In November 2019, a woman named Beth Pottle signed up to run a very difficult, multiday relay race out in the California desert. Beth was 58 years old at the time. She had only started running a few years earlier. All her teammates on this relay race were much younger and were much more experienced runners. Beth was nervous about completing the race and afraid that she might fail her team. One neighbor who saw Beth training in the North Carolina heat offered to add her name to a text prayer chain so other women in their small town could pray for her race.

On race day as Beth and her team gathered near the starting line, Beth’s phone suddenly pinged. Her teammates stared at her. They were in a remote desert region that had no cell phone service. The ping was a text from the neighborhood prayer chain back in North Carolina. Beth read it aloud to her team. It was Isaiah 41:10, a promise from God to the nation of Israel, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

The runners ran up and down steep mountain slopes; some of the running even took place at night. After the first night’s run, Beth was so exhausted that she began to walk the trail rather than run. Then she heard that verse from Isaiah 41 in her head. And she picked up her feet and ran again. God was with her. All she had to do was keep moving forward. Beth and her teammates successfully finished the race. As they headed back into San Diego from the desert, all their phones began pinging them constantly with messages of support from their family and friends back home. But only one message had gotten through when they were in the desert--the message reminding them of the promise of God’s love.