No Pain..........No Gain

 Corinthians 7:9-10 (The Message)

 ^8-9........... You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.
 ¹⁰Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

No Pain.......No Gain. Tomorrow starts the fall sports season at my High School.  Coaches will begin the task of preparing their teams for competition. I think it's fair to say the coaches will "distress" their teams.  The point of putting a team through stress in practices is to prepare them for the stress of the game.  I can tell you it is a rare athlete that likes the stress.  I was a football coach and I have great experience with the stress of two-a-day practices. It was painful for the athletes AND the coaches.  Why would a coach put himself and his team through this pain? These long HOT practices helped prepare the football team by physically and mentally stressing their bodies and thus making them stronger.  When I was Cross Country Coach, we ran up to 10 miles at a time to prepare for a 3.1 mile race. We would run up to 60 or more miles a week to get ourselves ready for this "short" race. Once you endure the pain and realize you can run 10 miles, a short 3.1 mile race doesn't seem like a big deal. I have never heard of a successful coach that didn't provide some kind of stress beyond what the athlete will see in competition.  Do we expect less from God?

God allows us to be "distressed". He knows that the stress of life can make us better. By enduring the turmoil that life can bring, we can see his wonderful glory. We can draw closer to him.  We can use our pain to make ourselves and others strong.

Athletes have two choices to make in handling the stress of practice.  They can quit and some always do. Or they can endure it and use it to make themselves better.  We have exactly the same choice to make in life.  We can get mad at God and thus move away from him, or we can use our pains and trials to draw closer to him.  Athletes that quit always end up with regrets.  We will face the same regrets if the stresses in life drive us away from God.  We may not like the stress.  We may not enjoy the pains it brings.  But, if we use it to draw closer to God, their will be no regrets.  Not only will we endure, but we will enjoy the wonderful blessings from God.

Please Lord provide me the strength to endure the pains and turmoils of life. Help me to draw closer to you when faced with family problems, financial difficulties, loss of employment, cancer, illness, or the death of loved ones. Help me to see your hand in my life and the ultimate joy you promise. Amen