Rooted Sunflower

Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…” PATIENCE. A word that I sometimes struggle with telling myself to have. Something many can be stumbled by if not fully enduring it. I can remember time and time again were I have neglected to show the right kind of love or understanding just because I am lacking in patience. One of the ways patience was explained to me was, “patience is the queen of virtues.” Patience meets the most difficult test in personal relationships and this even applies to our relationship with God. A person of great wisdom shows boundless amount of patience by not running too far ahead of his/hers fellow members of Christ. Our Lord sets a perfect example of living out a life full of patience. I can just look at my own life, day in and day out I can find the countless times God has been patient with me, whether its with something that I set myself up for, a trial, or an opportunity to

Jeremiah 29:14 “I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” This is something that not only has happened once in my life but can sometimes be a daily battle. Being taken away from the straight and narrow path, falling off that potters wheel because of pride or discouragement. But here God promises that He will bring me back from my own captivity, He will only allow me to be tempted by Satan to where I can withstand. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that God does allow us to be tempted and challenged by Satan so that we may fall back onto Him, and become centered on Him alone and not on our own strength. The Lord promises me, He will “gather me from all the nations and from all the places…” I have gone. We leave pieces of ourselves with the p

Psalms 31:7 “I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast known my soul in adversities.”   God had been showing me all that I had been compromising, and how many of those times I had fallen because of it. If your self-will, your rejection of God’s principles of life, your compromises, have driven you into a desperate difficulty, remember that God loves you. Something I sometimes find myself having had forgotten about- how much He really does love us. After reading a book on David’s life, I learned much more about the challenges faced by David, it is from “David’s inner life and his experiences with God that we can draw strength and comfort and nourishment for our souls.” We are not sufficient unless we are engaging in the material in the Word of God to help us. Reading about all the struggles and defeats David went through, but how God did bring glory and sunshine for him was one of the most uplifting parts about reading this book. There is at some points a significant

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 “… for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. if a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” Everyone wants a perfect love story, and many say Ruth and Boaz had just that. But let’s not forget all that happened before they even met. Ruth was married and in love once before meeting Boaz, and then her husband died along with just losing her brother and father-in-law. The tragedy that this woman went through is devastating, but her commitment to her God and to what He had in front of her is where the love bleeds through in the fields of Boaz. Ruth had a life changing decision very soon after just losing her husband; whether or not to stay with Naomi or go back to her home and marry someone else. Unlike her sister-in-law Orpah she stayed committed to her journey with the Lord, who He had

Ruth 1:21    “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty.” I am reminded today of Naomi in the book of Ruth, and her life. This woman had everything she needed. A God who loved her and blessed her abundantly, a husband, two sons, and even two daughters-in-law. Naomi lost everything by leaving Bethlehem, but God didn’t stop using her there. Even though at first Naomi blamed the grieving of losing her husband and two sons on the Lord, “the almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” I found myself relating more to this statement than any other in the chapter. Just like Naomi I find myself blaming God for the things that went wrong, but it was not God who had dealt bitterly with her; but she was reaping the fruit of the sin of disobedience. Naomi was but gleaning in the fields of a far country, away from the presence of God. God was not responsible for her misfortune, but He was responsible for voice that brought her back home. It was the grace of God that was res

1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility …” Jesus’s humility. How is it that I am not even close to what Christ was yet I find myself struggling with being humble like Christ. I had to look the word up because I wanted the correct definition you know just encase everyone saying it was wrong… but nope I struggle with humility daily. Humility is a low view of one’s own importance. It is putting others above ourselves. Jesus’ life was on the continual humility. He did not view Himself as the most important, but the salvation of souls. His life was made important through the will of the Father. Christ exemplified humility from the first moment He breathed the air of this earth. And as He grew older, He took on the lowly trade of carpentry, and dwelt among the common people. He never used His heavenly authority to defend Himself. I am reminded of this all when in reading this