God Is Making You Stronger
I was drenched in sweat and my shoulders were raw from the thin rope harness I made to drag my deer, but I somehow made it up out of the coulee onto level ground. But I faced another problem. Directly between myself and my truck was an old barbed wire sheep fence with wires stretched so tight and low to the ground that I couldn't get the deer under it. It took all of my strength to cut the wire with a pliers, and again all of my strength to drag that large mule deer under the fence. Then I had to make a splice to rewire the fence and twist it until it was tight.
The only thing on my mind that morning was finding a nice buck. I hadn't thought through ANY of the work involved. This became painfully apparent to me as I dropped the tailgate and tried to figure out how I could lift that heavy deer up into the bed of my truck. I'd managed to drag that buck up the steep hill out of the coulee. I'd managed somehow to get past the fence. I was exhausted, frustrated, and even a little irritated, but I was absolutely determined at this point to finish the job- to get that deer into my truck.
When I was a teenager I had a boss who was always sharing little bits of 'wisdom'. For example, he said, "Pain hurts." He also said, "Hard work ain't easy." There are times in life when we simply need to push through to the end. Not only does what we face not get any easier, it often becomes more and more difficult. The key as we navigate those hard times is to get our minds right.
The Apostle Paul made this very clear in Romans 5:3-4. He wrote, "We also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." While this was certainly applied to the difficulties that followers of Christ were facing, it also has value for every difficulty in life. Keep your chin up, determine to have a good attitude, remember that you are a child of The King. Walk through hard times knowing that God is making you stronger, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad
Written on November 25th, 2025
Posted in Daily Devotions