Are Growing Pains Worth It?

Travel is hard… To get to Costa Rica we had to wake up at 4:00am, pack our things into vans while munching on some Pop Tarts, work our way through the airport with a group of 20 people, take a four-hour flight, stand in line for customs for two hours, find our bus, and finally take a two-hour bus ride to our hostel. Everything about it was completely exhausting. By the time we got to our hostel, we were all tired and hungry (some of us borderline hangry) and we still had to find dinner, prepare for our trip the next day, and go through our cultural orientation session.

It was a lot, it was overwhelming, it was hard, but it was so worth it. On the way to the hostel, we drove through San Jose and got to see the winding streets, giant mountains, lush green trees, and various tiny stores lining the roads all beneath fluffy gray rainclouds. Costa Rica is so beautiful. The way that the Lord’s creation mingles with the incredible culture paints such a stunning image. Nowhere in the world is exactly like this and getting to experience it, even just for a few days, is definitely worth all the time and effort it took to get here.

This idea got me thinking about my spiritual journey. The travel has been hard many, many times. The road to forgiveness is filled with twists and turns. The path to giving up bitterness is bumpy and slow. The trip away from comparison and envy is exhausting. I’ve been on each of these paths for so long, that I can get frustrated and discouraged often. This traveling to become a better, godlier woman is hard… but so worth it.

When I look back and reflect on who I was even a year a ago, I become certain that all the pain, exhaustion, and difficulty was worth it. I’m no longer enslaved to my fears and emotions. I can stand tall as a daughter of Christ and fully embrace my identity in Him. Even though I still struggle with a lot of things, I don’t struggle with the same things anymore. He’s brought me to the next level, the next step in my journey.

In order to grow, we need to be pruned. We need someone to cut away the dead parts of us that hold us back from our full potential and beauty. I’m so thankful that we have a good Gardener who knows where to cut back the leaves and rearrange the vines. Pruning can be painful and hard, but in the end it’s worth it. Everything that we experience CAN be turned to good in God’s loving hands. Nothing goes to waste in His garden, especially not hard travel. 

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

-Philippians 1:4-6

Please be praying this verse over me the next few days. I want to start seeing God as my Provider. He has already blessed me with so much and been with me throughout every single part of my journey. I want to keep growing every day. I never want to become complacent with who I am or where I’m at.

I really love flowers. They are such a wonderful reminder of our Creator who pays attention to the smallest details. Our Gardener will never stop tending to us and pruning us when needed. These tiny flowers are growing in the back area of our hostel and the afternoon rain made them unbelievably gorgeous.