Did you know that whenever you lift weights or work out, that tiny tears are formed in your muscles? When these muscles heal, they are stronger than they were before.
Did you know that people who practice martial arts will repeatedly kick tires or have someone hit their shins with a hammer? Doing this causes microfractures in the bones which then heal stronger than they were before.
We break to grow.
Pain breeds strength and hardship creates endurance. If we look at literature, the Bible, or people we know, we can see that those who have struggled the most and overcome those struggles are the strongest people we know. Are they just inherently stronger than other people? Were they born with natural strength? Maybe. It is more likely that they are, instead, Overcomers by choice. Conquerors. Fighters.
God did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). We were not created to be timid beings, unable and unwilling to defeat the giants in our paths. We weren’t made to live a life of nothingness, stagnant and bored. We were made to fight. We were created to heal stronger than we were before.
Be encouraged that every obstacle in your path, every hurt and every pain, every scraped knee and broken bone, every actual or metaphorical day in the gym, all of those make you stronger.
Warriors are created through blood, sweat, and tears. You have been called to fight the good fight, to run the race with endurance, to be powerful. You might get knocked down but you are strong, wonderful, awe-inspiring. You can overcome all things through Christ who strengthens you. You can either let pain and hardship defeat you or you can rise above it.