A couple years ago, I used to work out with one of our church members, who’s a personal trainer.
During one training session, while I’m gasping for air after completing a circuit of exercise, she says, “Guess what? You get to do that whole circuit again!”
After I complete the circuit, she says, “Okay, let’s do some squats.”
I’m thinking, “Squats? No problem. I can do that.”
As I position myself, she says, “Uh, with the weights.”
“Oh.”
Near the end of the workout, drenched in sweat, I glance at the clock, wondering, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Isn’t it time for us to stretch and wrap this up?”
Thankfully, she finally exclaims, “It’s just about time to stretch! . . . But we’re going to do one more exercise first! Get down in the plank position for one minute.”
Sigh.
As a committed trainer, she pushed me to do what I needed to do, even though I didn’t feel like doing it. She challenged me to do the necessary work to make me better.
God is your Trainer. God loves you enough to push you to do what you need to do, even though you may not feel like doing it. God challenges you to do the work that’s necessary to make you better.