Built For The Road Ahead

One Sunday night Tom was watching sports (don't ask me which type) and as I straightened the things on my sunroom table I heard this slogan from the tv-- "Ford: Built for the road ahead."

I swung around to the tv screen and thought, "Hey! I like that." And I wrote it down on a scrap of paper to later share with you, but of course, I can't find it anywhere now. But in just one simple sentence that slogan summed up what God has been doing in my life these past ten years: He's been building me for the road ahead.

Preparing me for the far-off years I cannot yet see.
Teaching me how to live with Grace today so that I can live with Grace tomorrow, too.
Emptying me of myself so He can pour in more of Himself.
Teaching me to do today what I won't regret having done tomorrow.

And on and on.

Yes, for ten years it's been like that. But the sad thing is that there were 24 years before these last ten when God was trying so hard to build me for the road ahead, but I was kicking and screaming the whole way. Mostly it felt like I was kicking against the same brick wall built across the middle of the road. One I'd constructed brick-by-brick myself, but had blamed others for placing it there.

It always felt like I was moving ahead about one measly inch a year. I'd look at other Christians and think they must have been sprinkled with heavy duty fairy dust or favor because they seemed to be growing by big leaps and bounds. But not me. No, I was crawling like the baby I still was.

The difference now? One word--cooperation. I finally learned how to cooperate with God and get hooked into His agenda--not mine.

And that's what my whole blog is about so I'll not reiterate the details in this post. I'll just say that it is possible to stunt your growth as a Christian. To remain a baby in the spirit realm and look like one of those people who make you so sad when you walk past them--full-grown adults who have the mind of a six-year old.

Don't tell me it's not possible. That was me for many, many years.

It feels so good to finally grow. To let God build me for the road ahead, wherever that road may take me.