Last week I went upstairs to clean my 3 year-old son's room. At first all I was going to do was pick up the toys, make the bed, you know... the basics. However, as I started picking up the toys, I got this crazy idea to TOTALLY rearrange the entire room!

I moved everything to a new place - the bed, the dresser, the train table, the Little Tykes basketball goal, and yes, even the drum! I swept everything (toys, clothes, trash, etc) to the center of the room until I was ready to sort, clean & organize the small stuff. Finally to complete my project, I wanted to adorn the walls with the "boy things" that had been placed on top of the dresser to "one day hang up" when we found time.

I hung his favorite Saints Football poster and a cool motorcycle poster. I hung up a really cool anchor that matches his sailboat motif. Then as I was about to hang the shelf where his animals could sit, I found a wonderful treasure that I had forgotten even existed!!!

This shelf is very long and all along the backside was the growth chart of my children!!! In April of 2009, we moved from Texas to New Orleans. On the day that we moved I went on ahead with the kids in the van, and my husband followed later with the movers. As he made one final sweep through the house, he noticed in a closet where we had charted the kids' growth - on the wall.

We couldn't cut the wall apart - so my sweet husband took the final shelf off the wall and copied the entire chart onto the back! And yesterday, a 1 1/2 years later - I saw it for the first time! It brought tears to my eyes. It also reminded me of another little boy and his growth and how it relates to my personal walk with the Lord.


Currently my kids are still growing in stature. We have a chart, as I'm sure you've done the same, to mark their growth. I'm so glad my husband copied this memory maker on the back of this shelf!


Sure, most of us are done growing in stature, but Samuel also grew in favor with the Lord and with others! Upon reading this verse, I had to ask myself, "what does my growth chart with the Lord look like?" Do I have markers in my life that look like my kids growth chart? Do I have something that indicates the dates that I grew?

Yes! I call these Life Verses. These are the verses that really got me through tough times in my life. It was during these time of hardship and pain that I really grew in my faith and more than likely grew in favor with the Lord. If I were to chart out my spiritual life, I'm sure these verses would mark spots of spiritual growth.

This encouraged me as I was cleaning JP's room. We can use times of hardship for an opportunity for spiritual growth. We can really search the scriptures for verses that will promote growing in favor with the Lord instead of hiding and throwing a pity party.


Think back on your own spiritual journey and mark in your Bible these growth spots.


I would love to get to know you better! You can find me almost every day sharing what God is teaching me personally over at my blog, Living Above Ministries. I also am totally addicted to Facebook &Twitter! So grab a cup of coffee and let's chat!!