THE RACE

I was maybe 9years old when our teacher told us about Dr. Ben Carson while holding a copy of his book 'Gifted Hands '

The boy from Detroit who was called the dumbest in his class. The boy who endured, who pushed, who became one of the most celebrated neurosurgeons in history. The doctor who separated conjoined twins when the whole medical world said it could not be done.

I remember sitting in that classroom in absolute awe and all I was entrenched in was the beauty of becoming a neurosurgeon to help other conjoined twins in the future😃and give them a chance in life to live separately.😃

Then,as I grew up I kept learning that I cannot stand the sight of blood 🤣wounds or even basic injection, I slowly began realising the medical field is not a 'race I want to run' but there's a race set before me that I must run with endurance.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

The writer of Hebrews opens this verse with a therefore meaning everything that follows is built on everything that came before. Chapter 11 has just introduced us to the hall of faith. Men and women who believed God in impossible circumstances and whose lives became testimonies.

Their stories are the 'crowd' of those who've gone ahead and their endurance is the 'witness'

And the invitation is this 'let their lives embolden you to finish yours'.

But here is what I also want you to notice;

The crowd is not running for you your race .

The witnesses watch. They inspire. They testify. But the stripping , that is yours.

 The running , that is yours.

 The endurance , that is yours. Ben Carson's story moved me deeply. It still does. But his race was not my race. No matter how inspiring it was.

The verse mentions weights separately from sin. A weight is not always something wicked. Sometimes ,a weight could simply be the wrong race. An expectation you inherited. A dream that belongs to someone else's life. A lane you stepped into because it looked glamourus from the outside not because God placed you in it.

Running someone else's race will exhaust you,it's weighty.

Not because you are weak. But because you were not built for it.

The grace to endure is only available on the road God set for you. You will not find staying power in a borrowed assignment. You will find pressure, performance anxiety, and burnout and you will wonder why God feels distant when really you are just running in the wrong direction.

The crowd of witnesses is not cheering you toward their finish lines. They are cheering you toward yours.

Ben Carson ran his race with everything he had,and I am here, writing to you — not in an operating theatre🤣 but at this Daily Well .

Friend ,find your race. Strip everything that will weigh you down ,run with Endurance. Stay in your lane, undistracted, focused, unbothered by the glamour of lanes that were never yours.

The race God set for you is for you.. run faithfully.

DailyWell-Peace ✨