His Strength is Perfect

On my 40 mile bike ride Wednesday, I was NOT wanting to ride, at all. I had ridden the previous two days and was really tired. I forced myself out the door and on to my bike. I really wanted to quit at 2 miles, but kept telling myself, just a few more miles...

When I realized that I was actually going to complete the entire 40 miles (at about 20 miles in) I began to have a portion of a song go through my head, "His strength is perfect when our strength is gone; He'll carry us when we can't carry on; Raised in his power, the weak become strong; His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect." I realized that I had made it this far because of the strength of Christ. I had been praying the scripture, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) and He HAD given me strength!

So often I feel like I can't make it, that I have reached the end of my rope, but I've found if I call on Christ, He is always there to help me, to give me the strength to make it. I was able to ride 62.2 miles on my bike today and I again had that song going through my head. I decided to try to find the entire lyrics and to my surprise, that scripture was part of the song!

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength
But sometimes I wonder what he can do through me;
No great success to show, no glory on my own
Yet in my weakness he is there to let me know . .


We can only know
The power that he holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes;
His strength in us begins
Where ours comes to an end
He hears our humble cry and proves again .

Wow! That is SO true. When we decide to let go and let Him take control, then He can begin to work miracles. Yes, we must do our part, most definitely! But when we've reached the end of our strength, then He is always going to be there to support us. How awesome is that?

I know that I could not have finished the 40 miles or the 62 miles without His strength; nor could I have run my marathon or finished any of my runs without His presence and strength. He expects us to work to the best of our ability, but to be aware that we DO have limitations when we are on our own. However, with Him beside us, we have NO limitations to what we can do. I love that!

Thank you, Jesus, for your strength! Thank you for always being there to help me when I need you!

God bless you today and everyday.

Gina

"Half Century" Bike Ride!

Note to self: "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (did I say never?) map a bike route that includes going South from Silverton on Cascade Hwy!" One (and only one) good thing about it is that I got a good hill workout out of it. Every time I think I have ridden lots of hills, I find another route that has more of them. ACK! I couldn't just turn around and go back - it was the wrong direction and I would have had to ride 60 miles today instead of 50. Oh well, live and learn. LOL!!

I am amazed that I was able to ride so far, more so since the last 20 miles were basically hills, long & steep hills. Did I say "long"? They were SO long. At mile 31.2 I started a hill and finished it at mile 33.4 with an elevation gain of 227'; then again at mile 36 started another long one that ended at mile 38.8 with a gain of 400'. This went on for the rest of the ride until I reached within a mile of my house.

Here's a shot of what I thought was the top of the first LONG hill! It just keeps on going...



But the view from the top is worth it!


The weather report said it was supposed to be 54 and cloudy so I stupidly believed it and wore tights & a long sleeved shirt. It was sunny the whole time and of course I overheated. I removed my shirt, but was stuck wearing the tights. It was a busy road so I didn't want to ride au naturale. :)

I also ran out of water at mile 37, something I never do either. I wasn't thirsty for the rest of the ride, but really needed to eat my other gel, but not without water, so my energy level fell way off.

So the last 20 miles were the ride from hell, :) but I survived! My average speed wasn't too bad - 13.9; actually that is pretty good, only .3 mph difference from my 40 miler!

Wow, I can't believe I rode 50 miles! I am definitely feeling tired, hungry too. I burned 2201 calories so I guess I can eat pizza for lunch!

Have a great day! I'm going to. :)