The Truth About Growth: Growing in the Journey

Everyday presents us with the opportunity for new growth.  The journey is certainly a process of GROWTH! Nothing grows without some type of source providing it the very thing it needs to thrive and grow.   Personal growth is necessary, exciting and costly. To stay comfortable and dig in our heals right where we are is DEADLY.  To choose to die in the painful stretching would be forfeiting ALL that God has for us!  Growth comes in different ways. It can come thru experiences or circumstances.  Some may be good and some may be difficult. I have found in my own life that deep growth in my walk with Jesus has come thru the very challenging or painful times in my journey.  BUT the good or the fruit that comes from that is a desperation for HIM  that desires to go deeper.  It must go deeper or we will not make it! Been there? I have many times. One thing I have always said along the way is that their are times I dislike the process very much. I do not like pain or discomfort. I do not like injustice or  when things happen that are out of my control.  I love when my little world is balanced, peaceful and everyone is getting along. I know. I hear you. Totally unrealistic. That's how my world looks in my "Pink Bubble".  Just keeping it real! Can you relate? It is in these times that most of our greatest growth can take place.  The other thing I say is that the process is necessary and I MUST embrace it! Help me Jesus!

I am not a green thumb at all!(even tho deep down I dream of being one) Anyway, I do know something about rose bushes. This is such a delicate flower that is so beautiful and fragrant! It is in such demand and loved by all.  In order for that bush to continue producing healthy beautiful fragrant flowers there is a process that the bush needs to endure every season. PRUNING.  Proper pruning, I am told, invigorates(love that word) the bush by stimulating the growth of buds, leaves and branches. It also cuts away the dead or diseased branches. It rejuvenates(another great word) declining, overgrown and neglected parts of the bush. I sure hope you are getting the visual here!! This is US in the journey! Along the way, the process REQUIRES some pruning of our own. We too need to be invigorated and stimulated to go to a new level in our walk with the Lord. Some of us have stayed in a place on our journey too long! It is time to MOVE.  There are dead places in our heart and life that need to be healed or resurrected. There are places that are toxic to our growth in Christ and He needs to eradicate those things. He longs to heal, restore and make all things NEW in HIM.  This process is necessary for maturity and growth.  We must embrace this and press into Jesus! Here is a verse in Ephesians chapter 1 that has spoken volumes to me this week and stirred something fierce in my spirit.  I have meditated on it everyday. I sense sparks of hunger for growth!! Paul prayed,

 

 What kept resounding in my soul was verse 17. Wisdom! Revelation! To KNOW HIM BETTER!! To grow and to go deeper. To mature in Him. To be that "aroma" of Christ in this hurting world! 

 "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" 2 Corinthians 2:15 NIV

 Our growth is not just necessary for us but for all those God brings into our world. Our family first, then everyone who encounters us MUST encounter Christ! Oh help me Jesus! How I so desire that for you and for me!! As He is changing us from "glory to glory" there must be EVIDENCE of this growth in order that others may  "KNOW HIM BETTER" or know Him at all! I hope you can sense the excitement in my spirit! I about ready to explode today!  I want to grow. I want to spur YOU on today to ask the Father just as Paul prayed. Ask the Holy Spirit for hunger, thirst, grace, hope, courage and confidence to trust in who HE IS!! Draw us Father to your well of living water and draw us with your loving kindness! This picture that I took in Central Park, NYC reminds me of His never ending supply of GRACE and LOVE that He provides for us in the journey! He provides it in the desert times. The provision is always there. The flow never stops. I may stop that flow by choices I make along the way BUT His provision for us is constant. It's up to you and I to "drink" and seek to know Him better.

…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

Let's cry out like David did when he was in the desert:

 "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).

I want to know His heart. I want to go deeper. I do not want to park it "here" on this journey. I know you want the same because you stopped by to read my blog today.  I can honestly tell you that I have sat down several times this week to write this blog and I encountered such

 opposition.  A block in the flow.  I believe the enemy was stopping me from getting this word to YOU. BUT He is the defeated one here! I thank God for great VICTORY today in my life and your life!! God is on the move! He is FAITHFUL!!! Don't give up. Keep going. Press in! Let's continue to GROW together on the journey! 

"The Lord Bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26 NIV

It's your turn to share. Where are you today in the journey? Growing or stuck?

Loving Jesus,

Robin 

Just Sayin...