Growing Pains

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit.” ~Jeremiah 17:7-8

Growing pains. We all experience them – whether they are contained to our physical bodies after an intense workout or are part of our emotional and spiritual journeys.

I remember when I was a young girl, crying in my bed, unable to sleep because my bones were aching as they slowly and painfully stretched into their finished length in my adolescence. I couldn’t detect what was happening, why my body was aching and restraining me from getting any rest. It was in those moments that I called out to my mother, who came quickly with Tylenol, water, and a listening ear. She had been through the growing pains, and had full confidence (not to mention scientific evidence) that all would be as it should be in a few short years. Now at my full height, I really haven’t looked back on these growing pains until this moment. Instead, I walk as a woman fully grown, confident in my height and able to enjoy the benefits of the pain without specifically recalling the painful moments to memory.

As an adult, the growing pains I feel are quite different. These are the growing pains of the soul. They don’t go away with Tylenol, water, and a mother’s touch. They take much longer to complete themselves, and often return when more growth is necessary in a certain area of my heart.

And unlike the growing pains I felt as a child, these are pains that I must consciously choose to endure in order to reap the rewards of the growth. I can choose to stunt my growth by not listening to the call to something higher, or I can choose to walk by faith, endure the struggles, and persevere to a new and more glorious level of my soul.

However, this is a choice that I make on a daily basis when I choose to put God first and accept His will as the absolute best plan for me. While I may be led through deserts, up mountain slopes, and across raging rivers of distrust, doubt, and past hurt, I never walk alone. I am being led by the most caring Shepherd who will never leave my side. He knows where He leads me. He understands my heart for He created me, and He knows the junk that has accumulated over the years – things that will only keep me from going deeper in my relationships with others and with Him if ignored.

In these growing pains there may be fear of the unknown and many tears as the pain and weariness creep ever steadily into my heart, but there is a stronger promise of a more complete self – a soul that walks more perfectly in step with the Father, and a heart that reflects the desires of the Father’s heart. What could be more rewarding that such nearness to God?

I trust that in the times when I may not see immediate benefits of the growing pains, God is working in my heart in ways that I cannot see. For I know that no time is wasted when walking with God. God doesn’t waste time. He uses every minute, every circumstance, to produce a more perfect and holy Bride.

So let us persevere, and run the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). Let us trust in the One who created us and gave Himself for us. We have nothing to lose and the most wonderful of things to gain – an inseparable closeness to the heart of the living God.

Battles Lost, Victory Won

This is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand
~ Desert Song by Hillsong

I'm sitting here feeling completely defeated in some of the battles of life I have been engaged in for some time now. I have donned my best armor, fought with my best sword, and battled self as faithfully as I have been able -- all to no seen avail.

However, as defeated as I feel, I know that while these battles may not be reaping tangible rewards for me now, the war that has been waged on my heart is nearer and nearer its aforeseen victory.

I may be discouraged now, in the face of loss and the taunting of the unknown, but what I am beginning to see is the fruit of this labor and God's grace in my own heart. These battles may seem painfully lost, but the trust I have had to place on the Lord in these times have harvested irreplaceable gifts of humility and surrender that I never would have received had I chosen not to enter into battle.

The battle may seem lost, but there is the promise and reassurance of everlasting victory through Jesus Christ our Savior.

"Why am I discouraged?
Why is my soul so sad?
I will put my hope in God.
I will praise Him again,
my Savior and my God!"
~Psalm 43:5

In Every Season

Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” ~ Galatians 6:9 NLV

Minnesota has seen a bit of a rainy season this summer, something I certainly wasn’t expecting or hoping for when I came home from Iowa for my three month vacation. But I must say, the abundance of rain has set me thinking about the rainy seasons in my own life.

We all experience rainy seasons, dry seasons, and fruitful seasons. Sometimes these seasons cycle through in a predictable pattern, but mostly the change in seasons catches us off-guard. It is in these changes of seasons that we come to rely on the Lord instead of our own understanding of our circumstances (Proverbs 3:5).

For the past few months I have been weathering a rain shower in my life. Some days feel like a refreshing sunshower, but others are more akin to the thunderstorms Minnesota has been plagued with recently. It is in this time that I have learned to not resist the rain and to trust the Lord in His use of every minute of it.

After all rain is essential for growth in this world. It is no different for our hearts. These rainy seasons are times we draw close to the Father for shelter, wearily bringing all our pain and struggles to Him, completely relying on Him to lead us through. As trust builds and strength is steadily restored God often gives us the grace to see the benefits of the rain – the harvest to be reaped at just the right time. It is then we can dance in the rain, rejoicing in our God-monitored growth and the promise of “a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Have faith, dear one, for there is always a purpose in the rainy season. There is always the promise of a rainbow to follow the storm. There is always the presence of the Companion who will “never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5). Let us open our hearts to receive whatever the Lord has for us in every season. Let us trust today that He has the absolute best for us and that all is for His glory.

“All of my life, in every season, You are still God. I have a reason to sing.” ~“Desert Song” by Hillsong