Laced With Grace

John 15:2
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Last month I felt hurt inside, hurt from various so-called friends in my life that I felt were moving away from me. I moped around the house thinking “why me God” and then I read the above verse one night and suddenly it all made sense.

We’re like ornamental hedges, to change our shapes and to encourage new growth the old bits of dead growth have to be pruned first. It’s like daisy plants in my front garden, after their summer blooms had been spent they went brown and needed a quick clip with the hedge clippers. Once that’s done every now and again they produce new flowers until it needs to be done again.

God wants me to be like that daisy plant, fresh, full of new blooms and although sometimes being pruned hurts it’s all because He needs new growth out of me.

How about you? Has God been cutting off your old flowers with the hedge clippers too?

Amy

Ecc 5:19-20 “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”

Over the last few months I’ve been on quite a journey, a journey that has been full of resentment and not enough gladness and contentment. It started when I began going out with friends once a week and that’s when I became resentful of my own life. One friend has an older daughter who can babysit at any stage if she wants to go anywhere and she and her husband are alot more financially secure than we are, another friend has four children who are all grown up and capable of looking after themselves – that’s where the trouble was for me.

I was becomming resentful of the fact that I had to pay a babysitter with money that we were short of and I was angry about not being able to go out when I wanted – oh dear…God spoke to me a few nights ago about coveting other peoples lives and not being content enough with my own. We each have different journey in life and lessons to learn, last year I learned about patience and this year I’m learning about contentment and being peaceful with what I have. If I really put my own selfish pride aside I can clearly see that my husband is a good provider and father to our three children, we’re healthy, we might find it hard to pay bills sometimes but at least we have our own house, I have a computer with the internet, we don’t really want for anything – I should have been happy but I wasn’t.

Once God spoke to me with the above verse I knew what I was missing was a gladness of heart. I don’t want to have a heart full of anger, jealousy and resentment. God calls me to be different from others as a Christian and to go on a journey with Him not to be full of pleasures and distractions of the world.

2Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

This is one of my favourite verses to ponder on. I’m sure you’ll agree that in our busy lives as moms, wives, sisters, daughters etc we can have days and even weeks where life comes first and our bibles come second.

Do you have a time of the day that you like to read your bible? I do, surprisingly enough it’s at night when the house is quiet, I’m lying in bed with my bedside lamp on – it’s the perfect moment to read a verse, a chapter or a line and think about it until the next time. You might like to read yours in the morning before everyone is up or perhaps you put it on the bench while you prepare the dinner. Another great time is when I read to my children at night. They pull out their little bibles and we read something together – that way we all get a piece of God’s word.

The scripture above to me says that the longer we stay in Christ the more we are renewed, the more we learn, bits of our old selves go and the more we can be made new like Him.

Why don’t you pick a time and a place to keep in touch with God each day – it’s a great way to stay renewed!