When All You Can Do Is Run the Race with Perseverance

Jordan used to be fast. In high school, he ran track, not just for sport, but for peace. Running cleared his mind, gave him purpose. But years later, the only thing running was his stress. Between the mounting bills, a crumbling marriage, and a job that drained him, Jordan didn’t feel like an athlete, he felt like a man drowning in expectations.

He’d wake up each morning already tired. Not just physically, but deep down, soul tired. He’d sit in his car in the driveway, gripping the wheel like it was the only thing keeping him grounded. Sometimes he’d whisper, “God, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”

Then came the layoff. The final crack in a foundation already splintering. Jordan felt like a failure. He didn’t tell anyone for two weeks. Not even his wife. He just went through the motions, pretending, smiling when needed, and dying inside.

This wasn’t defeat. It was the beginning of endurance.

One night, after another argument over money, Jordan walked out and just started running. No warmup. No route. Just pain in motion. His legs burned. His chest tightened. But he kept going. Until finally, he collapsed onto a field he used to practice on as a teenager.

Lying there, he cried. For everything. The dreams that slipped away. The man he thought he’d become. The weight he carried. And somewhere between the sobs, a memory surfaced, his old coach quoting Hebrews 12:1 before every race: “Run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

That verse hit different now. Perseverance didn’t mean perfection. It meant not quitting. It meant trusting that even in the fog, God still had a track laid out. It wasn’t about speed, it was about faith with every painful step.

Jordan sat up, knees scraped, heart thudding. And for the first time in months, he didn’t feel shame. He felt fight. Not because the problems disappeared, but because something inside whispered, “You’re still in this. Keep going.”

He didn’t have a map. Just a promise — to keep running.

The next day, he told his wife the truth. It wasn’t easy. But it was real. They cried together, then prayed. And little by little, the pieces started to shift. He found part-time work. They joined a small group. They began healing, not because life got easy, but because they kept showing up.

Jordan still runs. Not fast. Not to escape. But to remember: to run the race with perseverance is to move forward even when nothing makes sense, because God does.

What helps you keep going when life gets hard?

• Prayer and Scripture
• Support from friends or church
• Remembering past victories
• Sheer determination and grit