Have you heard of the principle of supercompensation? A pastor explains: ‘When an athlete is pushed beyond the threshold of pain and exhaustion, the body overcompensates. The more a muscle is broken down, the more it builds back up…The two hundred and six bones in the body are constantly going through a process called remodelling. They are being broken down by osteoclasts and built back up by osteoblasts. The process of remodelling is intensified when a bone is broken. Extra osteoblasts help rebuild the bone. There is a period of weakness where the bone is more vulnerable to re-injury. That is why we wear casts. But eventually the bone ends up stronger than it was to begin with because the body overcompensates. Very rarely does a bone break in the same place twice because the bone is thicker and stronger than it was before the break. Almost like a broken bone that needs to be reset, God breaks us where we need to be broken. He fractures the pride and lust and anger in our lives, but He does it to remodel us into His image, and once we heal, we end up stronger than we were to begin with. [Paul writes,] “It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ…to suffer for him” [Philippians 1:29 NIV]. The word “granted” comes from [a] Greek root…which literally means “to grant a favour”…We tend to see suffering as a necessary evil at best, but Paul calls it a divine favour.’ So, maybe God is remodelling you. Perhaps the problem you thought you would never overcome will become your most effective ministry to others.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.