Isaiah 40:28-31

In my mid-through-late 20s, I spent my summer weekdays in Charlotte, Norht Carolina, setting up for soccer camps at 7 am and finishing camps at 3 pm, all so our team could practice from 4:30-6:15pm. If you haven’t spent too much time in the South during August, you’re extremely lucky. It’s hot and humid. At the end of a youth camp week and 5 training sessions with the team, we were exhausted. However, our coach was concerned that we might be losing our fitness level, so he’d have us do sprints at the end of those long days.

Needless to say, there wasn’t a single person who “wanted” to do them and there was often frustration because everyone’s tank was empty. Our coach was trying to prep us to finish our games well and our bodies were trying to quit because they didn’t feel like they had anything left to give. While we recovered from each sprint, I vividly remember my teammate saying, “Guys, this is when you have to stop relying on your own strength. We don’t have any more strength. We have to ask the Lord for His strength!”

Hearing him say that made me self-evaluate. I always relied on my own strength and ability and I was forced to consciously ask the Lord for His strength. Every believer goes through moments of fatigue, weary legs, doubt, thoughts of giving up, etc. It’s in those moments that we are expected to rely solely on Him vs ourselves. We don’t quit. We keep going so that He can carry us and show us just how mighty and powerful He is! It is in our weaknesses that his strength is revealed.

Gregg Schroeder