Love Your Life (Even When You Don’t Like It All the Time): Unlocking Joy in Life's Messy, Mundane, and Magnificent MomentsSample

“I Should Be Past This by Now”
Myth: Growth should be faster, easier, cleaner.
Truth: Joy often grows best in slow, nonlinear places.
For me, there’s often a voice that creeps in when I’m tired of struggling with the same thing again: “Seriously? This again? You should be past this by now.”
Let me identify that voice for you right now that we nodded at in Day 3. This is the voice of the enemy of our souls.
You may hear that voice during emotional burnout, the pull of people pleasing, old habits, or familiar doubts, because it’s frustrating when the progress we want feels like a treadmill and hamster wheel instead of a finish line.
Can I remind you of this: Spiritual growth isn’t a straight shot. It’s seasonal, cyclical, and sometimes even silent. In fact, the whole story of Scripture is full of faithful people who took the long way through their healing, calling, and joy.
A great example of this is the Israelites. Their journey should’ve only taken 11 days, but it was somehow stretched into 40 years (see Deuteronomy 1:2-3). But even in the wilderness, God provided manna daily, their shoes didn’t wear out, and His presence never left them despite their grumbling and complaining. Progress looked like provision, not perfection.
God is not in a rush. He’s a gentleman: He’s always on time, and He isn’t pressuring us to get there faster. He’s not grading your speed and performance. He’s forming your character. He’s teaching you to return, to rely, to remember that His love is patient and persistent and so is His work for you.
So if you feel like you “should be further along,” pause and ask: Who told me that? Because God didn’t. Instead, He says, “Come to me.” (Matthew 11:28, esv). Whether it’s the first or the 500th time.
Don’t mistake the middle for failure. Sometimes the loop is the lesson.
A few things for you to ponder:
- Where in your life are you feeling like you should be “over it” by now?
- Can you name signs of growth that don’t look dramatic but are still real?
- What’s one way God might be using this “loop” to shape your trust or perspective?
About this Plan

This isn’t about pretending life is perfect. It’s about learning to love the one you’re actually living, even in the tension, even in the waiting. Over the next 5 days, we’ll name what’s hard, notice what’s holy, and find joy in the middle of the mess. Because the gospel doesn’t promise ease, but it does promise Immanuel, God with us, right here, right now. And that changes everything.
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We would like to thank Tyndale House Publishers for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://rachelawtrey.com/
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