Growth

Yesterday in our morning worship service we had our annual Thanksgiving sharing time. This is an opportunity for people to let everyone know what they are thankful for over the past year. I had been thinking of what to say for over a week. I have a lot to be thankful for, but this year I am especially thankful for my growth in God. Let me explain.......

Our former Pastor Ben would challenge us as a congregation now and then. He would say...."if you are the same person spiritually today that you were a year ago, something is wrong". This statement made me think of myself. If we aren't any different spiritually from one year to the next, we aren't growing. We are stagnant. We can't be stagnant when we call ourselves Christians. We need to be constantly growing and learning in our God. So yesterday I stood up front and told everyone that this year I can say "no", I'm not the same person spiritually that I was a year ago, and for that I am truly thankful.

 I have come to realize over this past year that I don't know as much as I thought I did. To remedy this, I read....and read some more.....and study....and take notes....and ask questions when I don't understand. I have people that I go to for help. Yesterday I made a joke that I have one particular person on speed dial......but that's me. I want to understand God better. I want to love Him and people better than I used to. I made mention that we have wonderful teachers within our church and I intend to take full advantage of that. To have teachers readily available is only a gift from God. I had a new friend tell me a few weeks ago that when God creates a hunger in us For Himself, he won't leave us out in the cold. He will provide people and ways to learn about Him. He's definitely doing that in my life. I look for opportunities to learn and I look for people to teach me truths. I find that even if people don't know Jesus I can still learn from them. I can listen and offer compassion.....I can be comforting if they need it.....I can listen and help them toward God......I can learn how things work in their life and understand them better as a person and how they live day to day. All these things take time to master. We don't wake up one day with all Gods qualities......it takes time and discipline. I am in the
process of learning all these things.

I finished up my little speech with telling my church family how much I love to read. I told them I read a real good book recently entitled, "Knowledge of the Holy". One line in the book spoke to me.
"Answers about God do not lie on the surface. The answers must be sought by long meditation on thr Word, prayer, and well disciplined labor. The brightly shone light of God can only be seen by those spiritually prepared to receive it."        (Matthew 5:8; Proverbs 4:23)
For this....I am truly grateful. I've got a long way to go, but I can now be spiritually prepared to receive Gods light and understanding through His Word. That I can ask and get answers because He made me ready to receive it. To God be the glory!!