Hey everyone it's Leslie Ludi host of the Set-A-Part-Parle Encouragement for Women of All Ages.

Today we're going to continue in our lifestyle series and talk about what it means to become a spiritual

athlete. This was such a key truth for me to learn in my Christian

walk because going into ministry I had no idea of the battle that I was entering

into. I think a lot of people experience this,

whether you're just mentoring someone or teaching a small group Sunday school class

or going to some kind of large-scale ministry, orphan work or mission work overseas or writing and

speaking to large groups of people it really doesn't matter the scope. Any type of

ministry is a spiritual battle and if you are not ready to truly rise up and become a spiritual

athlete, if you allow difficulty to just swallow you up, then you'll be eaten

for lunch. And that was really what happened to me the first few years of being in full-time ministry.

I found myself anxious and depressed and miserable and crying out to God and wondering why I was always upset and

always stressed out and not really understanding the battle that I was in or how to

handle that battle. It was a real battle with self-pity to be honest

because circumstances in my life were becoming difficult and overwhelming. There were

financial challenges, there were health issues, there

were relational issues in my life, and all of these things were completely

overwhelming to me. In addition to that, I was facing some pretty intense false accusation and

betrayal from people I had really trusted and it completely robbed me of my

perspective and joy. I felt like a victim. I kept asking God why he was allowing all of this to happen to me and

emotionally it felt like everything in my life was basically just falling apart I

did not have the strength to cope let alone triumph through any of these challenges.

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