Greater Resistance

Today was just a typical day around here for my family. I awoke to two kiddos eager to be up and at ‘em just a few minutes past six. I, of course am dragging myself out of bed and I am dying to make my way into the kitchen for that glorious cup of coffee! All along the way, my kids are happily and energetically hopping along right at my heels making their many food and drink requests. The minute our feet hit the floor in the Capps household, it’s go time!

Finally a moment came for a breather while my son started his dictionary work. I decided to use this as an opportunity to jump on my stationary bike for a few minutes of exercise. I always set my workouts to interval training because I know, left up to me, I would never have the challenging exercise I really need. And, man, I am always relieved when I am back down to a lower level of resistance!

Today as I was biking, I was really focusing on keepings my speed up at every level and I noticed that my speed was really at its highest when I FELT like it was at its worst. The resistance would drop way low making it super easy to pedal, allowing my knees pop up and down about as fast as popcorn popping in a pot! Although I felt faster, my speed was always lower by about 2 mph when biking at this level. As the resistance started to go back up again, I felt like I was doing an awful job keeping up the pace, but my biking speed was always highest when the resistance was at its highest.

I noticed that I was really performing at my best when my workout felt the hardest and when I felt like I was performing my worst because it was HARD. When my efforts were paired with the right amount of resistance it was the dynamic duo. As I thought about this, I remembered James chapter one where it talks about the trials we encounter in life and how we can consider them a joy when we face them. Life is not easy and trials come in all shapes and sizes and they are HARD. Trials, life lived at greater resistance, do not feel joyful. We all have junk come our way that we would rather not deal with and instead we’d rather hit the big ‘PASS’ button. But something about these moments of resistance and difficulty are powerful for those of us in Christ because of the great work God is doing in us in those moments. The person following Jesus and also walking through a trial seem to encounter a dynamic duo.

At this point in life you may feel as if you are running the race and it feels as if you are doing so horribly, but one thing I have learned is that our feelings do a great job of deceiving us more often than not. The trial you are in may be difficult and you feel as if it is all that you can do to keep going, but know that God is doing a great work in your life right now in that difficulty. He’s not waiting until the trial is over to a good work in you!
Now, I do undoubtedly know that if I had continued upping the resistance to higher levels I would have gotten to a point of being unable to pedal, but that’s the beauty of God’s grace. God never gives us more than we can handle, but He allows enough to produce the beautiful fruit He so desires to see displayed in our lives and to finish the great work in you that He started.

When you hit the path with greater resistance, you learn to lean on truth rather than feelings and you see the presence and work of God at such a greater capacity! So keep running the race with perseverance! God’s doing so much more than you know and the beauty is, it’s all for His glory!