In his book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do DifferentlyJohn Maxwell related the story of his shaky start as a public speaker many years ago. He was to preach his first message at a small church. It was commonplace for small congregations to invite aspiring pastors to present a message. The Sunday before he was to preach, John accompanied his friend Don to observe him speak. Shamefully, Don sat down after only three minutes – his talk didn’t go as expected. The following Sunday John took the podium and was so focused on talking longer than Don that his delivery lasted 55 minutes. Interestingly, he didn’t realize he went that long. But he continued to refine his skills, advancing step by step, which included becoming better aware of his timing and the audience. Today, John Maxwell is a well-respected orator and his appearances include “the United Nations, West point, NASA, the CIA and many Fortune 500 companies.”

If you make just one step daily, you would have made 365 steps forward by the end of the year. What if you made just half of that? What if you made twice as many? Norman Doidge in The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Scienceadvocates that “practicing a new skill can change hundreds of millions and possibly billions of the connections between the nerve cells in our brain maps,” which are “processing areas.” You may think there is no way you can advance that much in a year but with practice or repetition you’d be creating new pathways in your brain to accommodate new skills. Do not stop making the effort because progress at the brain cell level is still progress. Eventually, with God’s help, the new habit can become second nature such that even with one step you can advance by more than one position – two for the price of one.

One step today and another tomorrow equals two steps, but with a touch of God’s hand, it can add up to much more than two. One plus one is two in human mathematics but in divine math, one plus one equals more than two. Jesus turned 5 loaves and 2 fish into a meal for 5000 men, not counting women and children (Matthew 14: 17-21). Imagine what He can do for you.

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Danniebelle Hall penned “Ordinary People”
Echoing that if we do as He commands
“Little becomes much as you place it,
In the Master’s hand”

When you take one step and then another
It may total two, or some greater number
So don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged
Put your trust in Him and remain encouraged