God will put you in a painful place, intentionally and allow you to hurt. God will deliberately place you around folk who talk about you, all day long and you’ll know it. God is going to assign you some stuff to do, you know don’t make sense to your natural. God is going to strategically place you at tables with the same folk who have denied you access, more than once. God is going to send you into places ‘they’ said you didn’t deserve entrance too. God is going to give you First Class tickets to platforms people said you didn’t belong and you’ll see them roll their eyes. God is going to methodically put you in covenant with some people who have screenshots of you in their phone. Those same ones who wake up every morning talking about you in group texts will be the very ones God sends you to help. And He’s going to fill the audience with people who will never clap for you. You want to know why? It’s to stretch you. Beloved, God is stretching those who have been in the background, passed their time. God is stretching those of us who have been overworked and underpaid. God is stretching those of us who has a sound for this season. God is stretching those of us whose shoulders are now strong enough to carry the mantle. God is stretching those of us who are now capable of paying the cost for oil. God is stretching those of us who are no longer afraid but now are willing.
But why do we need to be stretched? To keep motion in our joints, to prevent muscle fatigue and to keep us from snapping. You don’t have to believe me but pick up a rubber band that has been sitting somewhere for a while and stretch it. More than likely, it’ll snap. When you work out and you don’t stretch (before and after); you may find it hard to move the next day. This is because there has been no mobility given to the joints/muscles. Oh but had you stretched, you would still feel the workout but you’ll be able to handle it better. So you see, God has no choice but to stretch those of us He is about to use. This is to ensure we can handle the pulls and the pushes and still be able to move afterwards. And it’s to make sure we can be stretched and then bounce back to look like nothing ever happened. Sure, it’s going to hurt but that is only for us to remember being stretched in the first place because when we do; it ought to make us thankful to have survived. If that isn’t enough, think about this … if Jesus could stretch out His arms for us, when we didn’t deserve it, surely we can be momentarily stretched for Him because He does.
Lakisha, the Author 