even in the valley | August 4, 2025

Hey, y'all welcome back to Manna Monday. My name is Taylor and I've been with the Real Health Co. since March 2024. You may or may not know, but I am a big runner gal. I love the sport. I love the ways that I'm able to use the body that the Lord has gifted me with just to train and to do things that I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would accomplish.

I recently have gotten into the sport of ultramarathons and it has been just a wild ride and a wild opportunity to explore the Lord's creation through trails and forests in ways that I didn't think I would ever do. So the most recent race I did was at the end of July. I partook in what's called the Cherokee 70, which is 46 miles through the Cherokee National Forest. Everybody's probably like, "what in the world girl? How did you do that?"

And I didn't do it alone. That's for sure. They sometimes say like running is an individual sport, but that's definitely not the case. I had a crew surrounding me that helped meet me at different spots. I had volunteers that helped at aid stations and refilled my water, gave me food, just helped me make it through all of those 46 miles and the twelve hours that I was out there by myself.

I was asked at the end of that race, what the biggest thing I learned was. And I immediately thought of the middle of the race. So I had run the first 18 miles and I was surrounded by people because when you start the race, everybody starts at the same time. So everybody's trying to get their groove and it kinda takes 18 miles to do that when you're running a 46 mile race. That was also the first time that I met my crew, Seana and Anna, that helped me throughout the day.

So they honestly lifted my spirits. My spirits though at that point were pretty high. They helped me refill my water. We chitchatted for a couple minutes and then I was on my way for another 11 mile stretch. And at that 11 miles is actually a section of the course that I had never been on before.

I really didn't know what I was walking into, but let me just set the scene. It was definitely unexpected. So I ran the first five and I could tell that the sky was starting to creep in. And as much as I wanted to think that it wasn't going to rain or the day was going to be perfect, the Lord had different plans for sure. So I hit an aid station at the fifth mile out of that 11 miles.

And I was greeted with a group of volunteers that planned a little luau, which was so sweet. And then for the next six miles, I left that crew and the sky completely opened up. It absolutely started downpouring. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I did not see anybody for that entire six miles.

And when I tell you that I thought I was climbing a mountain that had no end point, I truly thought, "am I ever going to go downhill again?" I felt so defeated. I felt so alone. I truly stood multiple times for multiple minutes contemplating why in the world do I even get myself into this sport? But what kept coming back to mind is one, "Taylor, pull up your big girl panties.

You signed up for this." But two, you have people waiting for you on the other side. I knew that in five miles and four miles and three miles, two miles, one mile, I had Seana and Anna and a group of volunteers waiting for me on the other side. And not only would that lift my spirits, but they were there to help me and they were there to help cheer me on and just allow me to keep going. And it was the first time truly in my life that I had the purest example of walking through suffering- outside of suffering itself.

I chose this suffering, I truly did. But the example of just walking through something and to keep climbing that mountain knowing on the other side, there is something waiting for me. There is hope waiting for me. It was a direct reflection of, Jesus and his promise to us, to me. So it says in multiple places in the Bible, it says in 1 Peter, it says in James 1, we should be expected to enter into various trials and various seasons of the wilderness or various seasons of suffering.

But those moments and those moments of suffering is what is going to produce endurance in our faith. And what was so cool about that moment in the race is as I kept going through, because there was no way around, I kept being reminded more and more of: this is only making me stronger. This is only making me stronger. But when it comes to suffering and things in life, we tend to want to rush through it. We tend to want to go around it.

Right? So what this race taught me and what I encourage you to do is look at seasons of suffering, not as a "woe is me." Of course, is it comfortable? No. Suffering's one of the most uncomfortable things that the Lord places in our life, but He won't place anything in your life that you can't get through without Him.

And I also want to mention that there is something on the other side. There is the promise and the love of Jesus on the other side. And while you may not see the end of your suffering here on earth, we have a promise and we know when we make it to heaven, all that suffering will go away. So I pray today that in whatever season of suffering or unwantedness or, just downright not the best circumstances that you're walking through or may walk through, that you walk through them. You don't take the road around them.

You don't take the road above them or under them. That you stay there and you linger and that your eyes are open to what the Lord is going to teach you in those moments. I hope this speaks to you today. And even if you're on the mountaintop of life right now and everything is going great, or maybe you're, trudging up the mountain like I was with rain pouring down all by myself. That if you're walking through a season like that right now, that you know, one, you're loved by Jesus and by friends and by community.

But two, that if you keep pushing through, that that endurance will produce an even greater faith and an even greater love in our Lord.