ROOTED RENEGADE

The Lord has been ministering to my heart this morning to wait on Him. Just wait. Don’t rush ahead to try and get things done. Just wait. That’s sometimes harder than not when you are used to trying to meet last minute deadlines, things are constantly changing in one area of your life but there appears to be little changes in some areas, and well others the change is significantly beautiful. But regardless, we are called to wait on the Lord. It is truly in the place of waiting that renewal comes.

As a Gardner I understand the waiting. When you plant a seed of any kind there is a period of germination. This period must take place and you cannot make it happen any faster. As I write this I see these little seedlings popping up in the containers and they are so very small right now. The seeds have been in the ground for a little over two weeks. Each day those seeds have worked hard to produce the little seedlings I see now. They needed the right soil. The right amount of nutrients in the soil. The right amount of water. The right amount of sun. The right amount of shade. Without all of those things, the seedlings wouldn’t appear because the seeds wouldn’t have had what they needed during the germination phase.

Oh how good our Father in Heaven is. He is so so good!

We too need the same things. Many know that without being a Gardner. However there are other important things that one must consider when planting. The season in which they plant. Many of us (myself included) have planted out of season. When that happens, the things we need (just like the plants) don’t get every thing they need and we don’t mature or plans don’t succeed because it is not the right time for the planting. This could be ministry, businesses, moving, jobs, etc. (you could apply this to any area of your life). You will put more money, resources, and effort into things in the wrong season than you will in the right season. Why? Because in the right season, everything you need will already be available. It won’t feel disjointed to try to attain funds, or get people on board with the vision, or plant a new church, etc. (again fill in the blank with what applies to you).

You can plant and build in your own strength and have success, but it will never reach full maturation when it is out of season and out of sync with God’s plans.

Which is where the waiting comes in. I know I have to wait for these seedlings to grow bigger before I can plant them in a new container. I know that if they don’t get the right amount of water, sun, shade, and nutrients in the soil, then they won’t grow the way God intended them to grow. Too much sun could scorch them. Too much water could drown the roots. Too little or too much of the nutrients could cause them to disease and stop growing. Too much shade and they don’t get the light they need to photosynthesis.

Just like plants need these things in their process, so do we. We need to wait upon the Lord to have our strength renewed (Isaiah 40:31). To be refreshed by His living water. To have any darkness in us exposed by His light. To be hidden in His shade to keep from burning. Far too often we try to rush the process of growth and maturation in our lives and we end up depleted, exhausted, and overwhelmed. There is little clarity in a life or ministry or business that is depleted. To the contrary there is more chaos and dysfunction when there is a rush to jump out of season and go our own ways.

So what do we do when we have found ourselves planting out of season? We bring it before Jesus and ask Him to forgive us of our transgression of going our own way. Forgive us for thinking we know what is best for our lives and jumping out of season and sync with Him. Ask God to show us the right way to do things and live so that we stay in the right soil, with the right water, with the right amount of His shade and His Son. To replenish our nutrients and make us mature in Him, not ourselves. We wait upon the Lord the best we can and allow Him to do the rest.

Remember that even in the waiting, miracles still happen, God is still with you, the blood of Jesus still speaks, and the fire of Holy Spirit is still burning.

Love, Faythe