Loose Teeth and Hand-Me-Downs

Yesterday marked the halfway point of this trip for me. What?! Has it really been three months since that departure from DIA?? Honestly, nothing has passed by quicker than my days here and I worry that I will not be able to keep up at this rate! I do not want to miss a moment of my time here. I want to be aware of the Lord’s work in my life and the lives of others.

My question: How do we know if we have grown spiritually?! Is there even growth at all to even assess? What evidence is there?

I had been out due to a nasty head/ chest cold, so when I went into the Children’s Home a week later and crossed the entryway, I see a wall of girls coming at me, all yelling, “Miss Stephanieeeee!!!”

Instantly, I have three girls on my left arm – one at my shoulder, another holding my forearm, and one grasping my wrist. My right side is matched, save for the fourth girl trying to get a hold of my pinky while jostling a sister or two. The smallest girl has buried her face into my stomach and laughing as she embraces me with her tiny arms. Trying to stay there while I walk forward makes her loose her grip; then, realizing I’m moving, she tries to walk backwards, which makes her giggle even more.

When they disperse a bit, I see that some have undergone changes. Some are missing teeth. Same smiles and just as expressive, but less “toothy”. And some of them were not in their normal dress. The smaller ones were now dressed in their older sisters’ clothing and so on. They were growing right before my eyes – and I’d only been out a week! Such changes were so quick and effortless! But there they were, just being themselves and living day-to-day…They had not done a thing – and still they grew! Even in looking at pictures from the first week here, three months ago, the growth is obvious.

Children grow naturally. It just happens. They eat, exercise, sleep, and repeat. And then one day you notice the simultaneous growth that has been happening the entire time…

And so it is spiritually. To feed on the Word, to exercise faith, to rest, and to make it a lifestyle causes growth. I have been yet again reminded of the Lord’s promise that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).

If you could take a snapshot of your heart from three months ago and compare it to your heart currently, what changes would you see? What differences would you notice? 

So, here’s to loose teeth and hand-me-downs!

“…Our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).