What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger

So my facebook status today reflected something that I haven't been able to stop thinking about all night. I have been (stupidly!!) doing the Insanity workout DVDs...everyday for 4 weeks. Thank you, thank you...I shall take a bow! They are so intense that I literally think my heart is about to come out my chest. Today Shaun T, the very attractive instructor, says in the middle of the killer workout "I don't want to hurt you...I just want to make you better". And as I then wrote in my status...I realise that sometimes God says the same thing to me.

When I was at university, I had to have an operation near my tailbone. It was because there was a deep infection in there that wouldn't heal. On the surface, you couldn't really see that it was infected...but it was deep and painful. I had to have surgery and get it all cut out...but the interesting thing was that for this type of wound, the doctor didn't stitch it closed. I needed to get it packed so that it could heal properly from the inside out.

There are times in our lives where we get "sick" deep inside. Maybe its unforgiveness. Maybe its jealously. Maybe its loneliness. Maybe its bitterness. But something deep inside of us is painful and just won't heal. We can keep smiling and act like we are ok, but we carry it with us and it grows and grows.

So...sometimes God needs to get that infection out. And it can be a painful process. It can hurt as we are forced to deal with our issues. Face our past. Choose to let things go. But like Shaun said - its not designed to hurt us, but to make us better. Sometimes just stitching up or putting a band-aid on the surface won't fix it...you need to go through a painful process in order to get fully healed.

I once heard a great message talking about buildings. The preacher talked about how if you build a building...but half way through you notice the building is on a lean, you cant just change direction and start building it the other way. Unfortunately you need to knock the building down and go back to the foundations in order to rebuild it properly. The knockdown process hurts. And can be humbling. And defeating. But there is not point trying to ignore it and just keep building, because eventually everything will collapse and fall down. The foundation has to be strong. And often it is...but somewhere along the line we get distracted and maybe stop looking at the Architect's plans, and we get a lean happening. So...it's time to scrape it all away and get back to the foundations, and start again.

These growth times in our lives really can hurt, as we are forced to stretch past whats comfortable. But like a rubber band...after you stretch it, it actually never goes back to the same size. It becomes that little bit bigger. That's like us. If you can make it through the painful stretch times, you will find on the other side that you are bigger and better.