Do you ever feel like you’re not making any progress? Not getting anywhere? Like it’s not worth pressing on? Maybe you don’t even realise you are making progress, or how close you are to a breakthrough.
I feel a lot more like a tortoise than a hare1, even though I’m always straining to be a hare inside. I feel my limitations; I’m keenly aware of what I can’t get done. Sometimes it can feel like I’m not getting anywhere, or achieving much. But the Lord has been encouraging me, and I felt prompted to share about it here.
I’m learning that baby step progress is still progress. And maybe it’s actually stronger progress, because it’s consistent. Maybe even for a lifetime. Maybe, if I stop and look back, I’ll realise I’ve come further than I realise.
One of my admin projects at the moment is scanning a whole load of Gift Aid forms onto a database. Working through a big shelf of forms, in folders from A-Z. It’s quite a nice job to plug away at actually, because I can listen to things while I make baby step progress! The job has been going for months, and it’s taking a long time to get through the alphabet! But I counted the other day, and there are now only 6 folders left! Once I got through the mountain of M, it suddenly seemed to go faster! Not long now and the whole shelf will have been cleared! What looked like a never-ending project is almost done.
For months now, I’ve been plugging away at doing exposure therapy on myself with driving (you can read more about that here). In a slooow, consistent, baby step process. But breakthroughs are coming (like being on the motorway a little bit now!). Last week, I made it somewhere I’d been hoping to get to for a while. I can do things now that I couldn’t a while ago. I can drive to places I used to avoid. Baby step progress with driving is surely working. It’s taken a few months, and the process definitely isn’t done yet. There are more breakthroughs to come (and setbacks come, too, which I’m guessing is normal)! But the Lord is encouraging me to just keep showing up: to just keep taking the next step. And, when I look back, I’m amazed by how far I have come.
I’ve been realising that baby step writing habits, often just a few minutes a day, make a difference, because they add up over time.
Like making little bits of time for music. I can feel like I’m not getting very far with what I feel like the Lord is leading me to do with sharing music. But, the other day, I had my second recording session for my fourth album! And when I think about it, I guess I’ve come a long way (you can get my first three albums here)! As always, being in the studio was a lot of fun, and amazing to hear songs I’d started in the secret place suddenly filling the studio with sound! I used to get so discouraged, feeling called to make music and not knowing how, or how to make the time. So, years ago, I prayed, and decided to try to squeeze out a minimum of a few minutes most days. And I guess that regular baby step habits of little bits of time, and just showing up and taking the next step, are doing more than I realise.
In my daily ministry, I try to encourage individual people. On some days, I have a goal of writing to a few people and calling one person a day. It’s often just a little note; just a tiny phone call lasting a few minutes. The enemy tells me it wasn’t worth it. But what if that call had more of an impact than I realise? What if a few little words of encouragement on an email changed someone’s day, and brought eternal fruit I can’t see?
I love the book of Nehemiah. God’s people are rebuilding a wall, and they are making real progress. Their enemies try to discourage them, telling them that their efforts are hopeless. But God helps them to keep going. And I read on (Nehemiah 4:6) and realise that, before long, they were halfway done… and it didn’t actually take long for the wall to be completely finished (Nehemiah 6:15-16)!! So I’m guessing the enemies were actually afraid of how much progress they were making, and just trying to trick them into giving up!
I think that sometimes you don’t even realise how much progress you are making, or how much you are growing. But the tortoise2 is the one who won the race. And I think perseverance is a big part of success in the end!
So, if you’re doing something God is leading you to do, and the enemy is telling you it’s not worth it and nothing is happening, I hope you can be encouraged. Maybe you’re getting discouraged because it’s achieving a lot, and the enemy doesn’t like it. Maybe you’re getting a lot further than you realise. 🙂
(If you’re wondering why I talk about the Lord and how you can know Him too, you can check out a little message from me here).
Caroline Abblitt 