Challenge Accepted

I was never physically active growing up in Texas, but living in the mountains has changed that. I love hiking, I love being on the river, I even, dare I say it, sort of enjoy running. As this new side of me took root, I looked for challenges - Tough Mudders, 5Ks and fourteeners.

5 years ago I decided to take on my biggest self-imposed challenge yet - hiking Pike’s Peak. As the day grew closer, I got more excited. But there was one thing I didn’t do.

I didn’t train.

Like, at all.

Sure, I did a few easy hikes here and there in the months prior, but I didn’t have any kind of regiment on my day to day schedule. In my mind, this would be a hard hike that would just take longer than usual.

Oh 24 year old Sarah. How I wish I could knock some sense into you.

My friend Maggie and I planned everything out. We were staying with friends outside of town, ate a bunch of carbs for dinner the night before and set our alarms for 3am. We woke up excited. Maggie had done the hike before and told me about the gift shop at the top that had donuts. We were hiking to donuts! What an amazing adventure.

We started up the trail and all was fine for a while. Sure, it was tough, but we were doing it!

Then we got to the half way point, about 6.5 miles in. It was there that I made a huge mistake. I sat down. My legs were tired, I was starving and I thought it sounded so nice to take a moment to eat one of the few snacks I had brought with me. We were there for maybe 10 minutes and then carried on.

Or at least we tried to. My legs had turned into jelly. I could not keep going. There were times my brain was telling my legs to move, but nothing happened. We had gone about a mile more when I called to Maggie and told her I couldn’t do it. Maggie, who is just the best, had started the hike with the mentality that if we needed to call it, we would just turn around. She said OK and we started back down. My body was still in pain but that was the least of my worries. My mind was spiraling out of control.

You’re a failure.

You couldn’t do it.

You’re a joke.

These thoughts kept running through my mind while tears started running down my face. I finally stopped hiking for a moment and in one of my more dramatic moments sobbed to Maggie “I can’t do hard things!”.

My sweet friend looked at me and said something along the lines of “Sarah, get over yourself. Now is not the time to fall apart. We’ve got 6 more miles to go.”

I sniffled “OK” and we made it safely down to where we started.

I look back on this day now and laugh. I set myself up for failure. Taking on challenging things requires preparation! That’s why they’re challenging!

Here’s where I not-so-smoothly compare a regular life event to my walk with the Lord. There are so many instances in my faith where I find myself in challenging situations. There are also so many times when the challenges win - maybe a stressful situation, tragedy, resisting the temptation to gossip, not getting angry. Most recently, the challenges have centered around battling fear and anxiety postpartum.

You know when these challenges don’t seem so daunting? When, by God’s grace, I survive the challenge mostly unscathed? It’s when I am daily spending time with God. When I am intentionally seeking his heart, when I’m putting Scripture to memory, when I am praying continuously - those are the times when I feel prepared. Those are the times I can face challenges head on. I may be exhausted, run down and well past empty by the end of them, but God helps me get to the end.

As of this moment, I have written down in my calendar “Conquer Pike’s Peak” on July 13th. Ever since my day of defeat 5 years ago, I’ve wanted to go back. I’ve wanted to try it again, with proper training under my belt. And friends, I have desperately wanted to taste the donuts at the top of the trail.

So every day (well most every day), I find time to train, even if it’s just a quick set of squats and lunges. What’s nice about this challenge is that I know exactly what day my skills will be put to the test. That’s not always the case in our spiritual walk. For this reason we see the charge in 1 Peter:

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8

We must always be on guard. We must always train. We may face small challenges throughout our day or we may find ourselves in the midst of one seemingly long marathon of challenging times. But God is faithful. Seeking him and deepening our knowledge of his character will help keep our sights set on him no matter what arises.

Stay strong! I’m sure my hike up Pike’s Peak in July will hold a story I’ll want to share so keep an eye out for an update. I can’t wait to tell you, in detail, how sweet those donuts will taste.