Through your life, how many times have you had someone tell you ‘baby steps’? Well, most people consider baby steps meaning ‘small’, and you’d be right. But I’ve seen many baby steps, being an aunt of a very personality-full toddler; and baby steps mean a whole lot more than people think.
One thing is, the baby has to pick themselves off the ground. Teenagers and adults, every single person, has had to do this past the age of 1 too. Just not as literally, usually anyway. Once you have your feet under you, and the words ‘baby steps’ remind you, what do you? You move. You put one foot in front of the other, and when it doesn’t falter, you do the other. If you’ve had a good day or week or whatever, and haven’t had to pick yourself up, you may not even notice that your legs and feet are pushing you on. It’s a natural default. But when things got rough, and you stumbled and fell, standing up takes more effort. So does taking those baby steps, but there’s more to the steps that make them so difficult sometimes.
As many of you know, I am a Hebrew Christian. Do I always act like it? Shamefully, no. Sometimes I say mean things, sometimes I think not-nice thoughts, I’m not completely patient, and I wish to be more kind. But will I fix any of this alone? No. No matter how hard we try, these baby steps in life won’t make any difference or get us anywhere- without God. Jesus Christ loves you, and I know it may get dull to hear, because it’s said so much. But it’s true. And being said; think about that for a minute. Jesus Christ, Lord our Father, loves you. You. Did you have to do something big for Him to love you? No. He died so many years ago, because He loves you, and He wanted you to have the chose of going to Heaven with Him. He loves you so much, He died for you. The Creator of all things made you, not just to say ‘oh hey they’re pretty good at this so ya know I’mma just through them on Earth for no reason’, no. God made every single person for a purpose. What I find utterly amazing is; did God have to make me? No. No, He didn’t. But He wanted to. He loves me so much he gave me this gift of life. And He has to feel pretty upset when we go around complaining about things, saying ‘Life sucks’ etc. Don’t get me wrong; can life get pretty hard? Yes. Trust me, it can. But does that give us the right so say it sucks fully? No. Because God loves us, and with Him, nothing is too big.
See, I’ve found that lately, I’ve been quite stressed. Not as much as some, I know, but things have been going up and down in spikes lately. Am I complaining? No. I know God does things in His time, for His purpose. Which is greater than mine. But it was been stressful. Busy too; but I find it all as something to build me closer to the Lord. These challenges I and my family are facing, are for reasons we may not yet know, but God does.
With all the things going on in my lap, I’ve been trying to reach for God. And I’ve found that some things come with more ease. I asked for His help with my baby steps, and He answered me, helping. Will I stop needing His help? No, and I cannot say I don’t want His help.
One thing I want to encourage you to do is; 1. Pray. 2. Take those baby steps. They will do more than you can imagine. I know, personally, that they change a lot.
God bless.
-Angela