You're Stronger Than You Think

Last week was so busy that I never got around to posting what's been on my mind and heart.  But my heart, mind and body have been quite busy - even if the blog wasn't!  So here we go again...

Working out with my friend and fitness expert - he's more experienced than me, but might not call himself an expert - at the Y recently, he said something that really stuck with me: "You're really a lot stronger than you think you are."

We'd been attempting to establish baselines as I used the different exercise machines and free weights for strength-building.  I got onto one of the leg lift machines and easily pushed 100 lbs.  Granted, the weight was moved using pivots and pulleys.  And those mechanisms make a huge difference over trying to move the equivalent weight as dead weight.  So, I don't think I could use my legs to push 100 lobs of concrete across the church parking lot!  But the fact that I hit the 100-lb mark surprised me!

I guess I am a lot stronger than I think.  But I also know how much stronger I can get as I establish an exercise routine that challenges me and I begin to get into shape.  Who knows, maybe someday I will be able to push a 100-lb block of concrete across the church parking lot!

However, my friend may have had more in mind than physical strength.  And as I reflected on his statement, I expanded it's relevance to more than pumping iron.  I'm stronger than I think in changing other areas of my life, like finances, family relationships, eating healthy, preparing teaching lessons and sermons, and my walk with Jesus Christ.

My wife and I watched the first session of Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey.  He opens the teaching session by describing the "baby steps" to getting one's financial life in order.  Then he describes these steps, and my first reaction was "that's a BABY step??!!"  The first step is to create a $1000 emergency fund.  This is money set aside to deal with the unexpected events (that really aren't unexpected, just unanticipated and unenjoyable).  This is money for dealing with the dead battery/alternator/starter in the car.  It's money to buy the plane ticket to Texas when a close relative dies, and I need to attend the funeral.  It's not money to buy the 52-inch HDTV that goes on sale at Best Buy just in time for the Super Bowl.

Ramsey says to create this $1000 emergency fund fast.  Do it quickly.  Do it now.  See why I resisted calling this a baby step?  But then as my wife and I talked through how to get that emergency fund together, we realized that we probably could do it by March 1 if we were intentional about it.  We are stronger than we think!!

A common phrase we hear when tough things are going on is "God never gives us more than we can handle."  But I find that this phrase is only partly right.  There's a problem with one of the pronouns.  It's not what we can handle, but rather what God can handle.  The correct phrase would be "God never gives us more than God can handle."  We can't handle very much on our own.  And God really isn't interested in trying to test the limits of our strength.  Rather, God is more interested in testing the strength of our faith in God when we experience the things that we can't handle.

You are stronger than you think.  Not because of your own strength, but because of God's strength.  1 Corinthians 1:25 says "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."  That means that our weaknesses become opportunities for God's strength to be revealed.  And God's strength is revealed in and through us by faith.  Jesus said, "I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Go from here to there,' and it will go.  There will be nothing that you can't do."

So the question becomes this: Is your faith strong enough?  Because through faith we are indeed all stronger than we think!

Fitness and weight loss update:

• Starting weight (early January): 256 lbs
• Jan 15:                                   249 lbs          7 lbs
• Jan 22:                                   246 lbs          3 lbs
• Jan 29:                                   242 lbs          4 lbs

Total loss so far:  14 lbs
Goal loss:            25 lbs before June 11

I anticipate slowing down as I get closer to the goal.  Please keep me in your prayers as I continue this effort.  And I'd love encouraging comments!!!