Progress, not Perfection

I know I've said it before, more times than I can count, but it always surprises me when I see it happen. You know what I'm talking about? When everything in your life -- sermons, friends, devotionals, that guy on the radio -- points to a truth you needed to hear? 

Sometimes you need to hear a truth a lot before it actually sinks in. At least, I do. 

Last week, one of my #100DaysToBraveSummer devotionals had Psalm 139:14 as the verse of the day. 

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Such a popular verse, heavily quoted, and with good reason. But a few months ago, I found that I loved verse 16 even more, though I hardly ever saw it quoted.

"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Imagine my surprise when I saw it on a slide during a recent sermon. Okay, Pastor. You have my attention! Actually, the whole sermon caught my attention. Not only had my pastor used my new favorite verse, he continued the whole "say yes to God" theme that Annie has been teaching us from Day 1. How do you become brave? Start saying "yes" to God. Don't wait until the fear goes away. Don't wait until you feel equipped. Say "yes" to what God has next. 

Y'all, I needed to hear that. 

The beginning of June started out okay, but by week two? I was overwhelmed, anxious, a little terrified, and very exhausted. Because I still hadn't carved out a specific time for doing 100 Days to Brave, I missed a lot of days. And even though Annie told us from the beginning to just jump back in when we miss days, that rule-follower-God-won't-listen-if-you-mess-even-just-a-little-bit part of my brain has me feeling like a failure. It starts to tell me that I HAVE to finish the days I missed BEFORE I jump back in. Like I've let Annie down, like I won't be "fully brave" if I skip those days. 

How crazy is that? 

I'm listening to a Matt Chandler series on James while I get ready for work these days, and one of my favorite things he says in the series is that we are working on progress, not perfection. He says it in almost every sermon and I'm so glad he does. It is slowly becoming something my brain spits out at me when I start feeling down about things. Progress, not perfection. Progress, not perfection. 

Repetition is used throughout the Bible to emphasize importance. I don't think it's a stretch to say that hearing truths repeated in different ways, in different areas of your life is used for the same purpose. If you are hearing truths repeated, listen. Tell someone what you are sensing from God and ask them to pray with you or for you. Sometimes saying things out loud helps YOU hear it better, too. 

P.S. Case in point? I had to retype this entire post just to get it to publish. Okay, God. I see you. Progress, not perfection. 

P. P. S. We are halfway through #100DaysToBraveSummer but it is NOT too late to join in! Grab a copy and jump in. July 27th is Day 61. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to turn around and run the devotional again. It is that good, I promise.