Strong Armstrong

After winning the grueling Tour de France in 1999, cyclist Lance Armstrong went on to repeat the feat in the year 2000. Armstrong won both these races and a score of others after battling cancer, a cancer so devastating that it had spread throughout his body, even to his brain.

After his remarkable victory in the 1999 Tour de France, Armstrong said that he wouldn't have been able to win if not for the cancer! The drive, the perseverance, and the courage that he developed while battling his internal enemy made him strong enough to ride faster and harder - and with more determination - than all of his opponents.

When athletes like Armstrong train, they run, ride, or lift weights to the point of muscle failure. Although this approach breaks down muscle fibers, it is beneficial because the body adapts to the stress and rebuilds the damaged fibers to be stronger than ever.

Certainly, the pain and trials that confront us come from many different sources. But it could be that God

allows them simply to make us stronger and better able to overcome our frailties and become all He intended us to be. Lance Armstrong knew the truth of the American proverb: "In the presence of trials, some buy crutches. But others grow wings."

He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak.

Isaiah 40:29

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Forwarded by Raymound