Protect Your Progress

This year has been a stretching one for me as a mum. Caleb and Chiara are both now fully settled into their primary school routine, and I’ve had to come face-to-face with something I didn’t realise at first… I was still in preschool mode.

For years, my rhythm as a mum had been shaped by the preschool routine: homework only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; no chapter books to read; no need for research over classroom presentations sprawled across the dining table. It was simple, structured, and light-hearted, just enough to keep their curious little minds engaged. But primary school? That has been another beast altogether. Suddenly, there was daily homework, spelling bees, reading logs, times tables, research projects, and presentation days that required thought, practice, and creativity. The shift was gradual, but my mindset had stayed behind. I hadn’t adjusted my expectations, and because of that, I began to feel the tension of trying to carry an old rhythm into a new season.

I realised that if I was going to help my children thrive in school, I needed to change the way I showed up for them. The time we allocated for homework had to increase. The attention I gave during that time needed to be more intentional. Screen time during the week had to go. Weekday TV was replaced with reading, flashcards, and conversations that stretched their vocabulary. It isn’t a punishment, it’s preparation.

At first, it felt like a lot. I could sense their little hearts adjusting, and I was adjusting too. I prayed daily for grace, because motherhood, like faith, comes with constant recalibration. I was learning that when God ushers your family into a new season, He often does so in layers. The children grow, yes, but so must the parent.

One night after homework, Chiara looked up from her exercise book and said, “Mommy, you sit with us more now.” Her tone wasn’t complaining; it was grateful. I smiled because she was right. I was sitting with them more. I was listening differently. Instead of multitasking while they did their homework like I had become accustomed to, I was slowing down, not because I had extra time, but because I had finally recognised the weight of the season we were in.

I realised God wasn’t just adjusting their capacity to learn, He was adjusting my capacity to lead. Somewhere in the middle of erasing pencil marks and reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, God whispered, “You can’t pour new wine into an old wineskin.”

That’s when it hit me. This wasn’t just about schoolwork. It was about growth. The children were stepping into a new stage of development, and God was inviting me to step into it too, with a new mindset, a new structure, and new grace. It wasn’t about doing more; it was about doing things differently. It was about protecting the progress God was bringing into our family, because when God begins to elevate your life, He also requires you to protect that elevation.

And who pours new wine into an old wineskin? If someone did, the old wineskin would burst, and the new wine would be lost. New wine must always be poured into new wineskins. Yet you say, ‘The old ways are better,’ and you refuse to even taste the new wine that I bring.” ~ Luke 5:37-39 TPT

There is always more in God. He hasn’t called us to remain stagnant; He calls us to move forward in Him, to make progress as we become more like Christ and advance His kingdom. But here’s something I’ve learned: progress doesn’t sustain itself. We pray for the blessing… whether it’s marriage, children, business, ministry, or promotion, but when the blessing comes, it doesn’t stand still. It grows. It changes shape. It demands stewardship. God’s blessings always come with an invitation to new responsibility.

If we’re not careful, we can lose ground by clinging to old rhythms that no longer serve the new season. The old ways may have been effective once, but when God pours out new wine, He expects us to create new containers for it. Protecting progress requires intentionality. It requires a response. It requires you to move in step with the Holy Spirit, because what got you there won’t sustain you there. Here are five areas God keeps reminding me to adjust, as I learn to protect the progress He’s allowed me to make.

Adjust Your Mindset

When God ushers you into a new season, the first shift must happen in your mind. Growth always starts internally. If your mindset stays rooted in an old version of you, your actions will follow suit. In my case, I had to stop thinking like a preschool mum. I had to acknowledge that my children were growing and that their needs had changed. The same applies spiritually. Every new season God brings you into will demand a renewed mind. If you don’t pause to re-evaluate who you are and who God is calling you to become, you risk losing ground. Old thought patterns, self-doubt, and comfort zones will quietly pull you backwards. Progress requires mental alignment. To protect your progress, you must be deliberate about what you meditate on. Renew your mind daily through prayer, Scripture, and surrender. When you set your mind on the newness God is bringing, you permit heaven to expand your capacity.

Adjust Your Disciplines

Every new level comes with new disciplines. What sustained you in the last season might not be enough for the one you’re in now. This applies to every area: spiritual, emotional, relational, and even physical. The grace I was given for early motherhood is different from the grace I now need for raising older children. The same is true for any area of growth. When God entrusts you with more, you must strengthen your structure to hold it. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what new disciplines are required of you now. Maybe it’s consistency in prayer. Maybe it’s rest. Maybe it’s budgeting differently, or studying more. Whatever it is, God never gives progress without also offering the tools to protect it. Don’t resist the training ground this adjustment offers. The Holy Spirit is your helper, and He knows exactly what habits will sustain your growth.

Adjust Your Circle

When God elevates you, not everyone can ascend with you, and that’s okay. Protecting your progress sometimes means re-evaluating your relationships. Your circle includes your friends, mentors, helpers, and even family dynamics. Some people will walk with you for a lifetime, others for a season. Ask God who He has anointed to walk with you now. This doesn’t mean cutting people off in pride; it means discerning alignment in humility. In each season, God sends fresh voices to guide, sharpen, and strengthen you. And sometimes, He asks you to be that voice for someone else. Don’t cling to relationships out of nostalgia. Bring your circle before the Lord and let Him rearrange it according to His plan. Progress is fragile when surrounded by the wrong relationships.

Adjust Your Activities

Availability is stewardship. If you make yourself available to one thing, you automatically become unavailable to another. Protecting progress often requires pruning your schedule. You can’t keep saying yes to everything and expect to flourish. Even good things can become distractions when they no longer serve God’s current instruction for your life. Ask God which activities belong to this season and which need to pause. Maybe something that was once fruitful has become draining. Maybe a hobby, group, or ministry you were involved in is no longer part of your current assignment. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t God before; it just means He’s doing something new now. Progress thrives in focus. To protect it, you must have the courage to say no where you once said yes and submit to the Holy Spirit in that regard.

Adjust Your Conversations

Words shape seasons. Every time God brings you into something new, your language must evolve with it. You can’t speak as though you’re still in your old struggle when God has already given you a breakthrough. Stop declaring the limitations of your past when He’s already declared victory over your future. Our conversations, both what we speak and what we entertain, carry power. The Bible warns us not to let unwholesome talk come from our mouths, yet we often fill our spaces with gossip, complaining, or unfruitful chatter that drains faith. Guard your tongue. Guard your ears. Refuse to participate in a speech that pollutes the new wine God is pouring out. Speak words that align with where He’s taking you, not where He found you.

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If this life is a race, then every new season is another stretch of track. You don’t run uphill the same way you run on a flat surface; you adjust. You lean forward. You pace differently. To stay spiritually fit for what God is doing now, you must continually assess how you think, what you do daily, who surrounds you, and what you speak. Every adjustment becomes a form of worship and an offering of obedience.

Above all, protecting progress requires humility. The willingness to say, “Lord, teach me again.” Will you humble yourself enough to ask? To listen? To change? Because God, the master builder, knows what each new level requires of you. My prayer is that as you make progress along your journey, you won’t just celebrate it, you’ll protect it. Guard it. Steward it. And in doing so, you’ll keep becoming all that God envisioned when He first called your name.