No Pain - No Gain

Growing up, I was my dad's buddy. He taught me how to ride a bike, windmill a softball pitch, shoot a basketball, and swing a hammer like the guys. He was my trainer in the off-season, and during every training season I would often grumble and complain. Of course, I was just echoing what my muscles were screaming at me. There were times, I just thought the pain and discomfort was too much to bear. I wanted to quit; I didn't think the pain was worth going through. Dad's cheer would always be..."No pain, no gain!" and I would grit my teeth, set my jaw and push on. "You're building character!' He would say.

Dad never made me do more than I could handle; amazingly, I never broke; I survived. Through the pain of training, I grew stronger. I never realized that Dad was really giving me an object lesson from Scripture...

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5 (See also 1Peter 1:6 and James 1:2-4)

"...Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." 1 Timothy 4:7b-10

Dad also would encourage me with  "Train don't strain." I know the Lord, who is allowing these trials to train me, will only allow enough training to make me into the woman He desires for the work He has prepared.


So I press on to the goal...

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13b-14