Celebrating Progress Blog post #18

Why is it so much easier for us to celebrate when all the pieces come together, and we feel like the scenario we prayed for is perfectly complete? Newsworthy successes are such a small percentage of our actual lives, but when we are in the middle of a challenging season, the small wins can be harder to notice in the daily grind of life. This can even be the case if I’m not careful when I read my Bible. If I am not intentional to slow down and notice the actual time that is elapsed from when God makes a promise to His people until when He follows through with the promise, the Biblical timeline can feel like a highlight reel, too. 

Our small group has been processing through four chapters of Genesis each week since the beginning of February, and one of the beautiful things about the experience of studying the chapters slowly together has been noticing a repeated truth throughout Abraham’s family. God chose Abraham’s family to work through, and God promised that He would make a mighty nation through Abraham even though Abraham and his wife Sarai did not have any children of their own. After what felt like too long of a wait, they took matters into their own hands and complicated the situation. Not only did they complicate the situation, but their son Isaac and his wife Rebekah continued the cycle of dysfunctional family dynamics and passed this along to Abraham’s grandson Jacob. Then Jacob continued the familial dysfunction further, but God didn’t give up on His plan and continued to work through this dysfunctional, yet relatable family.

Before we judge Abraham and his family harshly, I wonder how often we get tired of waiting and try to make things happen on our own, too? I have to constantly remind my soul that if God has put a dream on my heart, then He is going to be the one to see it through. Setting aside the striving and problem solving and just being still while I wait on Him to act in His right time is painful for me. Being still takes every ounce of will power to pause and wait. However, when we look back over the course of our lives, we can trace God’s goodness and presence in every season. Even in the seasons where we don’t know how He is going to work out all things for good, He is still faithful. So today, I want to celebrate the beautiful, small wins that we are seeing in this season of waiting, because even though so much is still up in the air with my job and our house building process, we have so much to be thankful for with the growth that OT is making for our sweet boy. 

• Our sweet boy now eagerly picks up crayons, markers, and pencils and willingly draws, writes, and colors. When he opened his Easter baskets, he was genuinely excited for new markers, a coloring book, and a watercolor set!  
• As a family, we are all learning to notice the things that trigger strong emotions and instead of stuffing those emotions deep down or letting those emotions explode, we are noticing what the emotions are telling us and are working through those big emotions in a healthy way. Emotions are now indicators, but not dictators for our reactions.

Growing in fine motor and self-regulation skills may not seem like things to celebrate overall compared to other “newsworthy” events, but these gains are helping us as a family  in this “be still” waiting season. Does this mean that we are navigating this season perfectly? No, but as a friend gently reminds me, “no one is perfect on this side of Heaven.” However, we are trying as a family to navigate these changes authentically and vulnerably, so that our children see how we can navigate changes together in a healthy way. There is beauty in celebrating progress and not just perfection. 

Friend, I would love to celebrate the small wins that you and your family are experiencing, too. Let’s make this a community where we notice the small moments where God reveals His faithfulness in the small successes we experience. Celebrating progress means we get to celebrate more frequently. Who doesn’t want reasons to celebrate?!