“So neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but only God who causes things to grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:7
Firmly Planted and Growing. . .
This morning I had the privilege of speaking to the women at The Gate in Franklin, TN. What a precious group of girls. So much life represented there. One hopeful mommy is now expecting after several miscarriages and we had a sweet time of prayer for another still believing for her miracle. Here’s a little bit of what I shared after I told my story. This has been on my heart for some time now. Nothing completely earth-shattering but I believe good reminders for us no matter what it is we are walking through.
I’ve always said, we never know what the Lord is going to require of us because he is more concerned with our growth and his glory than any outcome here on earth. I never imagined how true that would be for me. I’m sure many of you can say the same. We never start out on the journey expecting it to be hard. We are wide-eyed and hopeful. I know I was.
Throughout my journey to motherhood, I kept asking the Lord to spare me any more heartache so I could see how deep my relationship with him would go apart from sorrow. But I realized, the heartaches and the sorrows are the rain that cause our growth. Without them we would remain stagnant and unfruitful.
And growth requires both sunshine and rain. Too much sunshine without the rain leads to drought. Too much rain without sunshine leads to flooding. We need to seek him for balance but hope for both sunshine and rain to nourish us. This is how we become firmly planted and ultimately grow.
This Thanksgiving season I challenge you {as I am also challenging myself} to ask the questions:
What things are sunshine in my life?
What things are the rain?
Acknowledge and thank him for it all. Your life and it’s growth and fruitfulness require both.
Thankful for sunshine and rain,
Jessica
Firmly Planted is a post from: The Pregnancy Companion