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Yesterday, I wrote about trusting God for step-by-step directions. Here’s another kind of trust: do I trust enough to stay with the process?

Here’s a simple example: we all know that losing weight in general requires some combination of eating less and exercising more. (For those looking for another, faster way, I’m sorry!)

The challenge is that often we get off to a good start, but we don’t stay with it long enough. We get discouraged when our weight goes up one day when we expected it to go down. Here is my actual chart from a couple years ago, showing daily weights and a drop of 8 pounds over 7 weeks. Note the leveling off and even increases. But the overall trend is downward.

Eating less and exercising more works…if we stay with it! Change takes time, but change does occur over time.

The same is true in the spiritual life. Growth and transformation occur, but they are not instant. We put some spiritual disciplines in place like daily time with God, scripture memory, and accountability with one or more friends or mentors. Then we stay with it…even when we miss a day’s time with God or experience “the worst day ever” after having time with God or when we lose our temper…again(!). We trust the process.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, … (Romans 12.2, ESV)

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” (Mark 4.26 – 28, ESV)