Don't Seek worry in tomorrow. find faith in the past

​I'm better than I've ever been at living in the present. But at this past Saturday's Georgia Jewel - I have to confess - I spent a lot of time in 2020.

Here's a truth about me. No matter how strong I get, when I look to future finish lines in running and in life, I still have a hard time believing I can reach them. I have doubts. So, I frequently have to look to the past for reminders that I have already reached the places I begin to fear I just can't reach.

When I began to feel pain Saturday, I reminded myself the pain felt just like last year's pain. A pain I found a way through.

When I began to feel nauseous, I reminded myself that nausea felt like last year's nausea. A nausea I found a way through.

And when I got to the insurmountable looking Mt. Baker at the finish line, I reminded myself I'd already mounted that insurmountable. And it looked far less insurmountable.

I don't know that we often enough acknowledge the true power today's accomplishments will hold in tomorrow's fights. Today's finish lines ARE tomorrow's strength. The things we grind our way through today get catalogued in our memories as fuel for tomorrow's grind.

It's like a library in many ways. We're stocking it full of the books we'll want to read to ourselves when times get tough. But here's the thing - a library full of books is useless if we don't go to the library.

If we decide to worry and panic about what might happen ahead instead of going to that library to read about the fights we've already won - the library of our past is useless.

There's a reason we do tough things. For me, it's not to run around the world saying: look at me - I can do tough things. No - it's so when the inevitable next tough thing comes up in my life I can say to ME: dude, you are the master of tough things.

For me, God is my source of my strength in tough times. Looking to my past is always a reminder that he has always been there. Looking at what God has already done in my life is always a greater source of faith for me than looking to an invisible future - a place where I can begin to wonder - will he be there.

Whatever your source of strength is today, and whatever that strength gets you through today, remember it. Store it away. Because tomorrow you'll be tempted to worry about the future.

There's no strength there. There's is no faith up ahead.

So don't go there. Turn around and go visit the library you created in your mind. Go read the memories that you've already created, memories that remind you that you've already done what you fear you'll never be able to do.

Don't worry about what might happen.

Go find strength in what already has.