I can remember as a little girl complaining about my knees hurting all the time. My mother would tell me that it was growing pains. To look at me today, you would probably say I never grew 😂.
Sometimes growing is painful. Even spiritual and emotional growth is painful. In my message last night, I brought out the passage in Scripture where Jesus was talking about Him being the vine, the True Vine, and we are the branches. (John 15:1-11). He says that branches that don’t produce fruit He cuts off, but branches that bear fruit, He prunes so they will bear much fruit. Pruning is painful. It’s a cutting and a trimming. It may even leave scars sometimes but those scars will be a reminder of where God brought you from and where He did a new thing in you so you could bear more fruit.
…those scars will be a reminder of where God brought you from and where He did a new thing in you so you…
I’m currently in a leadership program because I want to become a better leader for myself and for my team and for my church. I never want to be satisfied where I am. I always want to be growing.
Sometimes as you grow, you will have growing pains. The growth process might not feel good during the growth. It might be hard, and it might feel like you’re going backwards, but the growth you experience as a result of the process is so worth it.
I told someone one day that I was content and they interpreted my statement as meaning I didn’t want to grow. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m always looking to grow. I never want to be the same person today that I was yesterday and I never want to be the same person tomorrow that I am today. Contentment means that you can find the positives amidst the negatives in your life. Satisfaction, on the other hand, becomes stagnation. So if you’re in a season of painful growth, be thankful because God sees something in you worth pruning!! You will be so glad for this season of growing when you get into the harvest and you are bearing much fruit. Just don’t get satisfied with your fruit…always ask the Lord to prune you so you can grow more and more fruit!!!
