Accept you ever stepped back and thought almost all the lessons God has taught you over the last year?

I was recently challenged to do this and I decided to accept the claiming because I think it is proficient to sit down back and reflect on our journey with God.

Some of these lessons are new to me. Some I am learning more about. And some I accept been reminded of. (And volition probably need to be reminded of over again in the future.)

As you read through these lessons, I promise they will inspire you to come up with your ain list of 12 interesting things God has taught y'all in the past year.

(And if you lot do come upward with a list, be certain to share in the comments below so we tin learn from each other and abound!)

  1. Encouraging Lessons I've Learned from God About Myself
    • Lesson #1: God will enquire me to do more than I can. Then, I learn to lean on Him.
    • Lesson #2: I shouldn't care and so much nearly what other people call back.
    • Lesson #3: Failure is a part of success.
    • Lesson #4: Being authentic is more important than being perfect.
  2. Encouraging Lessons I Have Learned from God About Religion
    • Lesson #v: I can actively expect on God in faith.
    • Lesson #six: Religion ways living for the Holy Spirit over hustle.
    • Lesson #vii: Sometimes acting in faith ways getting out of the way.
    • Lesson #eight: The well-nigh powerful way to assistance someone is to pray for them.
  3. Encouraging Lessons on What I accept Learned Well-nigh God
    • Lesson #9: I learned that God will take our pain and utilize it for something great.
    • Lesson #ten: Our God does non separate . . . He multiplies!
    • Lesson #11: God encourages cocky-care.
    • Lesson #12: God wants us to think more about eternity.

Encouraging Lessons I've Learned from God Nigh Myself

The lessons nosotros learn from God not only change our hearts but tin can also alter our lives. And while it's not always fun to take a good look in the mirror, what nosotros can learn from God about ourselves causes usa to modify and grow.

Lesson #1: God will ask me to practice more than I tin. So, I learn to lean on Him.

I accept heard the saying God never gives united states of america more nosotros tin can handle. Simply that only isn't true. In my life, I have plant that He often DOES give me more than than I can handle so I have no choice merely to lean on His strength to get through.

In fact, over this past twelvemonth God has asked me to do some things that were really difficult.

They stretched me. They pushed me out of my comfort zone. And to be honest, they completely terrified me at the fourth dimension.

But I did what God asked me to. And you know what?

I did not die.

In fact, I concluded up existence grateful for the opportunities in the end. I didn't do information technology all perfectly. But I constitute that God fifty-fifty used my mistakes and imperfections to bring Him glory.

So, is God request you to do something scary?

Think God is on your side. And He will be with you every step of the way.

This difficult thing He is asking of y'all will force you to rely on His strength in your weakness. And being wrapped up in the arms of His strength is an astonishing identify to be.

Sometimes you merely have to have a deep jiff, say a prayer, and do it scared.

Afterward all, the only matter worse than facing your fears is living with regret!

Applied Tip:

You tin actually trick your brain into doing hard things by but counting downwardly from v. This unproblematic act gets you to stop thinking and starting time acting. The countdown pushes you out of autopilot, turns on your prefrontal cortex, and gets your torso ready to go.

Alli Worthington shared in her book Standing Strong that she adds Philippians 4:xiii to this practice.

(And I may have said this to myself earlier doing a minute-long plank a few times!)

So, when you are facing something hard but declare, "I can practice all things through Christ who gives me force. five . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . ii . . . 1 . . . GO!"

And and then just do it!

Woman praying with bible on table and quote, "Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath, say a prayer, and do it scared.

Lesson #2: I shouldn't care so much about what other people think.

I know. I know.

This lesson is a familiar one. And withal it is 1 I keep having to remind myself of.Over and over again.

I don't know about you but I am a chronic people-pleaser. I am an enneagram 9 which means I just want to proceed the peace and delight everybody.

Just I'm not chocolate.

And you're non a chocolate.

So, the chances of us existence able to make everybody happy are pretty slim!

A better purpose for us is to live for what God thinks. Later all, as long as I am trying to love Him and others, God will be pleased even if people aren't.

But look at Jesus.

Everything He did was out of dear for His Begetter and for usa, and in the end that got Him crucified. And notwithstanding, His crucifixion was besides the very PROOF of His amazing beloved for us.

In this life, not everyone will like us. Some people will even detest us. Some may even attack and ridicule us.

But that doesn't thing.

Equally long equally nosotros are loving God and loving people then in God's eyes,we are a success.

And the more I care nigh what my God thinks of me, the less concerned I am with what people retrieve of me.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the get-go and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor equally yourself.'"

-Matthew 22:37-39 NIV

Lesson #3: Failure is a part of success.

Like I said previously I am an enneagram 9. But I also have a very strong ane wing. This basically means if I can't practise it perfectly, I am just not going to do it.

Which doesn't fair well for finding success in life.

But what God is educational activity me is that He can utilize failure for adept.

Think well-nigh information technology.

The sailors on the boat were saved by Jonah'south failure. Peter's failure of denying Jesus led him to become so assuming in his organized religion that he was a huge part of the beginnings of the early church. The Samaritan woman at the well had five failed marriages.

And God used her to preach to an entire village.

God can apply our mistakes and failures to remind people that they are never as well far gone for the love of Jesus. And that God can use anyone for the good of His Kingdom.

And then at present, instead of asking God to aid everything I do go smoothly,I ask Him to utilise it all for His celebrity.

Considering if a mistake I make or a failure I feel can help someone else notice Jesus,then declining is totally worth information technology.

Lesson #4: Beingness accurate is more important than beingness perfect.

This is some other reason I am learning to exist okay with failure. Because people don't want to run into perfect Christians. They want to run across REAL Christians living Real lives they can relate to.

In a pocket-sized group setting one time, I heard an older woman share of her struggle with losing her atmosphere and getting snippy with her son.

And you know what?

I didn't look downwards on her. In fact, her confession was refreshingly reassuring.

Because there have been countless times, I accept beaten myself up for yelling at my kids. And felt overwhelmed by shame, thinking I really should know better past now.

Merely hearing her share how she still struggles fifty-fifty afterward all these years shows me that fifty-fifty though I even so wrestle with sin at that place is always room for grace.There is always forgiveness and a adventure to effort again because of Jesus.

No one can be perfect anyways. So, permit's stop striving for perfection and embrace being accurate.

And maybe just by sharing our struggles we volition in turn give someone the backbone to share their own.

Encouraging Lessons I Accept Learned from God About Organized religion

These next few encouraging lessons I am sharing are what God has been pedagogy me nearly my organized religion. And what it means to trust Him when life gets hard.

Lesson #5: I tin actively look on God in faith.

I have always struggled with waiting. And I don't retrieve I am alone in this.

Then I learned about the Hebrew word for wait which is "qavah". It can be translated as "waiting in hopeful anticipation".

While in our society we view waiting as something passive like waiting in the check-out line, this Hebrew word for wait means to await actively.

Information technology is like the waiting of someone who is moving into a new home. They don't only sit effectually and do nothing. They phone call insurance companies and mortgage lenders. They pack boxes, pick out paint colors, and plan how they will organize their new abode.

They are actively waiting in hopeful anticipation of what is to come up.

In the same way, we tin can actively wait on God to reply our prayers.

For example, I have prayed for many years for my body to be healed of a chronic illness. But I don't have to just sit around and expect for God to divinely heal me.

I tin be active as I wait.

I tin go to md appointments. I tin can research new therapies. I tin take my meds, practise, get good slumber, etc. And later I do what I can, I can wait in hopeful apprehension of what God is going to practise in my life.

I tin can have organized religion that God knows what is all-time for me.

Even if that ways I have to  wait until eternity for my consummate healing.

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not exist weary; they shall walk and not faint."

-Isaiah twoscore:31 ESV

Lesson #6: Faith ways living for the Holy Spirit over hustle.

If someone were to ask me, "What did you learn about following Jesus this year?" I would say that following Jesus is more important than hustling because I often expect to my crossed-off to-exercise list showing all my accomplishments in an effort to bear witness my worth.

But my true worth is institute in Jesus.

One of the things I like to joke about with my chronic illness is that I was doing and then much stuff that God had to literally force me to slow downward by allowing this disease to forestall me from overworking.

And notwithstanding, I still find myself doing likewise much sometimes. (You would think I would have learned past at present!)

Over this past year though, I am learning that what matters more than hustling is spending fourth dimension in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Because without Him, my hustle will fall short every time.

But with Him, I can do anything.

Yes, if we want to succeed in life nosotros will need to hustle sometimes. Simply let'due south brand sure our priorities are in society and nosotros are attentive to what the Holy Spirit is calling united states to exercise.

Practical Tip:

Do you wonder how you tin can bring yourself closer to God?

Try this!

Set a timer on your phone for 5 minutes every morning and spend this time in tranquility meditation and prayer. Slowly increase this time to 12 minutes over the course of a month.

Why 12 minutes?

Dr. Caroline Foliage, a Cognitive Neuroscientist, stated that scientists accept found that 12 minutes of daily focused prayer over the course of 8 weeks inverse the human brain so much that it could be measured on a brain scan!

Wow!

Lilies in a vase with quote, "Faith is living for the Holy Spirit over hustle."

Lesson #seven: Sometimes interim in faith means getting out of the manner.

I am a fixer. I love to effigy things out and come upwards with solutions. But I am learning that sometimes there is actually nothing you can do.

Not everyone wants to accept our aid. Non everyone is going to follow our advice. Not everyone even wants to set their situation. So, sometimes we have to larn to walk abroad.

This is a lesson we tin learn from Jesus because . . .Jesus didn't heal anybody.

Not everyone wanted his assist. And then, He left them solitary.

Nosotros can do what we can. Which is love them and pray for them. But then nosotros may just demand to get out of God's fashion.

While having faith that God is working in ways we cannot see.

"Jesus replied, 'You exercise non realize what I am doing, but afterward you will sympathise.'"

-John 13:7 NIV

Lesson #viii: The about powerful way to help someone is to pray for them.

Sometimes we throw our easily up and say, "I guess all I can exercise is pray." And still, if nosotros really stop to retrieve about it prayer is the most powerful thing we can do.

For prayer unleashes all the power of heaven.

I watched a video on social media once. I don't quite call back the title just information technology was something like "What the Devil Sees When Christians Pray".

At first, it showed someone on their knees praying. And then information technology showed a whole agglomeration of clips from movies with men and women warriors screaming their ferocious state of war cries. And and then attacking and defeating their enemies.

It was an crawly visual of what happens in the spiritual realm when we pray.

Nosotros may look around us and not encounter anything happening. Just our prayers are doing massive damage against the dark forces spiritually.

All of hell shudders when we begin to pray and cry out in Jesus's name.

"Pray continually . . . "

-1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV

Encouraging Lessons on What I accept Learned About God

These final lessons are all about what God has been education me about Himself. And how much He loves the states!

Lesson #9: I learned that God volition take our pain and utilise it for something great.

This was a hard lesson to larn. It took a lot of tears and a lot of years. Merely looking back on my life I tin encounter how even in the hard moments in that location were good things from God subconscious inside them.

He took the painful experiences of bullying from my high school years to grow compassion and empathy in my heart. And a love for encouraging others.

He took a eye-wrenching miscarriage to show me His amazing comfort in the middle of devastating loss. And to requite me a heart for those who are suffering.

He has taken my life with a chronic affliction and used it to show others that at that place is ever hope for the cleaved. That God is our strength when we are weak. And to continue our optics focused on eternity.

God can accept our pain and turn it into something slap-up. Then, nosotros tin can blossom for our Creator. No matter where He plants us.

"And nosotros know that in all things God works for the expert of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

-Romans 8:28 NIV

Lesson #10: Our God does non divide . . . He multiplies!

Since I struggle with doing likewise much, I also struggle with sitting yet.

I have a really difficult time trying to focus when I read my bible and pray. My to-do list calls to me. My mind chases subsequently every sort of distraction. And my center likes to fantasize.

And nonetheless sitting yet is exactly what will multiply my effectiveness when I do get up and go into my day.

I heard information technology described once that if God can multiply five loaves and two fish to feed over 5,000 people, and so He tin can accept the fourth dimension we requite Him in the morning and multiply our effectiveness to make up for it.

God promises that if nosotros seek Him first.

Everything else will fall into place.

Our God doesn't divide, He multiplies.

Even our time.

Flowers in a field with quote, "Seek God first. And everything else will fall into place."

Lesson #11: God encourages self-intendance.

Jesus was God. He was the only perfect, sinless human to ever walk on this planet. And yet He yet made time for cocky-care.

  • He took breaks.
  • He took naps.
  • He fabricated time to eat.
  • He woke up early to pray and feed His soul.

If the Creator of the universe took the fourth dimension to care for himself, why practice we recollect we won't demand to? When we care for ourselves, we ensure that nosotros accept enough to give to others around us.

Considering nosotros can't pour from an empty loving cup!

Practical Tip!

In one case a week choose to set up all work bated and nourish your soul by celebrating the Sabbath.

Spend actress time in God'southward give-and-take. Grab a notebook, sit down outside, and journal and pray while enjoying God's creation. Turn on some praise music and sing to your King.

Have a hot bath. Then swallow some skillful nutrient and take a nap! Play with your kids. Make love to your husband.

Laugh until you cry. (Or pee your pants!) Dance to your favorite vocal. And rest in the fact that while yous are enjoying yourself . . . Your Heavenly Male parent is watching over you and smiling!

"For the Lord your God is living amidst you lot. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in y'all with gladness. With his dear, he volition calm all your fears. He volition rejoice over you with joyful songs." -Zephaniah three:17 NLT

-Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

Lesson #12: God wants us to think more about eternity.

Equally I get older, I notice myself thinking more than and more near eternity. I am realizing how much time and coin I spend on this 1 life that is rapidly fading abroad. And how little I spend on things of eternal significance.

And it bothers me.

These moments inspire me to stop worrying about the nit-picky things that irritate me. And focus on the things that are most important.

Like spending less time cleaning the house, and more time loving on the people living in that location.

Like thinking advisedly near the mode I spend my time and money. And looking for opportunities to invest in the things that really matter. Like loving others and telling them nearly Jesus.

"I used to be afraid of declining at the things that actually mattered to me, simply now I'yard more than agape of succeeding at things that don't matter."

-Bob Goff

Yeah! You did it!

You lot fabricated information technology through all twelve lessons! I hope you establish some inspiration in these encouraging lessons I've learned from God. And if y'all have a moment, please share your thoughts in the comments below!

  • What did y'all learn almost post-obit God from reading these lessons?
  • Were there any lessons you learned something new from?
  • Were there any lessons that God has been teaching you lately, too?

If y'all plant this encouraging, then please share!

You may also want to read:

  • What to Do When You Are Waiting on God
  • Can We Mess Things Upwardly For God?
  • How to R.Due east.Southward.T. in God
Woman reading bible with quote, "12 Encouraging Lessons I've Learned from God."
Pin for after!