Hello, fellow campaigners in the writing world! A. F. Kopp here with an overdue post– again! I’m not good with keeping up with my blog post writing, so here I am, making up for it by posting twice in one day.
Last night, I sent out a newsletter that was about growth, and I wanted to delve upon the subject deeper and bringing more scripture into it.
If we do not grow, we are stagnant–that is common sense. Stagnant water is unhealthy and not good. It’s not moving or anything, so put it in perspective if we were stagnant like that. Also, stagnant water isn’t good for the environment it is in. It causes mold and an increase in insects with disease since it is the perfect breeding ground for bugs. With that in mind, if we are stagnant, never growing or changing or moving, how can it be healthy for us or for those around us?
I often associate growth with growing pains. Anytime I have spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical growth, there is pain associated. We cannot go from point A to point B in an instance. We need to travel from place to place and that consumes energy. And I feel like a lot of my energy lately has been consumed or exhausted.
Lately, I feel that God has doubled down on me to help me with things I need to work on. One of the things I will mention is fear. Over and over again, I’ve been placed in situations in which I feel fear rising (and I’ve been dealing with fear ever since I was three or four), and slowly God has been unraveling the layers of fear each time He helps me overcome something. Of course, part of my testimony is when I was first delivered of fear when I was seventeen, and that was like the first decision to NOT give in to fear. After that it was harder to go back into the hole of fear I had been in, though fear still keeps poking at me.
Recently, I have faced so many different types of fears I’ve had, ranging from fear of rejection to holding my breath under water without pinching my nose. But, each time I face those moments of fear, I know God is standing at my side. I know I can’t be brave or courageous on my own– my strength comes from Him! So, lately, if I faced a fear (like going down a waterslide or trying to play the fastpitch softball cage, both of which I had cried about before), I would give a simple prayer to God, sometimes it had words and sometimes it didn’t. All I did mentally was set my focus on Him.
And each time I’ve taken these steps, though it is painful for me (and exhausting), it has become easier and easier for me to face these things because I know God is with me and helping me grow. Though fear isn’t the only thing I’ve been facing with God, I thought it was the easiest to explain and it’s been one of the more long-standing problems I’ve been dealing with.
Growth is necessary for a plant, and in the Bible, there are times when God uses plant or gardening analogies which I feel are important to take note of. If He is the Gardener, we can trust His skillful hand to guide us and nurture us to grow strong. When we don’t put our roots down in Him, weeds can easily tear our roots out. So, if we have a good foundation, we can sprout up towards God.
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4
“Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:4-6
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:10
“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”
1 Timothy 4:15
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:2-6
Thanks for reading this blog post! I hope it inspired and encouraged you as you read it! If you want to chat, my Instagram and Twitter handle is @ afkoppauthor ! 🙂
Salutations, my fellow adventurers!
A. F. Kopp
A. F. Kopp Author 