Season of Growth

Life happens in what the Bible refers to as seasons. Rather than just looking at life as merely seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years passing by, life is looked at as periods of love, laughter, pain, anger, learning, experiences, etc. These past few months, I've realized that I am personally in a season of growth. By this, I simply mean as I read the Word, serve in the house of the Lord regularly, and grow in my faith, God has been teaching me, molding me, stretching me, and opening my eyes to things I didn't see before. He is making me into a new person! He is removing the things in me that are keeping me from reaching my full potential and destiny. While I was talking about this to a good friend of mine, she directed me to Psalm 25 (which is quite long for purposes of this blog so I will not post the whole thing, therefore I encourage you to look it up if you wish) which is basically a poem of David about the Lord guiding you in the right direction and teaching you the way of truth. When I heard this Psalm, I related to it immediately because I felt that this is exactly what I am going through right now. 

With that being said, I wanted to encourage some of those who maybe going through this same season or maybe a similar situation. Whether you are experiencing it in your relationships, in your job or school, or even in your faith, know that God would not be molding you or stretching you if He was not preparing you for something great! I know this season is not the easiest season to be in because, well to be honest, being stretched HURTS sometimes! I know it’s not fun to be pushed beyond your normal limits, to step out of your comfort zone, or to be disciplined in something, but know that God is doing it to benefit you, not to harm you and He is going to bless you because of it! There is no growth without change! “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 ESV). I want to challenge you to stay consistent in your faith and prayer. Know that the hurt will not last forever! Even when it is confusing and you don't understand why you are being tested, rest assured that there is a reason for it! "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing" (James 1:3-4 NLT). You will be able to use what you are learning and experiencing now in the future, you just can't see it now because you can't see the big picture. Pretty soon, God is going to reveal Himself to you and you will understand why you are going through what you are going through! Remember, God would not but you in the race if He knew you could not make it to the finish line! Stay Strong! 

For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child. (Hebrews 12:6 NLT)