Mostly just gettin' stronger

"How are you??" 

"Fine!" (i.e. I'm really stressed and fighting a cold and my workouts aren't bringing desired results and my band hasn't toured in weeks and I feel like a failure most days but I really don't want to tell you all that because we aren't actually friends but I'm a polite Minnesotan so I'll just lie...)

Okay, a tad harsh. But really- what girl says she's "fine" when she really is fine?? If we're fine and life is good, we'll reply with a bright, "I'm great! How are you??"

I was comparing my life with the gym today... how we get stronger by lifting weights, i.e. tearing our muscles so that they repair bigger and tougher. And we condition ourselves by running till our heart rate goes much higher than normal and increases it's capacity.

In the same way we grow spiritually stronger by trials, battles, deserts. 
                                                 When we fail and we get back up. (stronger)
                                                  When we fall into sin and repent. (stronger)
               When we despair and give in to depression but choose to believe God is good. (stronger)
                   When someone hurts us and we don't tell anyone about it to save their face. (stronger)
          When a loved one gets sick and doesn't get healed but we believe God is the Healer. (stronger)

It's the same situation really. Life gets hard. We choose to trust God. We get stronger.

God knows if life is always easy we will eventually fall away from Him. He never promised us an easy life. He promised that the burden HE would lay on us is light. That's not talking about the world, other (selfish) people, our own flesh warring against us, our enemy... These things are not from God, because His burden is light. But He WILL use these struggles for our good. 

And don't you want to be a strong christian? 

I do.

So, maybe the next time I get asked, "How are you doing?"
I'll just reply, "I'm mostly gettin' stronger."

Keep runnin'!

LM