Strength From Within
No Muscles Required
Got a six-pack?
Yeah, me neither.
Well, maybe some of you do. 🙂
Every time I go to the gym, I see beautiful people working out.
I’m talking about men and women with painstakingly acquired sculpted bodies possessing the kind of physical strength and confidence that I could only hope for.
When we ask God to give us strength, is this what we’re talking about?
Strength from Within
Possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life is a close friend of mine whom I hold dear to my heart.
When I say she is “beautiful,” I mean both inside and out.
If you met her, you’d know exactly what I mean.
What tears into my heart is that she continues to suffer from a painful autoimmune disease.
Please Lord, heal her. Ease her pain.
Throughout all of her suffering, there is something very different about her than other sufferers with this disease – the ones who have no hope.
It is unmistakable.
Her poor body continues to rage with new and horrific symptoms, and yet I see a strength shine through her that can only be described as God-given.
I treasure a card she sent me a while ago. I keep it in my office where I can see it every day.
She told me she doesn’t concentrate on the “whys.”
In her words,
“Jesus is the blessed controller of ALL things.
Knowing Him is all I need to comprehend – not why He chose
or chooses to use instruments to draw me closer to Himself.
No, all of the ‘whys’ will one day be answered.
Until that day – please hold me accountable to a childlike faith.”
You can see why she is precious to me.
Heroic Strength
Childlike faith – having the untarnished humility of a child bolstered by unshakable love, complete trust, and dependence on our Heavenly Father knowing that He will always be there to comfort us.
Courage is keeping our focus on Christ when everything in life is trying to pull us down.
It’s the “right stuff” that enables us to go on despite our circumstances.
I’ve got wonderful news: there is hope beyond your circumstances. You can live above them.
If a man named Paul could live above his unbelievably trying circumstances, so can you. But Christ must become your central focus.
He, alone, can empower you and teach you to live above the duress of adversity. Your external circumstances may not change, but deep within, you will. As Christ is allowed first place in your thoughts, changes will occur. Those changes will be evident to your mate, your children, your friends, and your coworkers. Instead of seeing yourself as a victim, you will begin to realize a strength that is not your own.
The result? You will make a difference because of the way you respond to the circumstances that once defeated you. To the people closest to you, your contentment despite your circumstances will be nothing short of heroic. – Chuck Swindoll, Christian pastor, author and educator. 1
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1 Chuck Swindoll quotation, courtesy of Insight For Living, “Despite your Cirumstances,” n.d. para. 4. Web. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Accessed 29 January, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/insight-for-living/read/articles/despite-your-circumstances-10196.html
