Spiritual Failure to Thrive

            Finally, I have found some time to sit down and write something more meaningful then the last few entries I have wrote. Sorry about that. It has just been a busy past couple of weeks for me. I have been so sleepy because I am working longer hours at work and then I had a tooth worked on this week so I had that to deal with plus everything else. I also haven't been feeling very well these past couple of weeks but I am all better ready to write again so hopefully, I will get caught up this week. I have a lot to write about.
          God had been working in my life and giving me ideas to write about. God has not taken a break from anything in my life like I have. That is just God for ya, I know. Well, Spiritual Failure to Thrive is an idea I got from my church a couple or more weeks ago and I love it and the sermon that went with it. Even though, I don't want to write the whole sermon down, I will write about this phase. Being a child development major, I can understand things better when people talk on my terms and during the sermon the preacher did and he used this phase, "Spiritual failure to thrive" and I connected right to the sermon.
           To let people know, just the "failure to thrive" is a term used in child development, when talking about children that don't have enough of something like touch, food, or sadly love and then there is more that they can be failure to thrive for or with. I never thought of it for us as adults as a spiritual phase. This is how the preacher explained it for people like us. He said, "Spiritual failure to thrive is when we stop growing in God."
           Growing in God is a process that we are going to be in all of our lives. We might not think of it as that. Some people might think if I get baptized, then I will change just like that. That won't happen though, every season of life as its ups and downs. We will keep learning until we are in Heaven. We can never fail to thrive for God and what He has for us in this life because our reward is Heaven, where we will be prefect. We have to thrive and live for God while we are here on this earth going towards our time in Heaven.
           I also like something else the preacher said in that sermon. He was also read some verse in 1 Corinthians about how when we are born again Christians, we start out like infant needing some milk. When I heard that comparison I, again, totally connected and it was interesting to think about it that way. Even though, this is all about community and leadership, we need to see the comparison. There are baby Christians, toddler aged Christians, elementary aged Christians, middle aged Christians, and old aged Christians. Sorry it helps me when I picture it exactly that way. That is why I am a teacher's kid.
          When we are infants in Christ we need someone to feed and teach us the Word of God. Then we can teach our own friends and then we can teach the world. It is one step at a time and one season in life at a time too. You might think you got it all down but then God puts you in another season of your life and you feel like you are a baby Christian again. Some examples are: you got your personal study time down but now you need to love others with it. You got the job that you love but you either want to buy a house or start a relationship. You get comfortable in this one spot but then you have to move again. At the time, we might think "God why are you doing this to us", when really it is a good think for us because He is helping us grow closer to Him.
            Another example that has happened in my life is my loved ones passing away. The first one wasn't easy at all for me because it showed me I was getting older and someday all of my loved ones will pass away. As each one of them did, it seemed to get easier. Of course, it is never easy losing a loved one but I really think it was easier for me because I knew I needed to rely on God more and more. Just remembering all the things they did when they were alive gave me the strength to move on. Sadly, being the 2nd second youngest, I didn't get to spend munch time with my grandparents as some of my other siblings so I really learned a lot about my grandparents at their funeral.
             God did that for a reason and the reason was to make me as strong as they were in life. I am a strong, stubborn, determined, country girl and I couldn't have been that if things did't go the way they have been going in my life. I will tell you I have learned to appreciated the people that are still alive more closely because I regretted not knowing them better. The point is we should never have Spiritual Failure to Thrive. We should be thriving for God and what He wants the most for us everyday of our lives. We should remember to that God is never done with us and it is always going to be a process. Growing in and with God is what I mean by that.


Challenge: Remember to thrive in and for God. Joy unspeakable. Faith unsinkable. Make your love unstoppable. (Casting Crowns) Love that song!