Hi Friends in Christ,

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Before I get into the ‘official post’, I wanted to let you all know about my new schedule for the next two months of Summer.  Up until now, I have always posted on Saturday mornings each week.  I thought it would be fun to add some extra posts during the summer, so I will be posting on Tuesdays as well.  I hope you all enjoy the extra content.  I look forward to putting it out.  To ensure that you know when a new post comes up, feel free to sign up for the e-mail list on the right-hand side of the site for updates.

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There has been one dominant thought in my mind recently; the idea of the process.  The idea of the process, put simply, is just the realization that all good things in life take time. We really can’t go into anything thinking it will be perfect from the start.  This idea can be a little bit scary at times.  But, in my opinion, getting over this fear is one of the most important parts of life and a great step of faith.

 

People are naturally drawn to perfection.  We strive for perfection in every way; academics, sports, friendships, faith, etc.  The problem with always focusing on the best possible options, however, is that we tend to forget the beauty of the process that intends to get us there.

I’m going to reference Hermie the Caterpillar, by Max Lucado.  Hermie goes through his life always feeling like something is missing, watching other people succeed in their beauty, or strength, or personality.  And he felt like he was missing out.  You see where I’m going with this.

He prayed, and prayed, asking God to make sense of it all, and all God would say was ‘Hermie, I love you, but I’m not finished with you yet.  I’m giving you a heart like Mine’.  BOOM!!  I am giving you a heart like mine.  Can you imagine that?

The catch, however, is that we all know that Christ is changing our hearts and conforming them to His will as we speak.  Even in those moments when we just want to give up and eat a tub of ice cream or something, Christ is teaching us to persevere through all of our struggles.

Even in these moments of doubt, when we have a hard time trusting our commitment to faith, Christ will never doubt our worthiness of His love.  He will always be there to encourage us along the way.

It’s not about everything being perfect, it’s not even about everything being good, it’s about each of us trying our very hardest to do the next right thing day. after. day.  Its not about waking up every morning and thinking, ‘Thank you, Jesus, for my amazing life. You are so good to me, God.  I love you, I love you, I love you’.  That would be wonderful, but its not required.  It’s also about waking up, even when you are sore, or tired, or annoyed, or whatever, and saying, ‘Thank you, Jesus for this day.  Give me strength.  I’m ready to give you my all.  Help me to love you always’.  You see the difference.

There is something really special about surrendering to the process.  We all come to a point when we have to realize that our lives won’t be fully ‘complete’ until we don’t have lives to live anymore; when we are living, instead, in heaven.  We realize that God has His hand right over our hearts and won’t ever let us fall, no matter how much this process of life tries us.

I had this ‘moment’ over the course of a lot of moments.  I had so many of aspects of my life that I couldn’t change, but that dragged me down in one way or another; my health, my personality, my talents, my weaknesses.  When I started to let go of my false expectations, without even knowing it, I was surrendering them to the Father’s care and protection.

The trust that the Father asks of us as we walk through this life of baby steps is just as simple as saying, “I’m all your’s, Jesus.  Give me a heart like yours and help me to trust you through every part of my life”.

I feel like when we recognize the need for change and realize that we are all on this road together, those little insecurities and hesitations start to melt away as we all realize our worth in Christ, in any part of our transformation.

Let this be our litmus test: We are all a work in progress.  We will not be finished until we are in heaven.  Is that a freeing statement, or one that holds you back?   I sincerely hope that statement brings you hope for the things to come and joy under the Father’s protection.

God bless,

Maddy