I took a fall recently. And I hurt my back. And the next few hours were okay. I was in pain, but only when I moved the muscle. So I went to the gym and tried to do a workout, ending up only on the treadmill. But did you know that walking affects the muscles in your back? I had not realized that until I tried doing so.
I endured about 45 minutes of walking on the treadmill and by the time I got home, my back was roaring. I soaked in some warm tub water and when I got out, I basically only hurt when I bent over. By the time the evening rolled around, the pain was practically gone. Praise God!
In all this, God brought to my remembrance how we must work our muscles. Though sometimes things come on us and causes us some pain, if we would work through the pain, it eventually goes away.
The pain we feel in our bodies stems from a muscle that must be used, that must be worked, in order to stretch and to tighten. The muscle must be exercised to be made stronger. So like our faith. Our faith is like a muscle. And in order to work our faith we have to exercise it. We have to allow it to be stretched, to be pulled, to be tightened, so that it can be (and we can be) stronger.
When things hurt us in our walk, we have to continue to believe God’s Word through it. That’s how we work our faith muscles. That is how our faith will be made stronger. And eventually the pain does go away. I’m a witness!
But what God also taught me is that muscles are supposed to hurt when you exercise them. When muscles are worked and begin to get tired, it is not supposed to feel comfortable. When our faith muscle is being tested and tried, it will not feel good. Who in their right mind gets excited and feels good about tests? Especially faith ones! BUT, God said, holding on releases some of the pressure. When I held on to the arms of the treadmill, it released some of the pressure on the muscles in my back. When we hold on to God, when we hold on to His Word, when we hold on to the promise that He has made us, it relieves some of the pressure. Hallelujah!
God helps us to exercise our faith. He helps our faith to get stronger, if we lean on Him through our tests. Remember that the next time your faith is being stretched.
God is SO real! And He is with us through the test.
A servant of the Lord,
Sis. E
http://butgodisreal.blogspot.com
http://sis.e.home.comcast.net
http://www.ongoodground.org