Trials are like weight training. Both make us stronger.
This is Felicia Ferguson with Christian Mix 106, helping you build faith for the journey.
If you’ve ever done any strength training or weight lifting, you’ve seen the changes your muscles undergo after a period of time. They begin to curve under your skin giving your body a new look. As the weights are lifted and increased, the muscles fibers are actually torn apart. They rebuild creating new, larger, and stronger fibers.
As believers, we increase the strength of our faith by enduring trials. As Paul told the Corinthians, We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. And on the other side of those trials, those battles, we are stronger. Our foundation in Jesus is firmer. Our faith is deeper. Our perspective is different. We have seen battle, survived it, and now have more strength for our futures.
No one likes hardships, trials, or traumas. And if we could, we’d avoid them. But James wrote Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance or endurance. When you increase your muscle’s strength, you also increase its ability to endure weight. So when trials, hardships, and even traumas come, hold onto your current faith. Push through the pain while trusting God’s plan, and when you get to the other side of it, look back and recognize your new strength. Even if you barely made it through, celebrate that you persevered. You endured under the added weight. And you are stronger now because of it.
This is Felicia Ferguson. Thanks for listening to Christian Mix 106.