Pain = Progress?

I ran into a guy the other day in the gym who told me squats were one of the best exercises someone could do.  (Side note - he is a physical therapist and so I figured he knew what he was talking about.)  

So, the next day I was in the gym I decided I had ignored working legs for long enough and did several sets of squats…
…and for the next several days my butt was so sore!!  (For people offended I used the word butt, I wasn’t using it to be offensive, my butt really was sore.)  

It took several days for the pain to go away (and for me to not walk like I had to go #2!)  However, once the pain went away I decided to do squats again, and this time, while there was pain associated, it wasn’t quite as bad.  

Lesson learned - pain leads to progress.  

The same can be said in life as well.  

One of the best songs Elevation Worship has written (in my opinion) is, “Nothing is Wasted.”  It’s a reminder that no matter what we are going through, God is loving, God is wise and there is nothing in our lives He cannot revive!  

This is something all of us know on the other side of pain…but how about when we are in the middle of it?  

I can’t speak for everyone; however, one of the main things that has gotten me through this season in my own life is knowing that God is greater than any pain we are going through - and He is THE ONLY ONE who can take pain and turn it into progress.  

• He took the pain of Sarah’s barrenness and turned it into the nation of Israel.  
• He took the pain of Joseph’s prison sentence and turned into into the preservation of a nation.  
• He took the pain of being ridiculed by Goliath and turned it into the Israelites routing the Philistines.  
• He took the pain of Paul in prison and turned it into him writing the Scriptures that guide our lives today.  
• He took the pain of a blood stained cross and turned it into an empty tomb.  

And…if He did it then He can do it again!  

I don’t know what pain you are going through, how unbelievably difficult it must feel; however, I know nothing, absolutely nothing is wasted - and what is painful now will one day be a story you will be able to tell that will point others to the fact that nothing is wasted…and that He is always up to way more than we could ever imagine!