STRETCH

            Forcing myself out of the nice warm bed, I grimaced once my feet hit floor.   Ouch, I thought, remembering I had started jogging again the day before.  The lactic acid which had built up in my legs was punishing - a high price to pay for good health.

            During this same week, I’d been troubled by a noise coming from the back of my lawn truck.  At first, I thought it might be the hitch, but later realized it was my heavy metal bagger.   The bungee cord I had used to secure it to the metal trailer had stretched out of shape.   That cord could no longer secure my bagger, yet now was the perfect fastener needed to hold my ladder in place. 

            Later, I remembered a great sermon illustration shared by Jonathan Faggart about rubber bands.   Pastor explained that, over time, as rubber bands are used they loose their form and elasticity.   Like with rubber bands (or bungee cords) if we allow ourselves be stretched by God, our shape and capacity will be changed forever, by the tensions being exerted upon us. 

            Are there trials that are beyond your capacity to endure?  Do you ever feel stretched out of shape?  Perhaps you’re being expanded or developed for a greater purpose?   Too often, I find myself recoiling from the painful things of life instead of embracing them.  Like the Psalmist, we should be brave and courageous, waiting patiently for the Lord, (Psalm 27:14).   As He transforms us through the process of stretching, we are made whole, complete, and will lack nothing.   Our capacity to encourage others with their trials will also be increased and expanded.

            Oswald Chambers once said, “God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute.”   Embrace the Stretch.