How Far Much Have You Grown?

The last few weeks I have been looking through all the old sermons and lessons I have written. This is nothing big, I have only been out of college since 2004. Been blessed with a great internship in the summer of 2003 and have been serving at the same church (ECCC) since February 2004. All the experiences, opportunities have been awesome, but one thing I noticed is how God has allowed me to grow through Him.
The reason for all this reflection is when I was scheduled to plan the service this coming Sunday (August 29th), last month I started thinking. What should I do? The one constant that was coming back to me is look at the first sermon I preached in a church and preach that sermon. I did find that sermon, I read that sermon...I will be preaching the same outline, not the same sermon. It was humorous and embarrassing at the same time. I also realize how raw I was and the sermon was. In no way possible do I think I write excellent sermons/lessons, but I try and write what I feel God would want me to teach and share. I kept noticing that God has stretched me in the last 10 years. When I left for college for the first time 10 years ago, I had no idea that God would take me on the experiences that He has. Since those times I have seen so much change and growth. Being able to minister, become a husband and just a year ago become a dad, all of these have helped me grow up in the last 10 years, also recently.
How much growth is there in your life? How much have you changed in the recent years? Have you allowed yourself to grow and change? Has the change been for the better, have you been able to draw yourself into a closer relationship with God? Has your faith been able to grow? If so I am sure it has not always been easy, but it has definitely been worth the journey. The real growth will come when we allow God to be a part of and also lead our lives. Once we allow this to happen, we can see how much and how far we can grow.