Do prayer and exercise go together?
7 ... 8 ... 9 ... oof. I was just finishing a set of Spiderman push-ups when something in my back went all weird. Awkwardly, I struggled to stand up. Bouncing on my toes for a second just to see .... Wow, yeah, I was done exercising for the day.
Gingerly I walked home, sure that I’d feel better tomorrow. I was training for a big endurance obstacle course – a 10-mile run interspersed with 20 different obstacles – and this intense workout I’d been doing seemed like just the thing to get me ready for it.
But now this injury threatened to derail it all. For the rest of the week, I couldn’t run, much less do other exercises. And then one week turned into two.
Now, I’m a practicing Christian Scientist, and that means I’m accustomed to turning to God in prayer to find a solution whenever I’m facing something difficult. And I had been praying about this injury. But you know, what I was really praying for was to be able to get back out there and continue my training because I didn’t want this intense race to be a miserable failure.
And that’s what I finally realized on my third week out of commission. I was glumly looking at my workout plan, wondering when God would help me get back to it, when I realized why that thought made no sense. Why did I think God would help me untweak my back, but that doing well in the race itself would be all on me? Why did I think that my success in the race – doing my best or maybe even better than I thought I could – depended entirely on what I did to make that happen? Huh. That was interesting.
Was it possible that God might actually be of help to me in every aspect of the race? Not just in the needed healing, but in every single way – including the assurance of doing my best in my upcoming event?
I have to tell you, this line of thought brought me such a wonderful feeling of openness and joy! I love praying – I really do. And the idea that prayer could be of real benefit even in completing this big race was thrilling.
But I wanted to go deeper. I knew I wasn’t going to pray, “Please, God, let me succeed in this race.” Instead, a familiar passage from the Bible came to mind: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31, New King James Version).
Oh, wow. Now I got it! The entirety of our lives – our health, prospects, career, and yes, even an obstacle course race – is renewed and strengthened by God, Spirit. Our role is just to wait on Him – actively watching for God and His loving activity. Not only could an injury not come between God and me, His spiritual offspring, but I couldn’t come between God and me either.
Working out is not a replacement for God’s love; it’s an avenue and opportunity to feel and express His strength. So I could certainly love to exercise freely and well, but I didn’t have to elevate that exercise to a position where I thought it had actual power over me to make or break my ability to take part and do my best or determine my health.
Well, this sense of true praise and freedom sang through me. I was completely healed – and back to burpees, Spiderman push-ups, and long runs the very next day. The race went well, too! Rather than being a separate thing, this activity was now the outflow of my prayer.
And truly, the best part was that I’d discovered that joy, strength, and capacity are all sourced in God, who is certain and sure. Availing ourselves of His love through activity is simply a seamless way, one among many, for us to honor God’s love and His allness.
Adapted from an article published in the Christian Science Sentinel’s online TeenConnect section, June 6, 2024.
