We work out, or say we are going to work out, for many different reasons: to tone, lose weight, to improve health, get stronger, heal, train for a skill... but all have one thing in common. There is always a Struggle.
The struggle to start. The struggle to continue. The struggle to recover. The struggle to learn. There is always a struggle. To some the struggle is easier than to others.
But that struggle is what produces the end results.
Today, this came to mind in my #timewithGod. Funny, how God circles around time and time again to remind us of lessons we have learned, but may be experiencing again currently, or in the near future. Today, God reminded me of a lesson I have learned A LOT in my life --- Struggles are allowed (not inflicted) for our benefit!
Adrian Rogers makes the point that victory is never easy because those things that come easy have a tendency to make us weak. We would grow complacent. We would slip simply because we would not have to try, or depend on God. God intends to make us strong - strong in Him and strong in spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional maturity. STRONG - which is unfortunately found in the struggle.
If you have not seen a significant struggle in your life - do not be discouraged. We, like kids, are all on unique paths. We learn differently and are impressionable at different levels. Those of us who are stubborn, hesitant, or tend to depend on self - the struggle to prepare us may be more costly. Those who are sensitive to the spirit, those who are more willing to respond to the call of the Lord in obedience, those who have learned and retained lessons previously experienced - the struggle may be simpler. But both are a struggle. Also, what I consider to be a struggle may be far more detrimental that what you consider a struggle.
A Struggle is anything that causes you to LEAN. Where you lean, however, determines the outcome... strength or strain. Hope or pain.
Today, this reminder is timely because as I begin to pursue what He has asked me to ... He is showing me His faithfulness, His call and how He has prepared me. He has reminded me how He has built strength in me, and how He has displayed His strength for me.
2 days ago, I opened my devotional journal by Adrian Rodgers. A devotional I have officially lapped myself in as of that day. And I see my prayer from the previous year in written form:
I am asking for God to stretch our finances so I can come home. I want to parent first & foremost as God would have me parent. And write again. For His glory this time. - June 30, 2017
No entries in this devotional any date before and nothing after until August 17.
Just a single prayer - on a single day.
But a day I remember all so well. I remember where I sat. I remember what I did. I even remember how I felt. I remember the desperation in that simple, seemingly shallow, prayer; although an intense cry from the depths of a broken heart.
And in that place I prayed these words. 1 year ago. And June 30, 2018 He reminded me:
He is faithful. He is present. And He answers the cries of our hearts!
Today I sit at my computer as the sun rises, spending time in the word, time in prayer and time at home. A couple months after this plea, on August 17th, God called me to resign and walk away from a job I loved and would have never left had he not allowed such a painful struggle. A job I resigned from in September and left in January 2018.
God answered my cry to be home.
The day before I read that prayer, June 29, 2018 - I posted my previous blog - where Gavin and I started his #heartcheck that we will continue to do every other week. This reminded me that after praying this prayer, I started helping Gavin learn how to and the importance of spending #timewithGod each day - July 1, 2017. 1 year my son has been intentionally in God's word.
God answered my cry to be a intentional and godly parent.
And June 29, 2018 I also committed to allowing my blog to be publicly promoted as of July 2nd (today). A blog written from convictions birthed from my time in the Word and comprised of topics and encouragement that God has put on my heart to share.
God answered my cry to begin to write again.
Each of the above blessings came with a painful struggle. Betrayal. Dissapointment. Physical Pain. Emotional Loss. Defeat. But today, looking back - I would not trade any of these experiences for the place God has brought me. Sigmund Freud once said:
One day in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
Each of these struggles, if left a mere struggle - would never be beautiful. And if the strength God was building in each situation was never acknowledge I would be in a very different place.
Take a look at your life today, where is your struggle? Big or small - look for it - then look for what God is teaching you. Look for the strength He is stirring in you or the strength He is displaying for you. Seek Him in your struggle. Find the joy in your trial. Cling to the hope in the circumstance. And when you find it --- there you will also find the PEACE that passes all understanding.
James 1:2-4 states -
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance have its full effect, that you may be perfect [teleios - mature] and complete, lacking in nothing.
Just like we have to appreciate the struggles of working out to see results, we have to appreciate the struggles God allows to see the results in our spiritual development.
God uses circumstance surrounding us each moment to shape us (tone), shred our human nature (lose weight), to increase our wisdom and ability to overcome (get stronger), and in some cases to move past past hurts (heal), or even to prepare us for a future calling (train). . .
Have you ever heard the saying after someone works out: "I feel muscles I did not know existed." In the same way, the struggle you may be experiencing today may reveal strength you would have never known was available to you.
Embrace it. Find the beauty in it. And thank God for it...trusting there is a greater purpose than just the pain.
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