somedays I walk instead of run, but I keep pressing on, because an eternity in Heaven is the finish line.