Learning To Reach For It

When I was a teenager, we went every year to Glorieta, New Mexico, for summer camp. Often on those trips, I grew so close to God and learned things that helped me to get through some of the difficulties of life that I was facing. Since I was growing up in a dysfunctional family, I had lots of things that were pulling at me and trying to hold me back from what God had planned for me. But, I was always encouraged when I got away and learned that I could live life God's way and be blessed because of it.

Well, as I write this I am sitting in a room in Glorieta once again. I am here today not as a teenager, but as a member of the teaching faculty for the Glorieta Christian Writer's Conference. Since I was not teaching this morning and had some free time, I left the adult housing and decided to walk back to the "kid" side of the camp where we would stay as teenagers and have my devotionals. While there, I was overcome with God's faithfulness in my life. Memories flashed back of all the things that God had taught me over the years in this place. As I sang out to God and read Scripture, I thanked Him for loving me enough and staying so faithful over the years. His faithfulness to me is what has helped me not just survive but thrive over the years.

I was very much aware today during my prayer time that God has and can continue to help me overcome things that seem so devastating in my life. He can help me forgive people that I struggle to forgive. He can help me grow past sins I keep repeating and make me more like Him everyday. He prunes those He loves. But as a loving Father, He snips a little at a time so as to not kill me, but make me better over time. As I sat in a place that has come to mean so much to me over the years, God reminded me of ways He has matured me over the years. It was a reminder of how much He loves me and how much He will continue to help me grow more like Him if I will come to Him everyday with that childlike faith that I had as a teenager.

What is it in your life that you need to overcome and grow past? What difficulties are you going through that you need God to help you see that He can use to make you better and not bitter? What do you need to let go in order to reach for what it is that God has planned for you?

God is faithful and can show you how to grow past your hurts and difficulties. Even though it seems like an overwhelming process at first, God will lovingly snip those bad things out of your life like He did mine. He will be faithful to you. And one day, twenty years from now, you too will be able to look to Him and be so amazed at how faithful He has been to you to walk you through the process of becoming more like Him everyday. You will be so proud that you took steps and continue to learn to take steps that will allow you to reach for the prize that awaits you in heaven!