Endurance Race of Life and Addiction: Race for Your Life

By Lisa Heyer

This is written for my son, Nathan, and all those that struggle with addiction. Addiction must be the worst stronghold anyone faces. While our country fights the epidemic of opioids, so many of our families are losing their battles to overdoses, deaths, and mental health illnesses. This needs to stop. To the families of those addicted, I encourage you to find your role in your family members' addiction. Don't enable, disable, or just tolerate. You have a role to play, and it can be a healthy, loving role with many rewards including a healthy, happy, and hopeful family member and a successful recovery someday. Also, this is written for all the women out there that hit their midfifties and think they are "too old" to do anything active. Don't believe those lies. The devil would like to keep you right where you are. Think again! When your desires to be better become hard, push through it and "do it anyway"! You will love the results. And for any of you that have ever wanted to complete or compete in a race, a bike ride, a 5K, 10K, or an IRONMAN, go for it. Step out in faith, get moving, and when it is hard, do it anyway! There is hope. Don't stop fighting. The battle is real, but there is hope""hope to win the race. This endurance race for life is not easy, but it's available to you. God has a plan for you and me. Be willing to work His plan. There is freedom waiting for you there. In sincere love, faith, and hope, Lisa Heyer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645690481

Book preview

Chapter 1

What I Learned in Endurance Training

When it seems impossible physically, spiritually, and mentally, then turn to the One that makes the impossible possible.

My first day of training for what I will call the almost impossible feat for me consisted of the internal commitment that I am willing to try and make the sacrifice so that I can give courage to others to make the same commitment someday, especially for my son Nathan. I believe God has placed Luke 6:38 as my life verse, and therefore I try to practice it regularly.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38, NIV)

I am fifty-five years of age and the only Tri I have done was five years ago as a Run for God Sprint Tri. This was a simple, noncompetitive event for me. The Run for God Tri was for fun and to just say I tried it. My T-shirt design said, Tri Anything Once Team. Otherwise, this race had no other purpose unless to set the stage now five years later when I would sign up for an IRONMAN 70.3 event. The IRONMAN 70.3Chattanooga that I signed up for this year would not be for fun. This would challenge every aspect of my being spiritually, physically, and mentally. Did I have what it would take, and would God provide me the strength in areas where I wasn’t strong or confident? He could, and He did!

I felt that God was leading me to do this, not only for myself, but for something He wanted me to say through it, hence the starting of this book!

When I was thinking of competing in this event, I considered it to be very hard, demanding, uncomfortable, and way out of my comfort zone. I compared it to an addict wanting sobriety yet not believing it could happen. I am not an addict, but I have fought with and for my son’s addiction for eight years now; therefore, I have the unwanted knowledge of addiction. When it is said, until you walk in my shoes, you can’t understand, it is so true. What I thought about drug addicts and homeless people has greatly changed while fighting for my child’s life through addiction. These people may have made a bad choice at one point of their life, but they did not set out to be an addict. No one would want that life.

I was going into this race with many disadvantages like age, most don’t do their first ironman at fifty-five, out of shape, bad knees and back, and lack of free time for training. However, in comparing it to the addict, many can feel like they are at a disadvantage as well with unhealthy desires and cravings, being out of shape, demanding changes, very hard and uncomfortable in addition to being way outside of their comfort zone. The addict didn’t get into this place because they like stepping out in faith and stepping outside their comfort zone. If so, most likely they would not be in the place they are in as an addict.

Both situations require determination, one day at a time mentality, total commitment, and trust in God to provide in our weaknesses. Just in thinking about the possibility of competing, my anxiety rises, my heart rate races, and my chest feels heavy. I know these are the same feelings Nathan has had when he is facing change, tough decisions, and stepping into the unknown. I will feel this same thing again on race day but will address this later.

I pray God will give me wisdom to know if I should take this adventure and if so, that He will prepare my way.

One of the books I happen to be reading while starting this adventure was Unlocking Destinies from the Courts of Heaven. For me, it was just a book that a friend lent me, and I was reading, but to God, it was the perfect timing to place thoughts and insights into my heart and head.

One of the pages contained this:

We must have a heart to move forward. The spirit of the Lord within us must stir us to desire something more than what a curse has allowed us to become. It takes an aggressive spirit and attitude to break out and move forward and see curses dissolved.

This is so true in many ways. First, without the desire in our hearts for different, better, or change, we would not move forward. We would be stuck in our own mess or lethargy, but once desire has been planted, we must care for it and watch it grow. I love something else I read in another book. God can move mountains, but sometimes He gives us the shovel! In endurance training for addictions and events like an IRONMAN, He puts the shovel into our hands.

Just to give you insight of where I was in training for my first IRONMAN 70.3 on January 29, 2018, I was out of shape and could only run/walk two miles, but I could hear God speaking to me about just go and trust, so I did. I ran/walked the two miles while listening to my Christian Playlist Music and was provided two songs when I started. One was I Need a Miracle by Third Day, and the other was I Will Go by Big Daddy Weave. And I had to answer yes to both! I would need a miracle and one that only God could provide, and I would go. I would go where He sent me, and if He sent me down the endurance training for an IRONMAN 70.3, then I would go! By the way, if you don’t know what an IRONMAN 70.3 race is, it consists of swimming 1.2 miles followed by a fifty-six-mile bike ride and finishing a 13.1 run, so to say I was very lacking in abilities for this event, I would compete in less than four months is an understatement! I hadn’t been swimming at all, and it was wintertime. I hadn’t ridden my bike in a couple of months, and I hadn’t been running at all. I was one of the less prepared candidates for this kind of event, yet God said GO, and I did!

So what did I do then? I still didn’t’ know what to do, but two times, Paul’s words came to me from 1 Corinthians 10:24–25, Winning a race requires purpose and discipline. Paul uses this illustration to explain work, self-denial, and grueling preparation.

This, too, could be the purpose and discipline Nathan and I must do. It will take purpose and discipline daily to fight what our minds tell us to do or not to do.

Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly (1 Corinthians 9:26).

While reading Unlocking Destinies from the Courts of Heaven, pg. 62, A curse causes us to live life without vision for the future. The pessimistic view of life sentences us to live well ‘below’ what God intended. I don’t plan on doing that! Dear Lord, I pray now that You never allow me to live life below what You intended for me! I know if I live up to Your desires for my life, I will be abundantly blessed more than I can imagine. I already have.

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31).

Amen!

On January 31, 2018, I ran three miles and rode twenty miles on my bike. It felt good. Just a few days ago, I hadn’t done any training, and now I had kicked it off and starting to move. The inspirational song Glory Unspeakable by Big Daddy Weave was playing as I was finishing my run.

Tell people everywhere…in the struggle, hold on, because we are almost there. It only hurts for a little while, but in a moment, we’ll see his glory unspeakable.

God used so many opportunities to speak to me or share scriptures when I was alone and training. He knows it takes me stilling my heart and my mind to hear Him clearly. And this leads me