| 1:39 min read |

A while back I had surgery on one of my knees. As a part of recovery, the doctor prescribed physical therapy. I was amazed at how quickly the muscles supporting my knee atrophied. In a matter of days following the surgery, I had lost a significant amount of strength that needed to be restored — muscle tissue needed to be rebuilt.

The remedy was the right exercises. During my physical therapy sessions, I was taken through muscle-building routines and sent home with a list of exercises to do. The promise was—“do these and your strength will return.”

It’s something we all know, muscles develop through use. They’re enlarged through exercise. Lack of exercise = lack of development.

The same is true of faith. Faith is like a muscle. It’s meant to be used. It grows when it’s put under pressure and stretched. This is what the apostle James was talking about in James 1:2-4 (TLB) “Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you’ll be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.”

The pressures and stresses of life are a gift of God to you. They’re God’s way of making your faith grow. They’re God’s way of developing you into a person you never dreamed you be, with a faith you never dreamed you could have!

God is committed to helping you become “faith—full!” Full of faith in every area of your life! Stop cursing the tough times. See them as exercises that increase the strength of your faith!

Pastor Dale