What Does Not Destroy Me

"What does not kill me, only makes me stronger."

I have read this statement of Friedrich Nietzsche many time.  It is even quoted at times.  I suppose it is brought up in an effort to make people feel better about the dire circumstances that they are experiencing.

The only problem with this statement is that it is patently false.  I can tell you that if you have the choice of getting pneumonia (a) after a hip replacement surgery, (b) after a severe case of influenza or, (c) when you haven't been ill for months and are otherwise healthy, you should choose (c).

Things that do not kill me can still leave me a lot weaker and more suceptible to injury or, infection.

Even in a non-physical sense, there are plenty of wounds that go very deep and are never healed.  There are things that while they do not kill, they still cut deeply into the spirit and psyche.

Nietzsche was of course coming from the perspective of the superman.  This was (a mythical) individual who could rise above all things and endure all things without fear.

My experience is quite different.  For, what I have found is that it is only by placing my future in God's hands am I able to trust that circumstances will not destroy me.  It is only with His strength that I can avoid falling.  For, the fresh wounds of today have a real tendency to become seeping ulcers, ready to break open at any point -- but for the grace of God and His healing.