3 Places God Takes Us for Spiritual Growth

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“Why am I in this place?”

It felt strange as I sat with my younger sister while she took one of her chemo treatments. Cancer has never been much of a concern in our family. Most of us have some sort of heart issue. So, when she was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, with her symptom being extreme fatigue, we were all shocked.

I’d never been to a chemo treatment center before this experience. To be honest, it wasn’t nearly as awful as I imagined. A sweet service dog was brought in, and patients could pet him, which made everyone smile. Then a couple of musicians came by each chemo station and took song requests, which my sister really enjoyed. When lunch time rolled around, a nurse offered food and drinks. Overall, not a terrible experience considering the weight of the situation. 

But as we were walking out after her treatment (which took almost the whole day), we passed by the famous “bell” folks ring when they’ve finished their chemo treatments for good. I stared at the bell as we walked by with sadness heavy in my heart, realizing she’d never get to ring that bell. She was serving a life sentence with cancer. The treatments only extended her life, slowing its progression, but the cancer continued to grow and spread. When the treatments stopped this past summer because they were doing more harm than good, she passed away quickly. 

I never mentioned the bell to my little sister. Because I know if it pained me to see the bell that one time, she saw the bell every time she walked past it. The place of sadness I found myself was probably a drop in the bucket compared to her own. What a sad, unsettling place to be. She displayed incredible inner strength and grace as she walked through that part of her life, and I was proud to be her sister.  

We may ask ourselves the same question when we’re struggling in life. “Why am I in this place?” We’re not in a literal place but an unsettled place of stress, loneliness or even testing. We’re passing through a spiritual place of growth, and those can be difficult. 

Our hearts may be weighed down with grief, betrayal, or feelings of rejection. We’re probably feeling sad, low, or even angry. Growing up spiritually is not easy. Sometimes, along with the joys of life, we experience suffering and pain. Yet, God is sovereign, and those hard places in life are often part of His plan to make us more like Jesus. There’s purpose in the places God takes us. 

We may find ourselves in a bitter place, an awesome place, or a God-testing place. The spiritual places we find ourselves will challenge us to seek God in all things, but also to see Him working in everything – the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are many places God may take us in life for our good and His glory. He deeply loves us and wants us to grow up and join Him in His marvelous work. 

Here are a few places God takes us for our spiritual growth:

1. A Place of Grace 

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. - John 1:16 

Thank goodness God lavishes us with His glorious grace. We’re going to mess up. We’re far from perfect. I can’t begin to count the times I said something I regretted. Or did something I wish I could take back, wondering if there was a way to turn back time and do things differently. But those moments are when God slathers us with grace. He’s more forgiving than we are to ourselves at times. One hard lesson is that we need to be more like Him and give ourselves grace, too.

He knows our faults and regrets. These experiences help us move forward in grace and help us change our behavior. We do not want to feel deep regret. Instead, we want to leave a situation knowing we acted in a way that represents God well. We gave grace to someone else, and we gave it to ourselves, like God would.    

2. A Rocky Place 

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. - Matthew 13:5-6

A rocky place in life can be many things. But we often hear of a rocky marriage. Sometimes, we go through a rocky patch. Then things get better. Maybe better than ever. But sometimes a marriage fails. There are sad reasons why this happens. Truthfully, any relationship can be a rocky place. A parent, child, or sibling. Even friendships. In our humanity, we expect others to behave in certain ways, and when they don’t, we’re disappointed. We’re all flawed, though, and far from perfect. Relationships may be scorched, wither and die due to our unrealistic expectations. 

Believe it or not, these rocky places can be beneficial for our spiritual growth. Because we recognize we can’t trust a human to meet a spiritual need. These experiences, failed relationships, and difficult relationships draw us deeper into relationship with our Father. Turning to Him in prayer for guidance in these relationships is key. The truth is a rocky place draws us deeper in relationship with the One who loves us most. He has a better place for us to grow. A place of depth where the soil is rich and full of nutrients. With Jesus deeply rooted in our hearts, our relationship with God will flourish no matter where we’re planted. 

3. A Place Where God Provides 

So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14

God is our provider. But this lesson took me years to learn because I often learn my lessons the hard way. (Funny but not funny.)

We often strive to get a better job, better partner, or better life without consulting God first. The honest truth is, He may have us in the job we’re in for a purpose. He may have us with our spouse to make us holy, not necessarily happy, in the way we think. He gave us our lives to live for His purposes, not for our own status or happiness. (Though we should never stay in an abusive relationship, but seek help. That’s a whole other thing…) 

God is in control. Nothing is unseen by Him or overlooked. We go through seasons of life and spiritual places for our good. And for His glory. Because when we’re yielded to His will, slowly we change and grow. We become more like Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit as He guides us through some of these dark places of growth. Seeds are planted in the ground and grow toward the light, and we do the same thing. When we trust that God is going to provide for us no matter what, we’ve grown in a dark place. 

Ironically, growing up usually involves letting go of something. It may be the way we’ve been doing things. Or it may be letting go of something we’re clinging to and embracing what God has for us instead.  Place after place, He takes us, we learn and grow. We’re chiseled and sculpted inside and out, slowly becoming more like Jesus. And that’s the best place for us to be. 

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely, I have a delightful inheritance. Psalm 16:6

Melinda Eye Cooper grew up in the Missouri Ozarks but lives near Nashville, Tennessee, with her family.  She writes articles and devotions and has some fiction projects in the works. Melinda grew up in a large family and is the seventh of ten children. Many of her devotions and stories are inspired by her childhood. 

Melinda has been honored to be a Selah Awards finalist for online articles and was a finalist for the 2023 Writer of the Year Award with Serious Writer, as well as a 2024 Semi-finalist for the ACFW Genesis Contest. 

Visit her website here to receive blog posts via email. You can follow her on Facebook here or Instagram here. 

Her book of articles and devotions is available here, and a short devotional about the Places God Takes Us here.