If you feel yourself being stretched...

I like to work out and do my best to keep in shape.  In doing so, I often get muscles that desperately need to be stretched. As I’m stretching these muscles, sometimes the pain is nearly unbearable, but I stick with it.  Just when I begin to think that I cannot bear the pain any longer, the muscle will release and it stretches even more.  Eventually, I feel better than when I started.

 

It’s much the same with God.  While we grow, He stretches us.  Often, it's painful while we’re being stretched and just when we think we cannot take it any longer, we get that release that get’s us over the hump, so to speak.  Then He can continue to stretch us even more.  

 

When I look back over my life at the ways that God has stretched me, I can see how the stretching process has been so very beneficial.  With God’s help through the stretching and adding His wisdom, I can definitely handle situations that before, I would not have been able to handle as well or at all.  This is such a good thing!  It’s the process of growing in the Lord. 

God wants and has planned the best life for us.  He never said it would be easy, but it definitely is worth it.

If you feel yourself being stretched, consider it a good thing and know that if you follow through, you will certainly benefit from it.  God is good…always and forever!