Well my Mama told me there would be days like this. An this is one of those days! I know that God intends for me to grow from this experience. To trust him more. To allow him to prune things from my life that are stifling spiritual growth. But the pruning is painful.
Psalm 102:4
My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.
Relationships are very hard work and sometimes in the garden of life, it is very hard to control the weeds!
We often think the neighbors garden looks so much better, their grass is so much greener only to find that they have just as many weeds as we do! Then why does their garden grow? They know how and when to prune! We must learn from the Master Gardener, when to replant and and when to sow. Some times we sow the wrong seed sisters!
One of my favorite passages comes from Mark chapter 4, the Parable of the Sower and the Soils.
In parable Jesus begins the story this way...
Mark 4:3-8 MSG
3-8"Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.
Then just as we so often do, the twelve disciples retreated and began to discuss what the parable meant. They had the King of Glory right there with them yet they could not understand . Jesus begins to explain.
Mark 4: 13-20 MSG 13He continued, "Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.
14-15"The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
16-17"And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
18-19"The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
20"But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams."
WOW...is that not like our lives? God gives us opportunities and it is up to us to act on those opportunities. The one thing we must remember is the opportunities are not for us to prosper, they are to bring God glory and honor. And thereby we prosper all the more. The sad thing is many of us recognize this too late. We believe our live are our own, we shape our destiny by hard work. We get content with the trappings of this world and what it has to offer.
Even when we know that we know that we know...he is leading us, pulling us towards a higher calling. We wrestle with the twin sisters Doubt and Fear. We allow others expectations (or lack) of us to shape our opinions. Those opinions give birth to beliefs. Those beliefs develop into actions. And those actions detour us from our destiny.
A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left
Today I truly did not want to hear this! I wanted things to go my way. The way I believed God would have them to go for me. Well thanks be to God his ways are so much higher than my ways and his thoughts are so much higher than my thoughts. Praise the Lord that he can do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that I can ever ask, think or imagine!
God is so awesome that even with this intense pain in my heart, He guides me, He comforts me and He consoles me. At His mercy seat His love surrounds me.He let's me know that I am not alone and that He will never leave or forsake me. What a mighty God we serve!
We all want to experience pure love, true love; something that is real you know? But one thing we must remember is that man is not capable of giving us that type of love. That type of love was given to us on Calvary. God even sends people into our lives to love who don't love us! And that is the hard part; Accepting the rejection in the name of Love that our light may shine and our savior will be glorified.
It's a tough assignment ya'll and I am not sure that I am up to the task. My heart is very heavy this evening, my mind is racing with all of the ways I could have handled this season of life in a more excellent way. But then I remember that the real mission is to live out THE GREAT commission. To let our life speak louder than our words so that others will know who we truly serve.
Jeremiah 17:9
The Message (MSG)
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be."
So the garden of my heart is a wreck right now, but the reality is I live to fight another day. Tomorrow the pruning will begin to heal as the Savior cultivates the garden of my heart once more. The MASTER GARDNER!
Take courage my sisters, HE has OVERCOME the WORLD!
John 16:33
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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