Strength

I told someone the other day that I felt they were very strong; I actually said that this person was a very strong woman. She replied as to how she indeed was not strong. This got me thinking about strength. How strong do we have to be to get through things? Is it true that our Heavenly Father will not give us something that we cannot handle? When we feel like we cannot go one more step, is it the physical strength or the mental strength that pulls us through? How much physical abuse can one take before their body breaks? How much mental abuse can one take? Do you have to be strong physically to be strong mentally? Vice versa? Can one obtain physical strength? What about mentally? Can one learn to be stronger? Do our situations make us stronger or does our strength make our situations harder? When we finally throw in the towel and say that we cannot go any further, is this a sign of weakness or is it a testament of our strength?

People must look at strength differently. I have been told how strong I am; it makes me wonder, really, how well people know me. Does being strong willed constitute as strength? I don't think so. I think one has to find that inner strength though, that thing that really pushes us. You know, we have all heard of the mother who could lift a car off her toddler to save his life...outer strength. But, somewhere, deep inside, she had to know that she had to do it, she had to have the mind over matter. She could not for one instant second guess herself. She had to know she could and not even think about it. So, even though she had the outer strength to lift the car, she had the inner strength, or the mental strength if you will, to accomplish the task.

I have never been asked to lift a car off my child (thank heavens) but it seems like some of the things I have done on a mental capacity almost equals to that outer strength. I think I have failed more than I have succeeded. Physical strength can be observed -- look at all the wrestlers and the weightlifters, obviously you can see the outer, physical strength. But the inner, mental strength is subjective. Are we given tests to make us stronger or are we stronger because of our tests? Is not having strength, mental strength, a sign of weakness? You might think you know how strong a person is, but do you? Do you even really know how strong you are?