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evolution requires humility and surrender. It demands that you step into each day as both a student of and a participant in God’ s ongoing creation. You’ ll always have an opportunity to learn because God never stops teaching. Every challenge is a curriculum that can help you cultivate your character and realize your potential.
Keep turning the pages. Your story— and your growth— is not finished.
Three Practical Steps to Keep a Student’ s Heart
There is a difference between knowing the path and walking it.
Here are three steps that we’ ve learned keep us at the feet of the Master, where we get to soak up all we can from him:
1. Schedule weekly check- ins with the Holy Spirit. Don’ t wait until you feel burned out or hit a wall. At regular intervals each week, spend time alone with God and whisper the prayer,“ What are you trying to teach me, Lord?” Recognize that setbacks and delays can be the most trying times to keep our ears attuned to God’ s lessons.
2. Surround yourself with voices that challenge and sharpen you. When God teaches, he often uses a human voice. Find coaches, mentors, pastors, or peers who are wise but who also love you enough to call out your blind spots. Many of the lessons we most need to learn are ones we don’ t even realize we need. Proverbs 27:17 says,“ As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Sharpening comes with friction. Be open to learning from those who are so different from you that
you prefer to avoid them. What might God be saying to you through them?
3. Practice the daily pause of humility. In James 1:5, God promises to give wisdom to anyone who asks. Before making key decisions or forming conclusions, ask,“ What do I still need to learn about this?” One of the greatest signs of wisdom is the humility to admit what you do not know and the willingness to learn more.
Remember, if you are still alive, you have yet to graduate from God’ s school. That’ s the beauty of God’ s plan. Every challenge is a new course. Every victory is a new degree. As long as you are breathing, you’ re enrolled. Keep sharpening your mind, your craft, and your character. Heaven’ s curriculum is customized for each of us.
Adapted from Designed to Succeed by Kevin Olusola and Donovan Donnell. Copyright Kevin Olusola and Donovan Donnell ©( June 2026) by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan, www. zondervan. com.
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