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What Will You Do With What God Is Growing in You?

What Will You Do With What God Is Growing in You?

Last updated on: September 30, 2026 at 5:00 am by Michele Gunn

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What Will You Do With What God Is Growing in You? 2026-09-19T07:00:46-05:00 Michele Gunn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God is on the move in you!

What Will You Do With What God Is Growing in You?/created in Canva with ChatGPT

Author’s note: I have created this special article to introduce my series for October, I am very excited about this month! I pray you enjoy reading it and taking it in as much as I have enjoyed writing it! God is on the move…in you!

September Has Been About Change

Throughout September, we’ve explored what happens when life changes: new opportunities, stewardship, spiritual growth and becoming more fully the person God created us to be. But now we ask: What happens after the change changes us? When God has strengthened our faith, taught us to trust, helped us surrender, given us wisdom or brought us through something difficult, what are we supposed to do with what He has grown within us?

We often think about spiritual growth in terms of ourselves. Am I praying more? Do I trust God more deeply? Am I becoming more patient, faithful or peaceful? Those are important questions. But perhaps there is another one we don’t ask often enough: Who is supposed to benefit from the person God is helping me become?

This past month I have talked a lot about John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” but taking that one step further leads us to John 15:8, “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Jesus doesn’t call us simply to remain attached to the Vine so that we flourish. Remaining in Him produces fruit. What is the fruit of your spiritual growth and who gets to taste it?

Spiritual Growth Isn’t Spiritual Self-Improvement

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to become more peaceful, prayerful, disciplined or knowledgeable about our faith. But Christianity isn’t ultimately a self-improvement program. The more closely we become united with Christ, the more His love should change the way we relate to other people; how we see them and how we treat them.

Pope Francis makes this connection particularly strongly in Evangelii Gaudium: communion with Jesus and mission are interconnected and an evangelizing community moves outward because it has first experienced God’s love and mercy. God grows something in us so that He can also do something through us. This is the mission or purpose He has given us. Growth brings many things:

In patience it affects how we treat the difficult person.
In compassion it changes how we respond to suffering.
In wisdom it allows us to guide someone who is struggling.
In faith it allows us to encourage someone who is afraid.
Growth through suffering gives us empathy for someone walking a road we recognize.
Growth in our knowledge of the Catholic faith prepares us to answer someone’s sincere question.

Suddenly spiritual formation becomes outward-facing. It becomes service.

You Are Being Formed for Something

Sometimes we don’t understand why God allows particular seasons to shape us while we’re living through them. Only later do we recognize that it taught:

compassion
surrender
how to listen
what we actually believe
how desperately we need God

That gave us something that we can now offer another person. I don’t mean to imply that God causes every painful experience simply to teach us a lesson. Rather God can redeem what we experience and use it in our formation. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 reminds us of this, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.”

From Formation to Mission

The United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) teaches that through Baptism we become Christ’s disciples and witnesses, while Evangelii Gaudium says all the baptized are called to be missionary disciples. Importantly, Pope Francis says we are still called to mature and deepen our formation while participating in mission. We don’t wait until we’re perfect or know everything. That means formation and mission aren’t two separate stages of Christian life. We don’t tell ourselves that first we will finish learning our faith and then someday we will be ready to share it. The time is now because we are always learning, always growing and always being converted. Simultaneously, God can use us right where we are. Furthermore, we are disciples because we are still learning. We are missionaries because what we are learning was never meant to remain only with us.

Look Back: Who Helped Form You?

Let’s take this to a personal level. Consider how God formed you by asking yourself these questions:.

Who taught you to pray?
Who first told you about Jesus?
Who took you to Mass?
Who modeled faith when life became difficult?
Who answered your questions?
Who challenged you?
Who encouraged you when you doubted?
Who invited you back when you had wandered?
Who simply lived their faith in such a way that you wanted what they had?

The USCCB describes Baptism as a call to witness and emphasizes that evangelization is the responsibility of the baptized, not merely specialists or clergy. Afterall, we are Baptized “Priest, Prophet and King.”

Maybe God used other people to form you because one day He intended to use you in the formation of someone else, but not necessarily in a classroom. Maybe His intentions are for you to form others from across a kitchen table, during lunch at work, through a phone call or because someone saw the way you navigated a difficult season and finally asked: “How did you get through that?”

What Are You Doing With What God Has Given You?

It is time to consider the things God has cultivated in you. Has He cultivated knowledge, wisdom, compassion, experience, talents, resilience, faith, hope or a story? Are they simply possessions or are they things we’ve been entrusted to steward? This calls to mind 1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Consider all that God has given you, not just talents. Some of the skills or abilities you have gained or developed through life experiences are things you can offer others.

Take some time to prayerfully consider what God has given you and what you have to offer. Jot them down so you can come back to them and spend time discerning how you can use them to live the purpose God has given you.

From Spiritual Growth to Personal Evangelization

Last year, I wrote about everyday evangelization and explored what it means to live and share our faith. I still believe deeply in that message. Lately another question has been stirring in me: Are we prepared to share the faith we say matters so much to us?

Remember that Pope Francis teaches us that every baptized Christian is a missionary disciple and that people who evangelize (should be all of us) must continually mature and be evangelized. I know the word “evangelize” is difficult for many of us, but the concept is born within each one of us. Matthew 28:19 directs us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,” Refer and utilize the term “personal evangelization.” It is simply how you live out your faith every day in both words and actions.

Coming in October: From Faith to Mission

I have lined up an October series to invite you to grow together with me and each other. I am very excited and spiritually moved to share the following four topics with you through October:

KNOW: Know Your Faith

Do you know what you believe and why? We’ll explore why Catholics need ongoing formation, how to grow in understanding of Scripture and Church teaching and why knowing our faith should draw us toward Christ rather than merely fill us with religious information.

LIVE: Become a Credible Witness

Does your life support what your words say you believe? We will learn more about the credibility of the evangelizer. We will discover how love, integrity, mercy, forgiveness and humility make Christ visible.

SHARE: Recognize Your Faith Story

Can you identify what God has done in your life and share it authentically? We will go deeper into recognizing God’s presence in an ordinary story, because not everyone has a dramatic conversion. Everyone does have a story of grace.

INVITE : Come and See

Are you willing to open the door for someone else? This goes beyond telling people about our faith. We’ll explore invitation, hospitality and accompaniment. Remember that invitation opens the door while accompaniment walks through it beside someone.

Rise, Align, and Shine: Growth That Goes Somewhere

You are not meant to just be. You are meant for more. God created you with a purpose and that purpose provides you with a personal mission. Always remember to rise, align and shine to help you evangelize and live your purpose:

Rise: Recognize how God has been forming you. Look at where you were, where He has brought you and what He has grown within you.

Align: Ask whether you’re using that growth according to God’s purposes. Spiritual maturity isn’t simply knowing more about God. It increasingly aligns our lives with His heart and that includes His love for other people.

Shine: Let what God has grown within you become light for someone else.

Matthew 5:16 reminds us, “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” Your light isn’t supposed to illuminate itself. It illuminates something beyond itself. Importantly, remember that we don’t shine so people will see us. We shine so people can see Him.

I am looking forward to meeting you here with me, at Graceful Awakening, for a special October!

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September 27, 2026

Becoming Who God Created You to Be Through Change