change is inevitable, growth is optional
When I was younger I remember believing that my circumstances defined who I was and that I was always going to be in that season. Mostly I believed that it separated me from the love of the Lord, that I, in some way had to always be earning the love of the Lord and of those around me. I believed that the hardships I endured was in some way my fault and if I could just fix myself then I could earn that love. Funny enough it isn’t a new concept either, if you read in Rom. 8:38 & 39, Paul talks to the people saying that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ, showing that they feared being separated from the Lord if they didn’t do the right things, we are never alone.
We live in an age that believes, and honestly maybe every generation struggles with this, that the minute something gets hard or hurts is the minute something is wrong either with you or that you shouldn’t be doing it. When in fact the Lord calls us to go through hard times and through those hard times we will be matured. James 1:2 says to consider it a pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that testing of your faith produces perseverance. How many times have you faced a challenge and thought well maybe this isn’t what the Lord is calling me too or maybe I shouldn’t be in this friendship, it’s too hard. What if you pushed through and worked through that challenge and you saw the fruit that the Lord had for you. We can choose to be better from the hard times we endure and grow or we can choose to let go and walk away and potentially miss out.
As I got older and specially on the race I have come to figure out that my identity and peace is in Him. In John 16:33 He says that you will not go through this life without hardships and troubles but to have peace in Him because he has overcome the world. There will be hard days, I am constantly failing but every time I fall I know that I am growing through it. If I choose to see tomorrow as a new day and see that I will always be a work in progress, then I will be open to learning and growing in different ways. Change doesn’t happen overnight, I must work hard to grow and I can look back on my life and be grateful for the times I have seen trials for I know it was through those times that I have grown.
