Love?? Hate?? Somewhere In Between?

WARNING: This post is all over the place. It sounded much better in my head!

I hate exercising?

I love to exercise?

I am still deciding which of these is true for me.

I think it might be a bit of both.

I hate exercising alone.

I hate pushing through the pain.

I hate rising early to do it, when I could be sleeping in.

However, there are things that I love about exercising as well.

I love how I feel after a good workout.

I love that when I sweat, I know I am burning calories!

I love working out with my friends. They are a major source of inspiration and motivation.

I love how time passes quickly when you are with friends.

I love how we develop systems and patterns that work for us.

I love how my "loves" outweigh my "hates!"

Anyhow, I got to thinking about some cliche sayings...like....

"No pain, no gain."

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

I was thinking about my workouts (yesterday's was especially challenging for me) and about how there is no "magic pill" I can take to firm up and drop poundage! Trust me, if there was....I'd be doing that instead! I was also thinking that the same is true for "life," in general. So much of what we go through is not easy. We go through challenging times. Painful times. Times of testing. Times of strengthening. The Lord prunes us, grows us, molds us, and allows us to go through certain things....so that we will grow stronger and closer to Him, deeper in faith. There is no "magic pill" we can take to fix our finances, our marriages, our children's behavior....etc.. There are many times I wish I could escape the lesson and the time of growth....but, (and here's another cliche saying) "Hindsight is 20/20"...and I can always look back on the lessons and the experiences....and see what the Lord was doing. I can see His hand in the lessons. I can see what He was teaching me. It may be SO hard to go through the trials, but through those times...comes refining. Strengthening. Perfecting. Correcting. I hate the trials as I am going through them, yet I love them for what they produce in the end. I am so thankful for a God who loves me and wants to grow and strengthen me. He loves me the way I am, yet He loves me too much to let me stay that way. And, He feels the same way about you!

Isaiah 48:10- "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."

I Peter 1:6-7- "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perished even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

James 1:2-3- "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."