WEDNESDAY'S WORD - STRETCHING - Sadell Bradley 07/22/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

STRETCHING

Sadell Bradley

07/22/2020

"The hallmark of successful people is that they are always stretching themselves to learn new things." - Carol S. Dweck - American Educator

There's an old church song, I Feel the LORD Stretching Out In Me (Listen)The lyrics say, "I feel the LORD stretching out in me. I feel the LORD stretching out in me. I cleaned up my house, and I kicked the devil out. I feel the LORD stretching out in me!" With all the changes going on, we're trying a bunch of new things we've never done before. It's stretching us to trust GOD and ourselves more. Perhaps prior to March, we'd never thought we could...home school our kids, work from home or stay inside for this long, or do our own videos (that's me). Of necessity, we've had to override our insecurities and self-doubt. The song goes on to declare, "I CAN! 'cause GOD says I can! I CAN! 'cause GOD says I can! I can do ALL THINGS through Christ that strengthens me, I CAN 'cause GOD says I can!" I'm actually starting to appreciate the STRETCH - to be made capable without tearing or breaking; to extend to the full length; to cause to last longer than expected; to make great demands on the capacity or resources of; to cause someone to make maximum use of their talents and abilities. I'm doing stuff now that would have taken me YEARS to even try were it not for this situation. How about you?

WE'RE BEING STRETCHED Some of you remember this toy, Stretch Armstrong. He was one of my favorites!. Not only could you pull him as far as your little hands could muster, but you could even tie his arms in knots and he'd bounce back to his original form. We had a lot of resiliency teaching tools: Weebles that wobbled but didn't fall down, Timex watches that took a licking but kept on ticking. These lessons gave us the perspective to withstand the pressure of negative circumstances; terrorist attacks, gas shortages, race and gender battles, and other viruses. We also had grace for new opportunities, uses of our gifts and talents, and promotions of all kinds.

Completely Overwhelmed

It's good to know that we are not the first to ever be stretched. Paul was frayed at the ends. He told the church at Corinth about his suffering for the sake of the Gospel, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on GOD, who raises the dead." (2 Cor. 1:8-9) You and I are facing some daunting times ahead. But I feel the LORD stretching out in us to meet them...and WE CAN 'cause GOD says WE CAN!!