Growth.

When you plant a seed, you don’t expect it to sprout overnight. You must take the time to water, fertilize, and nurture that seed until it sprouts and grows into a fully developed plant. This process requires time, persistence, and patience. While it’s common knowledge that growing plants demands effort and patience, we often forget to extend the same grace to ourselves as we grow into who God has called and created us to be.

As we evolve, we encounter challenges that can slow, redirect, or even halt our growth. If you’re like me and struggle with impatience, grasping this concept can be particularly difficult.

This year has been a season of profound growth for me—a painful one. I’ve had to sever ties with some people I never imagined parting ways with to continue growing. I’ve also watched someone I deeply love face a diagnosis that threatens her growth. It would be easy to retreat to a comfortable and safe space, but growth doesn’t happen there. Like a seed, we must move from the safety of the dark underground to reach toward the light and continue growing upward.

At church today, the pastor spoke about how sometimes the darkest valleys are where we experience the most growth, especially in drawing closer to God. For me, it’s in these dark times that I see God most clearly. It’s also when I’m pushed out of my comfort zone, forcing me to grow, despite my hesitation and anxiety.

Romans 5:2-6 says, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

In moments when all hope seems lost, cling to the truth that God is with you and fighting alongside you. Growth can be painful, heartbreaking, and strenuous, but it can also be filled with joy, hope, and love when we go through it with God as He intended.

He longs for a relationship with you, where you bring your burdens to Him and allow Him to nurture your soul.

You don’t have to navigate life alone. I promise that if you invite Him into your life, while you may not be free from trials, your life will be profoundly better.

#KeepGrowing :)