If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you

 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I have had a sign in my workout room for a long time that reads; “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” During strenuous and challenging workouts I can look and the sign and be reminded that there is a purpose to the pain and the end result will be worth it. It’s the same with our walk of faith.

The trials and troubles we face have the ability to challenge and change us for the better if we remember that every one of them have been filtered through the hands of God and in His strength, we can do all things.

In the hardest moments when we feel that we cannot go one more step, is the precise time that the breakthrough will come. Many times I have emotionally felt like a huge rubber band that has been stretched to the limits, ready to break. But it’s the moment after I decide not to give up, when I choose to trust in God’s stretching, that I discover – I didn’t break. I made it further than I’ve every been before and that new found confidence in God, is sweet victory.

When He stretches us, He is giving us the opportunity to believe in His promises. And when we do, we will be forever changed to be more like Him. And we can say with all assurance, I am certain that God, who began the good work within me, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.