As an undergraduate, I listened to seniors who told us, “Campus life isn’t real life. Wait till you step out.” Those words always made me uneasy. I had to remind myself: this is reality, too. The faith I used on campus is the same faith I’ll need after campus. I just have to transfer it.
Friend, what have you learned from your past blessings and victories? You will need them for the giants ahead (1 Samuel 17:34-37). The problem is, we forget what God did yesterday, so we struggle to trust Him today. Remembering helps us thank Him right, and it also charges our faith (Psalm 103:2).
The truth is, wherever you are and whoever you are, God has been good to you before (Psalm 103:1-5). Don’t let the size of today’s problem erase the proof of yesterday’s victory. If He did it before, He can do it again. Your testimony is a weapon (Revelation 12:11).
What has God brought you out of? What has He done for you in the past (1 Samuel 17:37)? Every encounter with God is a seed for the next one. Don’t waste the experience, so you don’t waste the seed and forfeit the future. Don’t forget where God took you from.
You need to own your experience. Don’t let anyone talk you out of it (1 Samuel 17:33). Value it. Celebrate it. Use it. It may look small to others, but it cannot be small in your eyes. If God made a way in the past, He can make a way now. If He provided for you before, He can provide again (Matthew 16:8-10).
Life gives you blessings and lessons (Psalm 103:7). Every blessing carries a lesson inside it. Don’t just enjoy the blessing. Extract the lesson. David didn’t just kill a lion; he learned how God fights. That’s why he could face Goliath and repeat the win (1 Samuel 17:34-37). Blessings are God’s acts. Lessons are God’s ways.