Always Growing: An Invitation

When I was a kid I had a (not-so) super-secret play space underneath the steps leading to our family room. While my parents watched television or talked grown up stuff, I spent hours making them restaurant quality plastic food, grading old worksheets I had just filled in 30 seconds prior, and tucking baby dolls into bed.

I was an optimistic realist even as a child. (Is that a thing?) My goal in life as a 7-year-old was to breathe hope into the world and into those babies by wrapping and unwrapping them over and over again, easing their pretend cries, not with assurances that it would be okay but that I was there. Even when I left briefly to go to the restroom, I took my duties seriously, cooing gently that I would be right back, and making sure their blankets were just so before I left. Those babies and I, we were in this pretend life — in our pretend world of joy and suffering together.

Early in my psych degree, I thought all those moments with the babies were about my desire to be a mom. When I became a mom, I realized it was less about my desire for a role I would find fulfilling and more about helping myself grow, by watching those fake babies grow and giving myself the extra layers of support and affection this life needs, by sprinkling and showering it on plastic heads with snapped up jumpers and flannel receiving blankets.

Who knew growth could come from fake kitchens and mimeographed worksheets?

Who would have guessed that growth would also come from being dumped as a teenager, from failing at something we’re good at, from sorting our identity out at 9, 16, and 47 years old?

Friends, we are always growing, in everything we do. It’s remarkable, really, the way God takes infinitesimal cells and binds them together to make human bodies that grow cells and more cells and more cells, dying and dividing but also healing each day. It’s wild that these bound-together cells can have relationships and conversations and invent things because God placed in them a mind and heart and soul. It’s even cooler that God bothers with these globs of cells not just once, but always … forever … from before they were playing and pretending in super-secret spaces until their Father God brings them close to hold them tight once again.

I want to invite you to a unique study of Psalm 139 designed to help us grow. Always Growing is a heidigoehmann.com online Bible study built to walk through over the course of one month. It looks at Psalm 139 from a lifespan perspective, finding ways God meets us throughout our lives. It’s 31 days in the Word of God that honors a lifetime of experiences, both when we have felt close to God and when we have felt far from God. 

Want to join in Always Growing: A Study of Psalm 139?

STEP ONE:

Download the study calendar to find a quick guide to the study posts every Tuesday and Thursday and then download the reading plan if you’d like to have a daily Scripture reading as you walk through the study.

STEP TWO:

Subscribe to heidigoehmann.com, if you haven’t already, to receive friendly study reminders in your email inbox. These are intended to help you stay engaged with the study through the month, but not overwhelmed with emails.

 STEP THREE:

Read the study segments on the blog page at heidigoehmann.com every Tuesday and Thursday of January. Or read them when it strikes your fancy. Look for the growth questions at the end of each segment and share your thoughts and insights in the comments or in a journal on your own.

STEP FOUR:

Join the exclusive Live study community through the Heidi Goehmann Writes Facebook page for three bonus study sessions together:

January 10: Always Growing in Remembrance

January 17: Always Growing in Relationship

January 24: Always Growing in Resilience

I’m looking forward to studying with you! You can use the reading plan on your own if that’s all you can manage in this season or all you feel called to study right now. You can read the posts for your own growth and encouragement. You can read the posts and share them with friends for discussion. You can comment on the posts each day to join the discussion. Every piece is optional and growth-oriented.

 I’m still an optimistic realist. That’s what you’ll get in every Heidi Goehmann study. Now, my desire is to breathe hope onto the page, but my way of bringing hope is always walking straight through the middle of the muck rather than lolling around the outside of the mud puddle. I believe there’s so much hope to be found through the middle, so much compassion, so much mercy, and lots of other good stuff we might miss otherwise.

See you in January! Until then, keep growing.

In the meantime:

Read up on our mental health resources on development under the mental health tab at the top of the page