A New Perspective

God gave me a word picture this week, I wanted to share with you. I had decided to do some weeding in a pretty big flower bed. After a while of bending and kneeling, my back and legs began to ache. I would look back at the seemingly little progress that I had made and felt overwhelmed at the large task set before me. I began saying to myself, "One weed at a time...just think of this little section. Don't concentrate on the flowerbed as a whole, but only one section, one weed at a time." My gaze then fell on the trash bag by my side. That is where I saw progress. The bag of newly pulled weeds was getting full enough to stand on its own. I was again hopeful that the time I had spent and the sore muscles endured had not been in vain.
Sometimes in our Christian walk, we become overwhelmed when we focus on the troubles or temptations we are currently facing. We begin to question, how can I ever get through this? Today, take a moment and reflect on the progress you have made on your spiritual journey by looking for the trash bag of stuff God has helped you remove. God wants us to pursue spiritual maturity. We do that by developing a relationship with Him through Bible study and prayer. He is our Father. He longs to see steps, no matter how small, of progress.
As I look back on my life, I can see areas in my life where I respond differently today when put in the same situation. I still have a ways to go, of course, but progress has been made. Praise God, there has been progress and there will be progress again. Even if the process is painful and overwhelming, God will use it, if we let him, to remove another trash bag of weeds from our lives. Make the effort and get in the flowerbed. Spend the time and pull the weeds. His Word will not return void. There will be a bag of trash taken away!

Isaiah 55:10-11 - "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." NKJV
Philippians 1:6 - "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." NKJV