Have you ever thought about how your challenges are really a gift to you? And of course, not just you, but also to many others.
Our bones are constantly being remodeled and when we actually have a broken bone, our system works overtime to remodel that area of brokenness. Interestingly, when it is healed, it is so much stronger than it was before the break and very unlikely to break there again. Its strength has been increased and capabilities of what it can handle are expanded.
What a metaphor for our lives.
I have come to see challenges as God’s way of remodeling me.
He has used and is still using the ‘broken’ areas of my life to zero in on where I am needing to be remodeled, strengthened and expanded.
In 1994, my belief system was broken and needed remodeling and that is when I discovered a real and life-sustaining relationship with Jesus. My beliefs were shattered to rebuild and expand them into what was so much stronger than before and what I needed for eternity.
In 1994, also, my marriage of 6.5 years was broken – with divorce as the apparent only option. The pain from that break opened up my mind and heart to learn a new way to relate to the man I loved but felt separated from and gave me the relationship I’d only dreamed of.
In 2000, my emotional and mental health broke and the pressure I experienced through that healed with a new level of mental fitness and self-care that has provided me so much strength and hope.
In 2011, my professional life broke after 17 years of ministry and that loss led me to begin my own business a few years later that I love has increased my capabilities more than I had ever imagined.
Those are just a few ways I have been remodeled; though necessary at first and a bit messy in the middle, I have loved the result.
But isn’t that always the way with every remodel?
Where are you feeling the pressure right now? Or the pain? Perhaps that is the area God is intending to draw your attention to in order to remodel and create new understanding and new ways of doing things to make you better. Don’t be afraid of those areas.
I have found if I remember that I have come through many remodels better before, then I remember to:
1) Locate where the pain is in my life
2) Lean into that area of pain so I can better understand it and learn from it
3) Learn to turn my pain into the potential to serve others
It always turns out great.
This viewpoint has enabled me to feel such a peace that I am in the loving hands of my Father in Heaven who is at work creating His masterpiece in me.
I hope this helps you also. To your remodel.
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