People often talk about taking “baby steps” to achieve big changes, but how often do we think about what baby steps really look like? There’s a lot of wobbling, falling, false starts, and hesitation before that first step is actually taken. But each of those things helps to prepare the child for growth.

As supporters of survivors, let’s learn to celebrate not only the baby steps but also every single thing that leads up to them. Survivors have borne the burden of trauma for many years and they are not going to recover completely overnight, no matter how hard they try. Also there were other factors in their lives, in addition to the abuse, that complicated their growth.

So let’s keep encouraging, and praying for, and patting survivors on the back for every tiny bit of progress—because it required hard work, and because God is rejoicing at their effort. We can rejoice too.

Photo by Brina Blum on Unsplash.com