Heavenly Compost

Have you ever wondered why your life isn't growing a rich harvest of good? Do you question or blame God for bad circumstances? Are you easily angered? Do you feel depleted or ineffective? Maybe, you aren't tending to your soul the proper way? Our soul is like a garden and the attention that you give it determines whether the harvest is bountiful or distressed.

A couple years ago we revitalized our garden with compost, vermiculite and manure. With our hands and rakes we blended the rich fertilizers together and then planted our seeds. Our harvest that year was robust and flavorful! We took waste and turned it into nutrients and the results were obvious. The next year we just reused the soil as it was and the garden was full but nothing like the year before. Now, a few years later, we became lazy and never enriched the soil. The results were puny vegetables and scraggly vines. How often do we neglect our souls that way?

When we purpose it in our heart and mind to be good to ourselves, we focus on doing the right things such as eating healthy, exercising, going to church, reading our bibles, fellow-shipping, staying up on our chores... When we do those things we then see our lives give back to us a beautiful harvest. However, when we neglect ourselves and the things that we know are good for us we shrivel into hopelessness and despair.

God's will IS NOT that we struggle through life. He doesn't want us depleted and ineffective. His will is that we are living full lives filled with joy, peace, insight, self-control, love... He wants us to come to him and ask him to tend the gardens of our mind and heart!  This world is filled with pressures from world events to daily personal situations. It feels overwhelming and unmanageable to us as we try to navigate it. So, how do we thrive rather than survive? It's all in our focus. Is your hope in the world or is it in God? The world offers temporal happiness in small bites as it falls apart around us. Whereas, Christ offers hope, peace, joy and a safe place to find respite while he strengthens us and loves us. Our focus is key. Do you tell your mind that you're lonely, sad, depressed... Or, do you reaffirm throughout your day the promises of God? Whatever your mind chases, your heart is sure to follow.

God can take all the waste and manure that life throws at you and sift it through his beautiful hands until a rich, robust, nourishing compost is made. Then, if you'll allow him, he will use all that refuse that the world dumps on you to fertilize your life. You will be blessed and then become a blessing! This world is sins domain right now but Christ is working among it. He can and will use every bad thing to his glory and for our benefit. Romans 8:28 says, "For all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose." God is a God of renewal, restoration, redemption, revival... He recycles the ravages of sin and remakes it into lessons that bless us! He calls us to give him glory for his great love and then to go and love others with the love that has been shown to us. 

You can be a child of God by simply saying this prayer, "God, I've heard about you and how you sent your son Jesus to save me through his death on the cross. Today, I choose to believe that I cannot save myself and that it's only through your son that I can be saved. Forgive me my sins and guide me into a strong relationship with you. Amen."

Child of God, you are not worthless. You were worth dying for. You are loved unconditionally. Nothing and no one can pluck you from His hand. Even if you fall, He will pick you up. When you wander He will come for you. His thoughts toward you outnumber the sands. He will give you the same Spirit that rose him from the grave to guide you, heal you, teach you... Nothing can ever separate you from his love. Your sins are forgiven, they are removed as far as the east is from the west. You matter, you are eternally loved, you have a purpose. He made you in your mother's womb and is intimately acquainted with you. He calls you sons and daughters. He will protect you, stay with you, love you and save you. You are LOVED.

If you said the prayer of salvation then you are now God's child. You are eternally saved and you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Go and tend your garden with Jesus as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. I encourage you to get a bible and start by reading the gospel book of John. Also, read Luke Chapter 8, verses 4-15. Be sure that the seed of the good news falls on good soil.

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life.

Deuteronomy 31:8, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Isaiah 41:8, "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the deserts into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs."

John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

Don't Give Up

Who's Zerubbabel? I wasn't aware of him until I opened my bible the other day and decided to read what I opened it up to. Coincidence? No. I've read my bible cover to cover quite a few times but there is a huge difference between reading your bible and having God speak to you through it. God introduced me to Zerubbabel because he knew I would need this lesson just a few days later.

The last couple weeks were very difficult for me for many reasons. We all know that difficult times either set us running in our own strength or remind us to sit at the Savior's feet. I was pretty much winging it on my own. By that I mean that I didn't open up my bible or reach out for prayer... I felt myself sinking deeper and feeling more alone. Upon awakening this morning I felt the prodding of the Holy Spirit to get close to God but I chose to start a project first. Needless to say, my project turned into a hot mess and I just starting crying. While sitting at my desk with tears flowing I looked up and saw my bible open to The Book Of Ezra with the profile of Zerubbabel before me. The first sentence read, "Sometimes God's ownership of a project is only recognized after our best efforts have failed." My tears turned to laughter as I realized that the God of the Universe just spoke to me in a very personal way!

God's people had been exiled to Babylon for many years. In 539 B.C. Babylon was defeated by the Persian ruler Cyrus. He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and Zerrubabel was the man chosen to lead the job. Long story short, he met some resistance and gave up on the project. His excitement turned to discouragement and hopelessness. It wasn't until sixteen years later that God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage him to restart and finish the temple. Zerubbabel lacked tenacity and faith when times got hard. When encouragement from the people stopped he stopped. He exhausted his own strength but did not turn to God for the strength to carry on.

John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches.If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." As I sit here in Upstate New York looking out my window, my yard looks like a tornado hit. There are dead branches all over our property! They are no longer connected to their source of life so they must be burned because their purpose is gone. Staying connected to God's power, purpose and joy is a moment by moment choice. When what we have been called to do becomes wearisome, unpopular, lonely... it is only the choice of drawing near to him that empowers us. Galatians 6:9 reads, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

Zerubbabel may have given up but God did not give up on him. God will NEVER give up on us. His grace and mercy are bigger than us and he will always pursue us with his love. Seek him first, proclaim his might and find your strength in him. By the way, after I put God first and gave the project to him, it all worked out perfect.

Hebrews 4:7b, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

Beautiful Brokenness

Are we willing to be broken??? Our first reaction is to cry, "No! " However, my most precious moments were when I was broken in the presence of God. I felt full, whole and safe even as the storm raged around me. Compare that to when I am living out of my own strength and telling God to keep up behind me. My mind is overwhelmed, my spirit weak and empty, my body aching, dragging, my heart frightened and racing. We plow along like that because "we haven't physically and mentally broke yet!" We chase adrenaline, caffeine, sugar.... Squeezing every last drop out of our own abilities and trying to avoid breaking because we are so afraid to go there! Satan actually fools us into believing that it is the crash that represents God when in truth we are the ones who crashed and burned because we tried to live apart from God's love and strength!

The actual brokenness is beautiful. It's not a state of exhaustion but a voluntary step into the presence of God. We stand before him before we break in our own strength. We ask him to break anything in us that is self reliant and to give us a humble heart to trust him, follow him and work it all out for us. It's a nest of protection and unconditional love where we rest, laugh and confide with the One who adores us and restores us.

Don't confuse our crash with His grace. The notion that we must get to the end of ourselves before we crawl to him is a falsehood! Spending time in our bibles, praying, resting, having fellowship... Those are our daily flow stations. The enemy tries to make us believe that we should wear ourselves out and then make God a fill up station. The enemy tells us to run from brokenness. However, God tells us to have a broken and contrite spirit. We are NOT to be broken with weariness but to be broken in love. We should never be empty because God offers to flow his strength and love through us daily. Truth be told, he knows we are just sheep who need a Shepherd and every time we get lost he leaves the rest to come get us. Forgiving us over and over again. So let us try to stay near the Shepherd and not fear being broken in his presence. We drive ourselves like a relentless, cruel task master whereas Christ leads us with tenderness. Follow the Savior not the world. Be not afraid of complete vulnerability as you surrender your way to his. The world tells you its all about your power whereas, God empowers us with the same Spirit that rose Christ from the dead! I've done it both ways and trust me, his way is better.

Isaiah 41:18, "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs."

Isaiah 43:19, "For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

Deuteronomy 31:8, "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Zechariah 4:6, "So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."

Running ahead of God in our own strength is not wise. Be still and ask Him to go before you.