5 Days From Resilient Hope by Christine CaineExemplo

HOPE FOR OUR SHORTCOMINGS

When I gave my heart fully to Jesus, everything in my life did not change instantaneously. I wish it had, but that’s not how becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ works. It took years of submitting to God on my part and years of transforming me on God’s part. I had rough edges that needed to be sanded smooth—in my words, attitudes, behaviors, in every area of my life. To this day, I’m still a work in progress. I’m still being transformed.

But when I was in my twenties and forging my way as a young leader, I began growing steadily, applying what I was learning about God and His Word. And though I made great strides, I still didn’t always get it right. There were times I said and did things that inadvertently hurt others—my family, my coworkers, my friends. Nonetheless, I kept working at it all, doing my best to grow into a more mature Christ follower.

There were plenty of times I could have given up. I remember when I was leading one of my first teams and I was pushing them too hard. I overworked myself back then and just assumed everyone around me should do the same. A brave soul on my team came to me and put it all on the table. I remember being shocked. Hurt. Embarrassed. But once I took it all in, I was actually grateful. It wasn’t something I couldn’t change. It just stung to have to hear about it.

What I discovered in that experience is something I’ve come to cherish: God is a God of restoration and new beginnings. It’s okay if we make mistakes. If we don’t like where we are right now, we don’t have to resign ourselves to it.

In God there is always hope—hope to change and to grow—because Jesus is always completing what He started in us. It is a process. When we are made aware of our shortcomings, we don’t have to give up. We can repent, make right the things we can, and trust that God is still working in and through us.

Have you blown it? Are you ready to grow again? Keep enduring by putting your hope in God. When we risk hoping, we open the door for change. We learn how to live in the present but with the future in mind. We shift the gaze of our focus forward. We become people of hope who are willing to let God surprise us with a new future. One in which He completes what He has begun in us.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promise to finish what You have started in me. Help me grow and mature to the next level. Keep transforming me. In Jesus’ Name, amen.