What does the word mature mean to you and what bible verse comes to you when you think of it?
When I hear the word, what comes to mind, especially as a mother, is weaning. I had to wean my children as infants from breastfeeding and being dependent on me.
As an independent individual, you can feel hungry without being worried because you can take care of yourself. In relation to spiritual maturity, a lot of things come to mind. From my experience, when someone is mature in Christ, you have a level of self-control over your flesh and emotions, and one has a stable outlook about handling avoidable and unexpected events of life.
The way people handle challenges show how mature they are. Furthermore, I assess spiritual maturity as when you have a clear understanding of your identity and purpose in this world and understand where you’re going, even your final destination which is eternity in the presence of the Lord. Finally, it’s when you have the ability to discern sound teaching and a Biblical persuasion on what others consider controversial. The bible verse that comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.
Reflect on your walk with God until now. What factors would you consider most important in your growth process?
The most important factor that helped in my growth process was receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. After I got saved, I desired an intimate relationship with God, and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit helped me because as soon as I got saved my faith was tried through a lot of rejections from my family.
I was born into a Catholic family. Being saved was actually considered an act of rebellion. If you grew up in a very strict Catholic family like mine, you would understand. So after I got filled with the Holy Spirit, I learnt to pray In the spirit. Prayer became easy and it helped me through my trials.
Also, I loved worship and as I worshiped, I was strengthened. My escape from trials and persecution was going into worship and then praying in the Spirit. I’ll pray in the spirit till I get a release or get a scripture of confirmation to comfort me. In addition, I am an avid reader. I read so many books that helped me accelerate my growth as a Christian. Finally, my husband was a key factor. Most people marry and afterward their faith collapses but my husband was a catalyst for my faith.
What were your initial struggles when you gave your life to Christ and how were you able to overcome them?
One challenge I had was understanding the scriptures. However, with constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit, I grew up with different factions of Christianity.
I got a little confused with no consistency in doctrines among the different factions. Being able to go to God’s word and understand doctrines helped a lot. The Holy Spirit led me to some books at my early stage in the Christian life; they explained doctrines and cleared some of my confusions.
Another challenge I had was lying. It was tough to just say the truth all the time. I didn’t tell blatant lies, but they were exaggerations. I think what helped me was that immediately I gave my life to Christ, I was discipled properly. I will never forget it. We had a study on how lying was defined as sin and as a statement that is made with the intention to deceive or fabricate or exaggerate facts. This impacted me and the Holy Spirit helped me to become truthful.
What’s one fun fact about you?
I laugh a lot. I love laughing (laughs).