"My Father is the gardener." John 15:1
Dear brides, this morning as I read the Devotionals, the Streams in the Desert devotional for today, September 19, really touched my heart. Especially these parts:
It is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us, is a heavenly messenger that brings us something from God. Outwardly it may appear painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces blessings. Many of the richest blessings we have inherited are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world’s greatest blessing, is the fruit of the world’s greatest sorrow. And whenever a time of deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an inexpressible comfort it is to know: “My Father is the gardener.”
If I did not go through the painful process of losing my life, I would have never found my Beloved Lord the way I found Him during that painful process of pruning. My brokenness was needed to bring me to a place where I cried out to my Beloved to help me. I needed the pruning in order to bring me closer to Him, to get to know my Beloved Lord and Best Friend and to find the Abundant Life.
But it was through the Custody Loss trail that I learned the most, grew the most and really learned to lay down my life and my will for His. I learned to trust Him and to have faith that He has a plan in everything I went through that is greater than I can ever imagine. Even though the process was painful, and everything seemed lost, I learned that if we love Him, He will turn everything around for good (Romans 8:28),
Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and knows that the final result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and a greater abundance of fruit.
Knowing that my Beloved Lord and Best Friend is the Gardener is so comforting because He knows the future and He knows the plans He has for me. It is also comforting to know that He will never leave me nor forsake me through the pruning process and that He is walking with me through every valley.
Thank you so much for sharing this Adina. In my own life, I have looked back and I understand why my marriage fell apart. I don’t think I would ever have come to a place in my life where I accepted Him as my Saviour much less have a personal relationship with Lovely Lord and Friend, like I have now if it was not for that moment in my life. I had to lose what I valued most in order to gain what I needed most, Him. Looking back I can not regret that happening to me or any other trial I went through, because each of them brought me even closer to Him in so many ways. I won’t say that I enjoyed the trials. A lot of the times I think I could have handled it better, but I can see how in each of them, my Lovely Lord was there with me.
I agree Yvonne, if it wasn’t for the fact that I lost what was important to me and became broken, I would not have started my journey with my Beloved.
Agreed Adina, tough times can strengthen our connection to our Beloved Lord and reveal blessings we might have missed. While the custody loss trial had to be challenging, it’s encouraging to hear how you grew and placed your trust in HH and His plan.
Yes Hope, going through trails is not always easy, but knowing that my Beloved was with me, and that there was a purpose in the trail, helped me through.
Love this, because is so true! That pruning seasons in our lives are hard, but bear so much blessings when we surrender to them and fix our minds, hearts, and eyes on Him!!
It may take years of these seasons to see the fruits, but when the fruits come, are so much more than we expected!!
Thank you for sharing precious Adina, I needed to read this now. This last two weeks it has just been terrible at my outside job and suddenly I now feel I need the pruning in my life, I didn’t turn the other cheek. I just need more and more of my Darling Lord that is the best gardener ever, because He know what He needs to prune away in my life.
Adina, thank you for sharing. Today I was reading a lesson from Living the Abundant Life, which says, “When I lost my life, I found my life.” That’s what the devotional says, when I lost everything, and the things that were important in my life, or what I thought were important, that’s when I found a life. He showed me this life at His side, this company with each one of you, and although at the beginning there was a lot of pain and shame, now I know that everything He does in me has a purpose and will bring us blessings and a new life.
Thank you Adina for your blog. Losing an old life to gain a new one with our loved one, despite the difficulties we’re going through, he allows us to be dependent on him. I made a lot of mistakes when the difficulties came against me and I ran in all directions always wanting to do something. But I understood that I didn’t have to do what he could do.
When I look back in my life, there have been so many times of pruning where I assumed other people were doing it. As a result, I fought back.
My world fell apart when I noticed that the branch of my marriage was being pruned. Why this branch that I wanted so badly to keep, the branch that I had worked so hard for because there was no fruit?
Yet I am glad that He pruned the branch of my marriage. Because of that, I learned that He is the one who has been pruning for so long to get my attention. I needed a hard lesson to learn that He is all I need. That He longed for my heart, that He wanted to be my Heavenly Husband. Now I experience such rich and loving blessings. I have never experienced such peace in my life. He is my Heavenly Husband, the very best Husband. He has taught me that trials are necessary to draw closer to Him. I am so thankful that I learned to direct my heart to Him when things are difficult. I know a blessing always comes out of it.