When HE Speaks Through the Struggle

In January I hit a major goal in my workouts.
Five-minute planks.
If you read my posts about it, you may recall that I took lots of baby steps (and prayer!) to get there.
And knowing what went into that effort, maybe you can understand my surprise (and disappointment) when I discovered I was doing them wrong.
That is to say, for some odd reason when my family was at the airport waiting to begin our vacation Brian suggested doing planks. Always one to accept an invitation to fun *insert eyeroll* I agreed to it. (There was hardly anyone else in the gate area. Small airport. Sunday morning. You know!) And we both assumed the postion.
As I was in my plank Matthew said my backside was too high. At first I scoffed because everything felt right to me, but he had a better viewpoint so I took his word for it.
I lowered my butt until he said my back was flat.
And can I say? I had a harder time holding that plank. Only went for 4 minutes. (But I hadn't worked out at all the previous week... So I attributed the difficulty to losing progress.)
However, Brian and I visited the ship's gym a couple of times and I discovered the struggle didn't come from a too-busy-to-exercise-week. The gym had a huge mirror and I got right up beside it to do my planks - where I could see for myself what my posture looked like. And, sure enough, Matthew was right. My butt was too high. To have a straight back only meant I needed to go down an inch or two, but the difference felt very significant. And holding it was a lot harder!
Nonetheless, I wanted to do my planks correctly so I kept monitoring myself in the mirror and prayed for strength to keep going. And dropped to my knees by 4:15.

Now that I'm home and returning to my routine I am finding it super challenging to hold planks for 4 minutes 30 seconds. Getting back to 5 seems so far away. (And the mirror I found to keep an eye on my posture prevents me from "cheating". Not sure if I'm happy about having the accountability, or not. Ignorance was so much easier!)
But as I have been in the middle of the struggle, praying for friends and for God's strength to carry them through their challenges - as well as for me to push through to 4:30 - HE has shown me Truths which I might not have seen if I hadn't faced the realization that I was doing planks wrong.
1) Doing what "feels right" doesn't make something right. I seriously feel like I am arching my back when it's straight. It feels much better to lift my backside an inch or two. But the mirror shows me what is true about my posture. Just like God's Word shows me what is True about life.
2) The fact that something is difficult doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. Confession: More than once, I have considered scrapping this exercise thing. Because it's too hard! But then the Voice of my Savior penetrates my heart, So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10) And I am reminded that HE will help me with so much more than just the physical endurance I need to keep going for a few more seconds. So I hold on. To Him!
3) Joy can be found on the other side of the battle. Monday I had (barely) made it through my first two planks and by the time I got to the third one I thought I would be satisfied if I just made it to two minutes. But I was praying for a friend who is trying to quit smoking, and as I asked God to strenghten her resolve to keep quitting I decided to push myself to three minutes. And I considered more this friend's need to not quit quitting, which motivated me to also keep going. I prayed, and I strained, and I was shaking like a mad woman - but with God's help I held that plank (with a flat back!) for the entire 4 minutes and 30 seconds. And when I was finally able to fall onto my belly I thanked and praised God for giving me the strength to hold on. I praised Him with a joyful heart for His faithfulness through every difficult circumstance in which I and all my friends ever find ourselves. HE is good and HE is faithful, and going through struggles helps me remember that Truth.
So I will press on to get back to 5-minute-planks, trusting in the One who is faithful in every moment.

With what struggles do you need to trust HIM today?