But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. (2 Cor. 12:9)
Soon I am coming up on an important life milestone, I will graduate and move on to the next phase of my career, as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I get reflective at times like these, thinking of lessons I’ve learned along the way, as well as how I have grown. Recently, I was thinking about how I have struggled through transitions like this. I have struggled with a sense of imposter syndrome, believing somehow, I wasn’t quite fully prepared or qualified, yet. Although I could always point to important accomplishments, along with lessons learned, I could almost more readily point to persistent flaws and imperfections, areas I still struggled, and places where I could benefit from more growth and healing. The result of this negative self-evaluation has been a hesitancy to truly embrace the moment I was living in, as well as a hindrance to my joy in the process.
This time around I am wanting to experience something different. Pride in my journey. A sense of love for myself. The ability to experience joy in the moment. Excitement for the future. Trust that God will guide me through each phase of the process. As I was thinking on this, I realized that a lot of what I have experienced has been the result of misplaced expectation. What I expected was that with the milestone would come a sense of finality. A sense of having arrived. A sense of feeling 100% prepared and confident in myself, no matter what should come my way. I expected that my problems would be resolved, my anxiety would have dissipated, and I would experience complete and total healing in all areas of my life simultaneously. All that would be left was joy and excitement. I have been disappointed milestone after milestone that this has not been my story.
Yet, my story has been beautiful, nonetheless. Today, I felt God highlighted to me that perfection has never been His expectation for me, rather leaning into His strength despite of my limitations. Each milestone in my life has been so significant because God has helped me to achieve it, despite my weaknesses. In fact, He has even used my weaknesses to make me stronger in the areas He has called me to (only God can do that!). Therefore, rather than viewing the completion of a milestone as an end point and final destination, I can view it as a pit stop along the way, just another chapter in my story, a highlight in an unfolding process of healing and restoration that will continue until I take my last breath. Each phase of my journey will come complete with ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks, challenges and victories, but all the while I am learning, blossoming, and increasingly growing in freedom and confidence each step of the way. In short, I can embrace myself as a beautiful work in progress, in every season.
I love how this glorious process is described in Philippians 3:12-14 (TPT):
I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfill and wants me to discover. I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.
Until heaven, we run with passion. We lean into His strength. We leave the past in the past and fasten our heart to the future. Complete and total victory awaits us in heaven, as we pursue and experience increasing victory in the here and now of everyday life.
Wherever you find yourself today, know that you are a beautiful work in progress…God’s masterpiece. Where in your life today do you need to embrace your process and stop chasing after perfect? In what area of weakness do you need to receive God’s love for you and extend some love to yourself? Stop for a moment to recognize the threads of God’s love, redemption, and restoration that are woven throughout your story. Recognize the fullness and strength of His presence in every corner of your life. Allow His joy to spill over into every part of you, no matter the challenges you may face. The point isn’t to simply arrive at some pre-conceived goal or destination. It’s to grow closer to Jesus in the journey and to see the impact of His presence expand into every area of our lives, to continuously surrender our ideas about what the process should look like and choose to trust Him instead, and to allow His light and love to shine through all the broken places of our lives. Trust the process.
