Strength Training

Proverbs 31:17 NIV
"She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks."

Who here loves exercising?  Seriously I want a show of hands.  Anyone?  No? Well you might not love exercising but who loves a good workout?  I hate exercising however as soon as my work out is over and I can sit down to relax, all the troubles of the day seems to fade away.  I have found this to be true with most strength training that I have to do.

Right now we are really training our strength.  Our strength that God will provide for us, our strength that we will make it through this time of trial with our faith intact.  I can't even start to express how must strength it has taken physically and emotionally to have my husband without a job for the last year.  We went from him being the only one with an income while we were dating and even for the first 6 months of our marriage to us both providing for our family to living off my SSDI income in a matter of a year.  We even through in a pregnancy during that time because we thought it would be fun.  ( That was a joke.  We were blessed with a pregnancy when we didn't think we would be able to have children.  God just has a funny sense of humor)

I will admit that for the first few months having Dan home full time was really helpful. And just went I thought I was going to lose my mind having him home, he got a job.  It felt amazing to have him finally working again.  Until a couple of weeks later when he was let go through no fault of his own.  Ever since then we have been racing to help him find another job.  It takes a lot of strength to sit by a phone that doesn't ring day in and day out.

But is this the strength that I would need for my tasks?  Would I need to continue to be emotionally strong for my husband?  Was that the task that God wanted from me?  There have been many times when I have been too weak to carry on any more.  

It is in those moments that I am reminded in one way or another of my favorite verse.  

2nd Corinthians 12 : 7-9

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was giving me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power, is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me  That is why, for God's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in HARDSHIPS, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am week, then I am strong.

Today was another day for strength training for me.  I had to remember that God doesn't not promise that everything will be easy.  He actually tells us it will not be easy.  Kinda like my workout dvd's promise that I will be sweating when this is over.  However the prize at the end of constant strength training is a stronger body.  Hopefully my arms will be strong enough to run into the Fathers arm's and BOAST about my hardships.  

And that is today's one step towards becoming a Proverbs 31 wife.