I grew up in a household largely characterised by age landmarks, I couldn’t do certain things till I was a certain age and what that did for me was eliminate thoughts or fantasies about certain things till I arrived at that age, cause my mum was quick to drill it into you well before you even started mentally desiring those things.

I couldn’t wear nail polish till I 16, I couldn’t put on makeup till I was 18, I also couldn’t relax my natural hair till 18, dating wasn’t to start till 21 and chores I was given in the house also came and increased with age. The most recent landmark having passed through all those rules when I asked if I could get my nose pierced is “sure, when you get to your husbands house” lool.

If you think about it, its very tricky and indefinite cause who really knows exactly when that might happen?!

It was weird for a lot of my friends growing up that I couldn’t do certain things till I was a certain age and it was also weird for me to know that some of them could do things whenever they pleased, and for others, due to cultural or religious reasons, could not engage in any at all, whether make-up, relaxing hair or wearing nail polish (meeting them made me glad I even had a time to look forward to, they couldn’t look forward to anything).

God reminding me of this part of my childhood tallied strongly with the current phase i’m in, looking into the principles and processes of God.

I realised that God also sets landmarks for us before delivering certain things into our hands. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where you heard about something someone did and your response was “ah, If it was me, I would have …” Often, when this is our reply, it could be more negative than the action of the person currently in the shoe. These times open us to realising some of the flaws and deficiencies of our character.

When we submit our lives to God, what we’re asking of Him is to take total control and do as He pleases because we know already that it pleases Him to do us good, because He only has a love nature. So you find that God protects us from certain things at certain times because we are not mature enough to handle them without those things destroying us, so as a loving Father would always do, He prepares us first to maturely handle whatever He is laying in our hands.

So often we see that unlike my parents who set landmarks with age, God may decide to use virtues, He says “until Rubie learns forgiveness”, or “until Rubie learns patience”, or “until Rubie learns selflessness, I will not move her from this place”. We see that God is so consistent with His character and nature that He will do what He knows is best for us even though sometimes that might hurt us (which really is hurting our egos that need to go). It does not mean that we learn it once and then move on like we don’t need it again, almost the same way it is in games, it just means He gets us to have it in a measure that is able to handle the weight of the time that you are being prepared for, also in a measure that is heaven-fit because we’ll go to heaven only with glorified bodies, not glorified characters, so God builds the Christ-like You, here on this earth.

It is important that we be sensitive to the seasons and phases that God takes us through because in all of them, He is trying to build something in us which He sees will be useful for the places He is taking everyone of us.

What is God currently trying to form in you at this juncture of your life? It really helps if you’re aware of it because you’ll be more intentional about submitting to the process so the virtue is formed in you.

Be intentional this week, don’t be so distracted by the inconvenience that you complain your way away from the process. Inquire of the Spirit of God and submit to whatever process.