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."
