9 Things Aging Is GIFTING You…
Women spend a lot of time complaining about what aging is taking from them.
Sagging skin. Extra pounds. Less energy. Tanking hormones. Terrible sleep.
It's EASY to focus on what's going wrong. Because what's going wrong always seems to talk extremely loud… so loud we often miss what's going RIGHT.
Let's make a conscious decision to change that!!
Here are 9 things that aging GIVES you. I could even say GIFTS you. But ONLY if you decide to let it.
#1 Increased Wisdom
This is not the kind you get from books or podcasts. The kind that only comes from living. From making mistakes and recovering. From watching God work in real time over decades.
Wisdom isn't downloaded. It's earned. And every year you've lived has been adding to yours whether you realized it or not.
What areas has God given you wisdom in? You need to intentionally NOTE what God has shown you and share it with others.
#2 Clarity and Perspective on What Actually Matters
When I look back 20 years and think about what I thought was so important versus what I think is important now, I just shake my head with a smile.
30-year-old Dorothy had so much to learn.
And I'm pretty sure that when 70-year-old Dorothy looks back at 50-year-old Dorothy, she'll think the same thing.
Not in a bad way. Just in a real, knowing way. Because I'm sure God will keep opening my eyes and giving me more clarity and perspective according to His plans.
So what has God given YOU clarity and perspective on over the last 20 years? Maybe even just the last five. Take note of what these last years have genuinely gifted you.
#3 Much Deeper Faith
God and I…we've been through some stuff.
I have such a track record of His strength working through me that I am just amazed and humbled. No matter how long we walk together there is always more to learn about Him. Always new depths of His love, faithfulness, and grace to experience.
That kind of faith cannot be manufactured. It cannot be borrowed from someone else's testimony. It is built mile by mile, trial by trial, faithful moment by faithful moment.
What has God brought YOU through? What do you need to remind yourself of today?
#4 Real Resilience That Leads to Real Hope
I have a new favorite song right now called "From Ashes" by Faith in the Shadows from the album Purpose Over Pain. It brings me to tears almost every time I hear it. You can listen here.
From ashes, I arise
From ashes, I arise
He breathed His breath in me
And opened up my eyes
From ashes, I arise
From ashes, I arise
Beauty from the rubble
Hallelujah, I’m alive!
Oh how I know this so intimately. I’ve been in ashes…several times. And every single time, God has breathed life back into what looked like rubble.
In another part he says, He is the artist of redemption. And I have tasted that over and over again in my life too!!
Listen to what the Bible says happens when we walk through hard things and don't quit:
Trials produce perseverance.
Perseverance produces character.
Character produces HOPE.
(Romans 5:3-4)
So the resilience aging has forged in you? It hasn't just made you tougher. It has made you MORE HOPEFUL. That is so counterintuitive and so gloriously true.
The woman who has walked through the fire and come out the other side isn't damaged goods.
She is REFINED. She is the most dangerous kind of faithful.
James 1:3-4 puts it this way: the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and perseverance finishes its work so that you are mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Lacking NOTHING.
I don’t know about you, but spiritually speaking, I want to lack NOTHING.
#5 Freedom from the Opinions of Others
Younger women are often paralyzed by what people think. And honestly? So was I.
But aging has a beautiful way of burning that off.
I’ve stopped performing and just living on purpose.
It. Is. So. Freeing.
It's not just freeing though. It comes with the boldness to say what God wants you to say instead of staying silent.
#6 Competency
You actually know what you are doing now more than you did 20 years ago.
Not just in one area. On multiple levels. You have life experience, hard-won wisdom, spiritual depth, emotional intelligence, and a track record with God that younger women are still building.
You have failed enough times to stop being afraid of failure. You have watched God come through enough times to stop panicking when things look impossible. You have survived enough to know what you are actually made of.
Satan would love for you to believe that you are all washed up. That your best years are behind you. That the world belongs to the young and you should quietly step aside.
That is a LIE.
You are not past your prime. You are AT your prime. Equipped on every level by every single thing you have walked through.
Do not shrink back now!! Examine your life and ask God, what do you want me to do with everything You’ve taught me?
#7 Refinement of Calling
You only have so much energy. You know that now in a way you didn't at 30. And instead of that being a limitation, it has become one of the greatest gifts God has given you.
Because when your energy is finite, you stop wasting it.
You stop saying yes to everything. You stop chasing callings that were never yours to begin with. You put down what other people assigned you and you pick up what GOD assigned you.
What remains when all the noise falls away is the purest, most refined version of your purpose. The one that was always there underneath all the busyness and people-pleasing and striving.
Again, it is so freeing!!!
#8 Grace for Yourself and Others
Oh my. This one is HUGE.
I used to have zero grace for myself. Zero. I thought I could out-hustle my shortcomings as a human being. Just work harder, do better, be more.
Shortcomings are not a design flaw. They are BAKED IN by God. On purpose. So that I rely on Him. So that I live in real community with others because I need them and they need me.
The moment I understood that, I put down a weight that was always going to be impossible for me to carry.
Then it was so much easier to give that grace to others as well. None of us are made to carry the weight of perfection. Only Jesus.
#9 True Gratitude
I am moved to tears almost daily over how grateful I am because of where God has brought me over the last 10 to 15 years. It has been an arduous, painful, sometimes dark journey. (It still is) But it has also been miraculous, beautiful, and illuminating.
That kind of gratitude only comes from having lost enough to know what matters. From having been in the valley long enough to truly appreciate the view from higher ground.
Listen, you are not declining, friend.
You are being refined.
There is a difference!
So the next time aging tries to hand you a list of everything it's taking, hand it right back and remind yourself of everything it's GIFTING.
Aging is a privilege that not everyone gets to experience.
In passionate purpose,
Dorothy
Father,
Thank You for every year. Even the hard ones. Especially the hard ones.
Thank You that You have not wasted a single thing! Not the losses, not the failures, not the seasons that felt like they were breaking me. You were building me!! You were refining me. You were doing something in me that could only be done through time and trust and trial.
Forgive me for every time I have looked at aging from an ungodly perspective. For every time I've mourned what's changing instead of celebrating what's been and being forged.
Open my eyes today to what YOU are GIVING me through this season. Show me the wisdom I've gained. The faith that’s been built. The calling that's been refined down.
I don't want to spend one more day grieving what's behind me when You are clearly still building something ahead of me.
I am not declining. I am being refined.
And I trust You with every single year still to come.
In Jesus' mighty name,
Amen.