The Goal is GROWTH....
This previous week had been rough – and let’s just say I did not handle all my challenges well! I went to bed early Friday night, but also woke up early – my Saturday Quiet Times are more leisurely, deeper, more detailed than the rest of the week when I have to run out the door to work - and I look forward to them. This Saturday was no different. Our Daily Bread, some Psalms and part of Romans, part of a book I’m reading and then…? Log into my JMT University for an archived call. I love the insights I get through these calls – but this one hit a place the speaker trainer never intended! He was saying people who avoid public speaking because they have fears about it, usually keep themselves from situations where they could learn not to be so afraid. Then he used a term that will stay with me forever – and that the "still, small Voice" used to draw EVERYTHING about the past two days – and the day to come! – together as a quantum shift in my thinking from now on: When you are in an uncomfortable situation, instead of trying to get out of it, embrace it as an opportunity; understand this difficulty is an “environment conducive to your growth”. BAM! An environment that gives you the opportunity to "exercise" those fruits of the Spirit that I completely lost Thursday night! A re-test. A work-out. It’s not a punishment; it’s an opportunity to do better this time with things I know but got pre-empted by my emotions and my mouth earlier in the week!
So when I went to work for that 10 – 15 minutes and it turned into 2 hours – 2 hours of my Saturday “off”- I did not act the fool again and instead continued to “take every thought captive, again, and again, and again…answering the challenges imperfectly, but a WHOLE lot better than before I heard this “environment is conducive to my growth”! LOL God DOES have a sense of humor! And He wants me to grow up in my faith. I am encouraged that “He Who began a good work in me, will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, developing that good work and bringing it to full completion in me” (Phil 1:6) He will always give me a break when I need one, but then it’ll be back in the kiln where I will be in an “environment conducive to my growth”! A place to shine, glow, reflect, and fulfill the purpose I'm here for! And today, I can be happy about the assurance that even there, I am not alone!