Diamonds are one of the strongest materials on earth, but how do they get that strength? It’s no easy process. They are created at temperatures of up to 1,300°C and under pressures nearly 51,000 times the pressure of the earth’s surface-atmosphere!
Do you sometimes catch yourself wishing you had the strength of diamonds? Do you wish you had a greater capacity? My friend, diamonds are formed no other way. Without the heat, without the pressure, there would be no diamond. And it’s the same with us – our capacity and strength develops when we are under pressure.
Proverbs 17:3 says, “In the same way that gold and silver are refined by fire, the Lord purifies your heart by the tests and trials of life.”
Our capacity grows when we are stretched
I want to encourage you – embrace opportunities that stretch you! When you feel under pressure or like you’re in the fire, lean in and let God do a work in you to grow your capacity. It’s not the easy thing to do, but it is where we find greater purity of heart, a greater reliance on God, and a greater capacity for all He is calling us to.
That being said, we also need wisdom to know when too much is too much, and to make sure that we’re looking after ourselves. For example, the pressure of burnout isn’t something we want to embrace but rather we need to seek help and get support to work through that pressure. So, at the same time as embracing trials, we need to be aware of what we can cope with at our current capacity, and seek help when we find ourselves facing more than we can bear.
Our capacity is like a muscle. It’s not about a sudden increase in strength but more about developing it with increased resistance over time, and with repetition. As we consistently choose to embrace opportunities for growth, we’ll find our capacity steadily increases.
Have you got an area in your world where maybe you’ve been avoiding something difficult, but it’s time to lean into it? Maybe it’s a relationship that needs reconciliation. Maybe it’s putting in the hard work to excel at school. Whatever it is, I’d like to encourage you to lean into it and embrace the opportunity to build your capacity.
