Fortified by the Fracture

In 1892, German anatomist Julius Wolff documented something remarkable about human bone: it doesn't just endure stress — it grows stronger because of it. When you run, lift, or carry weight, microscopic fractures form throughout your bones. Rather than weakening them, these tiny breaks trigger a repair process in which specialized cells called osteoblasts rush to the site and rebuild the bone denser and more resilient than before. Wolff called it adaptive remodeling. Scientists now know that bones deprived of stress — like the bones of astronauts floating in zero gravity — actually weaken and thin within weeks. The resistance is not the enemy of strength. It is the source of it.

There is something deeply biblical in this. When James writes, "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds," he is not asking us to pretend suffering doesn't hurt. He is making a claim at the level of bone and sinew about the human soul: the load produces endurance. The fracture becomes the foundation. The very pressure that threatens to break you is the pressure your Maker uses to build you.

If you are in a season of weight today — carrying grief, pressing through failure, enduring illness that won't let go — know this: the Almighty does not waste the load. He works in it, through it, and because of it. You may feel the hairline cracks forming. But the Healer is already at work, rebuilding you stronger at every break.