What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
Yesterday, we had another wonderful sing-a-long at the front yard of Tim and LaDonna Gatlin Johnson. Still assembled in our 6-foot rule spacing, we clapped and sang together to some of the best old hymns. Tim, an incredible pianist, gave us a concert in “Liberace” style!
Most beautiful were the testimonies of God’s amazing grace. Tim touched us with his story of surviving cancer in all of his lymph nodes many years ago. Tim and LaDonna became stronger in their faith and trust in God’s faithfulness more than ever before. What didn’t kill Tim, made him stronger.
I can speak a similar story – through the illnesses of my children, myself, and my husband’s illnesses and passing – I became stronger than I ever thought possible.
Pictured again here is the after-shot of the tornado that my father and mother-in-law went through. What didn’t kill them made them stronger and even greater good did God do through them. That property was sold to a young couple. She saw my blog and commented: “Thanks for sharing the pictures. I especially recognized the after-tornado picture. Since then, that property has been home to over 100 foster children in DHS, home to 7 different family groupings needing a safe place for a season, home to International Bible University, Westport Gathering and our home where we have raised our family including two grandchildren now. So appreciate and love the history your family established here. Love all of you.”
The quote: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” dates back over 100 years ago to Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher. He believed that if one can persevere through the difficult times and trials of life, the end result can often be a strengthening of character and endurance.
But I think it goes back even further. The Apostle Paul explained it well after he and his friends had endured horrible events like being whipped 29 times, beaten with rods, and left for dead after being buried under a pile of rocks: “We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-9
The people I respect most have not had easy lives. They are the people who faced adversity and didn’t give up. They were transformed by grace. It’s really not what doesn’t kill us that makes us stronger, but God’s grace in the face of our struggles that makes us stronger. And through that grace, in the most difficult of times, we find endurance. And in that endurance, we find character. And it is that character that gives us hope.
This unparalleled COVID-19 season has been a rough time for so many, but those of us who are resilient in these times will come out stronger than we’ve ever been before. I’m counting on hearing story after story of the determination of those who kept their faith intact and the grace of God that made them stronger, wiser and more grateful than ever before.