Proverbs 16:9 - “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
When toddlers began to take their first steps and walk you will find their parents close by ready to catch them as they take their first unsteady steps. When the child begins to progress in their walk after holding on to various objects and then eventually walking with surety without any assistance as if they have been walking for years.
Our Heavenly Father is the same as new babes when we first accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are excited going forth by faith. On our Christian Journey the Spirit of God leads and guides us as we mature spiritually through the test and trials. At times feeling as though God isn’t near, but standing on His promise to never leave nor forsake us as He allows various situations to strengthen our faith and trust in Him to bring us through.
I recall hearing how a gardener was in the yard and saw a caterpillar crawl up the tree and on a branch began the metamorphosis of turning into a butterfly. The gardener returned days later and saw the cocoon had a tiny hole in it and what was inside appeared to be struggling to get out. The gardener thought he would help and decided to make the hole bigger with his finger. Finally, a beautiful butterfly came out, but when it tried to fly it just fell to the ground. It tried again to fly, but couldn’t get off the ground. Sadly, the gardener realized that his good intention was wrong and that the butterfly needed the struggle of trying to get out of its cocoon on its own which was part of the process of strengthening its wings to fly once it came out.
It’s the same with us, the trials, test and some tactics of enemies are really part of the process in making us stronger in faith and ultimate process of the beautiful plan and purpose of our Christian walk. There’s no quick process each test and trials is part of the process that builds character and spiritual growth to trust and lean on our heavenly Father who is a good, good father and no good thing will he withhold from us (Psa. 84:11).