For the past 3+ years, my wife has faithfully worked out at 6 am during the week.
She's part of a community of women across the state and the country who work out on Zoom together.
She has been so faithful in showing up and growing stronger that she has become the host for these workouts.
In the past 3 months, she and another lady have been doing an extra workout half an hour earlier at 5:30 am!
Now, because of all of those workouts, my wife's biceps have changed.
Just the other day I heard her talking with my oldest daughter about how strong they each were.
This type of conversation was new to me, because, as a guy, we men usually have very macho conversations as we strut around and show off to each other.
Like a peacock showing off it's massive, colorful plumes, we men walk around flexing in front of mirrors and other people just to get a reaction.
This conversation between my wife and daughter was not that.
They were encouraging each other with how strong their muscles were becoming and how strong it made them look.
Mind you, they were having this conversation in the dark!
So they pulled out a flashlight to show each other their biceps, and they began flexing.
To make it look better, they moved the flashlight to underneath their arms so the shadow would make it look like their biceps were bulging even more than they really were.
It was a hilarious conversation to overhear as they connected over their improved shadow growth in their biceps.
The reality is this: their biceps are truly stronger and truly more noticeable in their growth from just 6 months ago.
That growth and that physical difference has happened because they have both been putting in the work to get stronger.
Should they stop putting in the work now that they have achieved some success with their physique?
We all know that answer--of course not!
Last November I began praying for a particular thing, which was actually something I had prayed for 23 years ago as I was graduating high school.
Have you ever heard of the prayer of Jabez?
In the Hebrew Bible (my preferred way to talk about the "Old Testament") in a book called 1 Chronicles, there's a section of genealogies. It's a list of who descended from which father to tell the larger story of how God was working through these people.
Right in the middle of one of those lists, it tells us about a guy named Jabez.
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10
There is a lot I could teach you about what is going on here, but I will only tell you the part that applies today.
Jabez prayed for God to bless him and to enlarge his border.
The wording I like to use for that is that God would increase his capacity.
It's as if he prayed, "God, bless me with more and equip me to handle it by growing me into that person who can handle it."
If you know me, you can see why I was drawn to this prayer, even 23 years ago as I was graduating high school!
At 40 years old, I still want to grow, and I still want to grow into the man God created me to be.
I believe that man is capable of handling more than I've already handled and experienced.
I believe my capacity is greater than what I'm currently living out.
Yet for something's capacity--or someone's capacity--to increase, it's current capacity must change.
It must be stretched to hold more.
Similar to those biceps in the dark, those muscles had to be stretched through exercise in order to become larger.
It's not always a fun process when your capacity is increasing. It's not comfortable. It's not always easy. But it is necessary if you want to increase your capacity.
I began praying this prayer this past November, as I sensed God leading me and my family into another new season of life.
If these past couple years have taught me anything, it's that I can sense when God is about to allow or even cause a shift in our life's season.
And He has!
Today wraps up my first week at a new job.
Well, it's not a new job; it's actually back at a company I had worked at for 9 years, but it's in a new role.
And I'm very excited about it!
My capacity to fill this role has been grown over the past few years, and I am now more ready for this role than ever before.
Hear this: I have not fully reached the capacity required to be who I want to be.
Just because I prayed for my capacity to increase, doesn't mean it automatically has.
There is still more growth and stretching ahead.
I'm simply ready for it!
Are you praying for God to bless you?
Are you praying for God to increase your capacity?
Are you ready for it?
Of course you're ready for those blessings. That's the fun part, right?
Are you ready for the capacity increase?
The stretching and the pulling and the growing season that allows you to handle the increased blessings?
Being ready for it is what makes it easier, because you're not fighting against it in your mind.
You embrace the discomfort because you know what's coming on the backside.
I dare you to pray this prayer.
Not just the blessing part, but the enlarging part.
Pray that God would allow you to grow, to enlarge, to increase your capacity, to be able to handle more.
And when He starts to answer that prayer, keep praying it as you walk into that new season.
Let's do this!
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