Since I was a young girl I’ve really enjoyed sport. I enjoy being active and there’s just something amazing of a stick making solid contact with a ball. Growing up I did a lot of sport, however after joining Mixchange the type of sport I did, changed dramatically. I was used to short fast-paced games and now had to transition to LONGG, enduring sport. I never even heard about triathlons and for the first time the opportunity was presented to me to actually do one. What an adventure!
When we were activated to start training in the morning, 4 times a week in the reserve, I knew that BIG CHANGE was coming. Firstly we weren’t used to training TOGETHER everyday and some were not training at all. Even though it was an adjustment, I knew it was important to obey God, and that He wants to establish a lifestyle of physical conditioning in my life.
I definitely experienced many challenges, personally and relationally. One of my biggest challenges was swimming. It was completely new to me. At first when Tannie Chantel came to help me, I was so excited to learn how to swim. As a young girl, I was afraid of water, not minding to be in it but being anxious if my head had to go underwater without me being prepared/ready to do it!
Tannie Chantel was so amazing in helping me, Tish and Mia started to join me in swimming with her. In the swimming training, apart from waking up early in the cold to swim, I had to face not comparing myself when I saw them being confident in the water and ready to press harder in the training, and I was very much in the beginning of training and wanted to take it step by step. I stopped that nonsense of comparing myself to them but then I had to face that fear of water, to actually enjoy the water and not to be anxious or afraid. There were mornings where I did not enjoy it at all, and there were mornings where I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mentally I had to face my mind saying that I won’t be able to do it. I had to use my faith, to not permit fear and anxiety but also to believe that I really can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
After many times of swimming in the nice, clean pool at the gym, Matt, one of my team leaders asked me to rather train with the whole group early in the morning at the reserve. NOT A CLEAN POOL AND VERRYYY COLD. Praise the Lord, with His great grace I did it! It was still challenging physically and mentally for me but I really experienced how others are there to encourage and strengthen you when you need help.
On the day of the triathlon, swimming was definitely THE CHALLENGE or let me say facing my soul (AGAIN) was challenging. As I started swimming, oh boy, I think I was in about 80m, I came up with my face out of the water but praise God, Tarryn, my friend and sister in Christ was right next to me. She looked at me encouraging me and saying, “Praise the Lord! Just take a moment.” I said to her that for me to continue, I’m just gonna do it on my back, so I basically did the whole 600m on my back! Looking back it’s quite funny now. Tarryn didn’t leave me one moment, she was there encouraging me, directing me in the right direction and she made me laugh because everytime I come up to say thank you and really not enjoying it, she just replies, “I am having so much fun!” Then I’ll get on my back again, smile and continue. Even though I didn’t do the whole distance in freestyle like I planned on, something happened in my heart about coming alongside one another. Not only did she make me laugh and made it enjoyable, her support and encouragement carried me through. It’s also precious moments for me that I will never forget, in my heart it has taken me to a new place in my relationship with her.
When I came to the running, I was truly so grateful in my heart for Tarry. The day before Tish shared with me how running is challenging for her, and I said to her that if I see her on the run I’ll stay with her. In my transition just before the run, I saw Tish coming in, not only knowing what I said to her but also now knowing how much it meant to me that Tarry came alongside me so I decided to do the run with her. The run was so much fun, I could encourage her, it’s also moments with her that I’ll never forget and on the way we caught up with Madi, Gian and Jess, hence us all finishing together.
On the day it was so real to me that I’ve been on a journey with these people, knowing that everyone set goals for themselves, knowing that we have trained together and made progress together and actually reaching the goals, it was such a special moment for me to finish strong together with them.
Going into the weekend I had one desire; to enjoy it and to be present with God and with the people around me.
Of course the whole day was just amazing, I enjoyed it thoroughly, doing my first triathlon was just epic but relationships really just stood out for me. A greater appreciation for the people around me, my love for them grew and also seeing the power in serving one another and what an impact it can have when we actually come alongside one another. It is completely the opposite of what I experienced in the world where I only competed and compared, always trying to be better than the other person and when you do work together as a team it’s just because you want to be better than the other team.
The other thing that was also awesome for me, in school, a big reason for conditioning physically was to look attractive physically. Again comparing amongst one another physically. It was just so amazing for me since I’ve been at MiXchange that it has never been about how you look physically but to know one another after the spirit. It became more real to me that this activation to condition, I’m doing it in obedience to God, no longer am I doing it for proving myself to be better than another, no longer am I doing it because I want to look physically attractive and compare myself with someone else physically but now it’s in obedience to God, looking after my body because it’s the only vehicle keeping me on the earth and it’s about me changing to fit the legacy, to be fully part of the legacy so that I can receive everything that the legacy has for me.
Yes, in order to change, I experienced challenges and it required me to get out of my comfort zone. I’ve grown physically, mentally and spiritually. As I saw challenges that I experienced, I can also see how it directly connects to my spiritual life too. It has clearly shown me where Babylon still has to come out of me and how God is still taking me. But I’ve enjoyed these last few months of training so much. I’ve learned not to isolate but to integrate, that God is all about relationships, He is all about doing it together, the fitness and health is a great bonus. Every holy conversation, every cold morning swim, or encouraging word, seeing people that have never trained before, now run 9 km… is truly amazing! It’s only God! I value and hold these special moments in my heart. I believe it has activated us not only physically but also spiritually, it has brought us closer together. I am grateful to God.