You just can't quit.

Almost everything in life requires determination and resilience. That’s another way of saying that many days you will face circumstances or people that will make you want to cry, punch something, or quit, or maybe all three at the same time. None of those options are super-helpful, though I can appreciate a good cry every now and then.

Here’s the deal. God wants us to be strong. Not necessarily strong in our ability, though he will help us with that as well, but primarily, strong in our faith, aka our belief in His ability. This is where we learn that determination and resilience are like muscles. With lack of use they atrophy. When worked out regularly they grow and get stronger.

Now, once again I feel the need to say, God did not create the world to be so hard for us as humans. Things became a lot harder when evil introduced us to rebellion and sin. We ate the fruit, were banished from Eden, and a few thousand years later, here we are.

Life every day gives us opportunities to “work out” our faith. Annoyance grows our patience. Challenges increase our determination. Conflict calls us toward love and kindness. Everything today prepares us for the next thing tomorrow. God can redeem the most difficult of outcomes, but here’s the catch. You just can’t quit.

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Workouts aren’t supposed to be easy. If they were they wouldn’t strengthen us at all. What I love about how God strengthens our faith is that he is present in both the situation and in us to produce exactly what we need.