Have you ever felt like you’re going backwards in life? Try as you may to move forward, it just seems like progress is unattainable and the only direction destined for you is reverse?

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve felt that way!

One of my most obvious examples comes from early on in my marriage. Anthony and I headed to the altar wholeheartedly ready to merge our lives into a blissful union but the first several years of wedded life had us wondering when the “worse” part of “for better or worse” was going to end.

We spent years at each other’s throats before we sincerely began to understand just how deeply God was working.

Ecclesiastes 3 says, “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven…”

“…a time to plant and a time to uproot…a time to tear down and a time to build…” (vs. 1-3, CSB)

As newlyweds, Anthony and I assumed there would be hurdles to overcome, but we never imagined we’d have things that needed to be uprooted or torn down. Ideologies, bad theologies, and many other personal-ologies needed to be unpacked, processed, and thrown out.

Much of who we were, as people, needed to be unlearned.

It felt like we were going backwards! I lost count of the days where I truly thought the rest of our lives were going to be spent slogging through hopeless days fraught with tension and endless nights filled with tears.

We slowly began to realize that in order for God to build the healthy, strong, and unified foundation in our marriage that He wanted for us, it was necessary to deal with the toxic, bad, and unhealthy things that we’d brought with us into our union.

Interestingly enough, I’ve seen this principle in many other areas of my life – work, raising children, navigating friendships.

It’s the times when I feel like I’m going backwards the most that God is actively at work uprooting and tearing down bad thinking, sin habits, and selfish tendencies in me.

He’s quietly but patiently working to craft my heart to look more like His and fashion and build my character to be more like Jesus.

And the cherry on this ice cream sundae is found in verse 14, “God works so that people will be in awe of Him.”

He gets the glory! We don’t. He does the incredible, life-changing work! We don’t. And, He intentionally works so that we will be in awe of Him because no one else can do what He does!

If you feel like you’re going backwards today, friend, take heart knowing that God is at work! It may seem like your life will never get out of reverse, but He is absolutely working for your good to move you forward.

And, there will come a day when you (and others) will be in awe because of what He has done!

Until next time, Grace and Glory!