Growing Pains
Hey y'all! I officially have 2 weeks of college under my belt, and I have already learned so much. Cliché as that may sound, I refer not to the classes that I am taking, but rather the experiences I have had.
First, I want to start with some song lyrics that have been on my mind for a few weeks. "And nothing can stay the same, it's growing pains." Obviously, these lyrics inspired the rest of this post and the title as well. Although childish, these lyrics are from an emotional song out of the Descendants 2 movie. Maybe, I feel the emotions within the song so well because I relate to them. My friend (of 6 years) was leaving for college at the time, and I was nearing my next adventure as well. I, admittedly, cried upon my first listening of this song, and my friend and I immediately made it "our song" (kind of jokingly, but in a little bit of seriousness). Well now that you have a background, I want to expand on the phrase I gave you. A huge part of me desires so desperately to grow up, mature in Christ, and continually change in my compassion for others and improve my heart. But there is a whisper in my soul that tells me not to. It tells me that I can't handle that type of change. It tells me not to try because I will only fail. It tells me who I am and that my weaknesses can't be overcome. That whisper lies to me, and I know where those lies come from.
John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
We often fall prey to those lies. The lies that tell us that we can't do it. We can't make our dreams come true. We can't become who we so badly want to be. We can't be a good person at heart and still live it out in our lives. We can't give ourselves wholly to Jesus. Read the following sentence carefully. For every single one of these lies, the devil is right, except the last lie. We CAN give ourselves wholly to Jesus. And when we do, He lives in us. His life, his strength, his wisdom, and his love flow through us and into every little and big thing we do. So yeah, WE, as humans, cannot do this life on our own. We need the Savior. When He lives in us, we can do the impossible. Don't doubt that. Don't let the devil spoon feed you the lies that leave your heart weary and that awful cherry medicine taste in your mouth.
YOU can grow.
YOU can change.
YOU can do good.
YOU can achieve your goals.
YOU can make your dreams come true.
ONLY IF Jesus is the center of your heart, your life, and every single thing you do, say, think, or feel.
Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Secondly, I want to look at what I have learned these past two weeks. To be frank, I hesitated in writing this post. I was reluctant to admit all these new epiphanies and realizations to y'all. I was also afraid of writing all these things down and continuing to fail to fix them. But fear doesn't bring us any closer to our goals unless we fear the Lord.
Every day is a new beginning.
As C.S. Lewis once stated, "Relying on God has to begin all over again every day is if nothing had yet been done." Yesterday is no more. We are here in the present. Not the past. Not the future. There was a time in my life when I looked back on my past constantly, fretting how it may repeat itself, afraid to let go of all the good. But Jesus wants us right here, right now.
Luke 9:62 "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Lot's wife was turned to a pillar of salt because she turned to look back on the cities burning behind her. God asks us to depend on him every day. He wants in the present, aware of his presence and his working in our lives. God wants our focus and attention, our love and heart. He wants us now, so we may have him forever.
There was also a time, most of my life actually, when I stopped looking back and turned my vision to the future. I am certain that if God would have let me skip high school, college, and any other part of my life that came before I got married, I would have gladly done it. I wanted so pathetically to skip the now and later to get to the "fun" part of life. I sincerely believed that the good life was still waiting until I met the love of my life and got married and had kids and grew old with him. How sad! I was obsessed with all the possibilities my future could hold. (Maybe a tiny part of it was my creative writing side, because there are moments when I drift out of reality and imagine tidbits of a fantasy.) But I jumped out of that stage and into the present, which was much more difficult than leaving the past behind me.
Starting each day as a new day is hard with all the busyness of the world today. But God's blessings and mercies are new every morning and there is joy to be found and had in that.
Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Occasionally, I try to grasp this concept. How God can bless us all over again when we so often seem to fail him. His love has eluded me and that's as it should be. I want to know God, but there is something about His love that makes me want to stop trying to figure it out. His love, his mercy, his grace makes me want to stop and breathe so deeply. It makes me want to walk through fields of endless sky. God's love makes me think of winter. The freezing, snowy days lead us inside, to the warmth. The cruelty of this world leads us to the love of the Father. The kind of love that melts hearts of stone and redeems shattered lives.
Growth takes time.
II Peter 3:18 "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
When I desire to change for the better, I always expect it to be immediate. I think that I pray for it and expect it to happen without acting on it. But growing doesn't work like that. It takes work. I have to study, and pray, and praise, and wait, and worship, and love, and live, and act, and serve, and love, and sing. There is so much that goes into growth. Because growing isn't solely about being better or smarter in the ways of the Lord. Growth means becoming closer to God. Growth means becoming more like Christ. Growth means letting it be more about God and less about you. Growth means taking up your cross, your responsibilities every day and finding God in the midst of the pain. Because there is pain in growth. We have all experienced physical growing pains. And until recently, I never considered the possibility of there being emotional growing pains. But they exist. I would know.
These past few months have been emotional times, but I wouldn't have wanted them to be any other way. Our emotions are part of who we are, and they help us become who God created us to be. The pain, the sorrow, the hurt, all leads us into the faithful arms of Jesus. All the bad and the wrong often leaves us searching and seeking for the goodness and hope Christ offers. And it was meant to do those things. In no way am I saying that we should wait for terrible things to happen until we look for the good. What I am suggesting, is that we continue to seek good when it all seems bad. And we must look for good in the right place. We must look for good in our God.
Fellow followers, lovely people, and my brothers and sister, please allow to leave you with a few meager pieces of advice.
Enjoy life.
Bask in this season of life you are experiencing.
Please, dear heart, chase you Father. Run after your redeemer, for he is your best friend and all that you will ever need.
Look for God in everything, for you'll find him when you wholeheartedly seek him.
Drop the baggage of your past and rest in the moments God is blessing you with right here.
Let your future be your future and work for your goals, but NEVER let them come before the Lord.
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
Keep running, beloved!
Love always,
Jesusfreak
First, I want to start with some song lyrics that have been on my mind for a few weeks. "And nothing can stay the same, it's growing pains." Obviously, these lyrics inspired the rest of this post and the title as well. Although childish, these lyrics are from an emotional song out of the Descendants 2 movie. Maybe, I feel the emotions within the song so well because I relate to them. My friend (of 6 years) was leaving for college at the time, and I was nearing my next adventure as well. I, admittedly, cried upon my first listening of this song, and my friend and I immediately made it "our song" (kind of jokingly, but in a little bit of seriousness). Well now that you have a background, I want to expand on the phrase I gave you. A huge part of me desires so desperately to grow up, mature in Christ, and continually change in my compassion for others and improve my heart. But there is a whisper in my soul that tells me not to. It tells me that I can't handle that type of change. It tells me not to try because I will only fail. It tells me who I am and that my weaknesses can't be overcome. That whisper lies to me, and I know where those lies come from.
John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
We often fall prey to those lies. The lies that tell us that we can't do it. We can't make our dreams come true. We can't become who we so badly want to be. We can't be a good person at heart and still live it out in our lives. We can't give ourselves wholly to Jesus. Read the following sentence carefully. For every single one of these lies, the devil is right, except the last lie. We CAN give ourselves wholly to Jesus. And when we do, He lives in us. His life, his strength, his wisdom, and his love flow through us and into every little and big thing we do. So yeah, WE, as humans, cannot do this life on our own. We need the Savior. When He lives in us, we can do the impossible. Don't doubt that. Don't let the devil spoon feed you the lies that leave your heart weary and that awful cherry medicine taste in your mouth.
YOU can grow.
YOU can change.
YOU can do good.
YOU can achieve your goals.
YOU can make your dreams come true.
ONLY IF Jesus is the center of your heart, your life, and every single thing you do, say, think, or feel.
Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Secondly, I want to look at what I have learned these past two weeks. To be frank, I hesitated in writing this post. I was reluctant to admit all these new epiphanies and realizations to y'all. I was also afraid of writing all these things down and continuing to fail to fix them. But fear doesn't bring us any closer to our goals unless we fear the Lord.
Every day is a new beginning.
As C.S. Lewis once stated, "Relying on God has to begin all over again every day is if nothing had yet been done." Yesterday is no more. We are here in the present. Not the past. Not the future. There was a time in my life when I looked back on my past constantly, fretting how it may repeat itself, afraid to let go of all the good. But Jesus wants us right here, right now.
Luke 9:62 "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Lot's wife was turned to a pillar of salt because she turned to look back on the cities burning behind her. God asks us to depend on him every day. He wants in the present, aware of his presence and his working in our lives. God wants our focus and attention, our love and heart. He wants us now, so we may have him forever.
There was also a time, most of my life actually, when I stopped looking back and turned my vision to the future. I am certain that if God would have let me skip high school, college, and any other part of my life that came before I got married, I would have gladly done it. I wanted so pathetically to skip the now and later to get to the "fun" part of life. I sincerely believed that the good life was still waiting until I met the love of my life and got married and had kids and grew old with him. How sad! I was obsessed with all the possibilities my future could hold. (Maybe a tiny part of it was my creative writing side, because there are moments when I drift out of reality and imagine tidbits of a fantasy.) But I jumped out of that stage and into the present, which was much more difficult than leaving the past behind me.
Starting each day as a new day is hard with all the busyness of the world today. But God's blessings and mercies are new every morning and there is joy to be found and had in that.
Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Occasionally, I try to grasp this concept. How God can bless us all over again when we so often seem to fail him. His love has eluded me and that's as it should be. I want to know God, but there is something about His love that makes me want to stop trying to figure it out. His love, his mercy, his grace makes me want to stop and breathe so deeply. It makes me want to walk through fields of endless sky. God's love makes me think of winter. The freezing, snowy days lead us inside, to the warmth. The cruelty of this world leads us to the love of the Father. The kind of love that melts hearts of stone and redeems shattered lives.
Growth takes time.
II Peter 3:18 "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
When I desire to change for the better, I always expect it to be immediate. I think that I pray for it and expect it to happen without acting on it. But growing doesn't work like that. It takes work. I have to study, and pray, and praise, and wait, and worship, and love, and live, and act, and serve, and love, and sing. There is so much that goes into growth. Because growing isn't solely about being better or smarter in the ways of the Lord. Growth means becoming closer to God. Growth means becoming more like Christ. Growth means letting it be more about God and less about you. Growth means taking up your cross, your responsibilities every day and finding God in the midst of the pain. Because there is pain in growth. We have all experienced physical growing pains. And until recently, I never considered the possibility of there being emotional growing pains. But they exist. I would know.
These past few months have been emotional times, but I wouldn't have wanted them to be any other way. Our emotions are part of who we are, and they help us become who God created us to be. The pain, the sorrow, the hurt, all leads us into the faithful arms of Jesus. All the bad and the wrong often leaves us searching and seeking for the goodness and hope Christ offers. And it was meant to do those things. In no way am I saying that we should wait for terrible things to happen until we look for the good. What I am suggesting, is that we continue to seek good when it all seems bad. And we must look for good in the right place. We must look for good in our God.
Fellow followers, lovely people, and my brothers and sister, please allow to leave you with a few meager pieces of advice.
Enjoy life.
Bask in this season of life you are experiencing.
Please, dear heart, chase you Father. Run after your redeemer, for he is your best friend and all that you will ever need.
Look for God in everything, for you'll find him when you wholeheartedly seek him.
Drop the baggage of your past and rest in the moments God is blessing you with right here.
Let your future be your future and work for your goals, but NEVER let them come before the Lord.
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
Keep running, beloved!
Love always,
Jesusfreak
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