My Sis and I

My Sis and I
Summer on Alpena Street
One of my favorite sayings from the show Emily Owens, MD

"We make all these plans of how things will turn out; but life happens, plans change, so we adapt. We draw on strength we didn't know we had; we give up any illusions of control, and we deal head on with problems that come our way."




Saturday, October 27, 2012

ESSENTIALS FOR CHRISTIAN GROWTH



What are the essentials for Christian growth:

1. Salvation.
2. Scripture
3. Sharing
4. Suffering
5. Stretching
6. Solitude
7. Service

We must be intentional in our spiritual growth.  The process is not automatic.  Hebrews says that mature believers have their senses trained because of practice.... "their power of discernment is trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."  (Heb. 5:12-14)

What happens when the hurricane gust-winds blow adversity into our life?  Do we topple over and get blown away by the force of the adversity or do we stand?  Do we trust the Lord through the fire of adversity?  Adversity, difficulties, hurricane moments, challenges that surprise us and take our breath away is what grows our faith.  We can fall under the weight of it or stand up and use the tools we've been given to fight and become a warrior.  How else do we become a "proven warrior" but by fighting battles.

This life is our "practice ground" so to speak.  We sometimes have "why me?" moments or just those "why?" moments.  It can be hard to see how God can actually take what's happening and use it for good.  Sometimes we even blame Him.  

I want to practice trusting God in those moments, to train my "senses" to respond in faith.  It's a journey - yes. Not always easy. Training is hard work. Readjusting how I respond can be difficult but not impossible.  I am learning and will continue to learn as long as I have breath.

Verse to Remember

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  Hebrews 5:14

2 comments:

  1. Preach it mama! :-) You are right, being intentional in our growth in Christ is key. Practicing what we read in Scripture is so vital to our faith in Christ and to our growth, putting down strong roots of faith. memorizing His word so it remains in our mind and heart, becoming a lamp to our feet and light to our path. Rejoicing always regardless of how we feel and what our circumstances may be, because those are fleeting and up and down, we rejoice because God never changes. He remains steadfast, faithful, Holy, and worthy of our praise. Perhaps at first we are drawn to God because we want Him to "fix it", but as we grow, we learn to to come to Him simply because of who He is. I like those 6 essentials for Christian growth. Good reminders.

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    1. You preach it Kelly! You need to start a blog page of your own. You have much to write about and share.

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