A Planting of the Lord

“In their [His] righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory.” Isaiah 60:21
"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61:3

The dawn found me sitting alone in my morning room, having my devotional time, when I noticed a beautiful yellow hibiscus bud that began to bloom right before my eyes literally, it was amazing and as I watched it, I heard the voice of the Father, speak to me, telling me that He was going to make my life like that beautiful bud, that it would bloom and the beauty of it would bring Him glory and I really believe that word is for each of you as well!

YOU are a planting of the Lord, He planted you as a seed within the womb of your mother, He fearfully and wonderfully made you. He brought the jubilant, soaking days of spring, the nourishing sunshine for summertime growth, He ushered in the cool breezes that brought with them the winds of change, like autumn days and yes, He also allowed the bitter winds of winter to assault your unsuspecting life. But through it all, He is there; being ever watchful to allow only those circumstances that would bring eventual good to your life.

 I know that there have been seasons of dormancy and pruning that have been dry and painful; times when your way felt solitary and His gentle voice seemed silent; but throw aside the temptation to question His dealings in your life. From His vantage point, He sees clearly all the brilliant vistas that are yet to come for you; things that you have not seen or even dreamed of, but they lie safely tucked in the heart of your Father and He is ever moving you toward them!

Oh trust in the sure hand of the Master Gardener, who brings exactly what you need! If you are wilted and suffering the effects of past choices, He can come in and bring a time of refreshing, if you are in need of a shot of fertilizer to boost your fruit production; He can bring the divine supplements found in His holy Word.

And if you are already bearing luscious fruit then He may indeed bring the pruning shears. Thankfully, He knows exactly when and how much to prune to bring the most prolific results! And since pruning is all about future growth and more fruit bearing capability; a bountiful harvest is surely coming!

And when our heart is reeling from the clip of the pruning shears, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the Gardener is never closer to the plant than when He is pruning it! You can water and even fertilize from a distance-but during a pruning season; His eye never shifts from us and His skilled hands never leave us and ALWAYS, He prunes in hope of the coming harvest and ever we abide under His shadow in those shearing moments!

And because He not only fully knows His plants; but loves and cherishes them, so He always brings exactly what they need at the very best moment. He is rarely early, but He’s never late either!

So know that no matter where you find yourself, no matter what the situations of your life look like; the Master Gardener has a plan! So the future is filled with tender promise and there are incredible buds on YOU and in YOU; the beautiful plantings of the Lord!

 Papa, We long for our life’s journey to bring You honor, please help us make the right choices to do that better. We yield our lives afresh to the skilled hands of You; our Master Gardener. We choose to trust that You have a perfect plan for our lives and will with that plan, bring whatever we need to bloom profusely for You. Amen

Well, here we are! My initial post on my very first blog! I’m so happy that you have stopped by and pray that your heart will be encouraged, your path will be a little more illuminated and that the level of your hope will increase as we walk on this journey...together.

I’m so glad that you have chosen to join me on this voyage; whether you decide to subscribe and travel with me for every step of this adventure or you just come and “visit” for a while...I am thrilled to have you with me! I had been praying about starting a blog for quite some time now, but it had remained in the “praying stage”, just a little piece down the road from the “planning stage”, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from the actually “doing stage”. lol Oh sure I’d do it...someday, but that day as of yet had never come.

Interestingly, not too long ago I had prayed; “Papa give me a sign, an assurance that you want me to do this now”, but I hadn’t shared that with anyone, so imagine my surprise when out of the blue I got a call from my daughter Janelle to check a link that revealed that she had set me up a blog! Oh Wow, no more excuses, but the truth is I couldn’t have waited much longer, because if I didn’t share soon I may just have burst! lol The Love I have been shown has permeated to the very core of who I am and like a seed it has germinated and taken root. It is living, growing and hopefully bearing fruit, but its initial growth has taken over and it needs to be planted in a place where it can have room to grow so that I can share more fully about the Master Gardener, my one Great Love!

This is “Hope and Light for the Journey”, so it is my desire to point to the One I love, to be an arrow, a blinking, flashing, neon arrow pointing to the ultimate Hope Bearer, who is not only the bearer of hope, but is in actuality its very source! He is the only basis for true and lasting hope. There is no such thing as an impossible circumstance or a hopeless situation because we are never without hope, for we are never without God. His is a love that never loosens its grip on us; therefore hope clings to us as His loving arms encircle our lives. Yes! He is Hope to us!

 It is also my desire to direct our gaze to the One who not only dispels the darkness but is the essence of light and its original cause! We can bring no light of our own because He is the one true source of light...but we can each function as mirrors to reflect the One Great Light to this darkened world who are travelling on a journey to a place they’ve never been before and they are doing it within a covering of pervasive darkness. They grope their way in obscurity where every circumstance has the ability to trip them up.

But it isn’t just the “pre-believers” for whom the light appears evasive...we all have days or seasons where our path seems blocked, where doors slam shut at every turn and a fog seems to have settled around our lives, leaving us wandering in a mist of obscurity...longing for a light to break through our circumstances and enlighten our wondering hearts.

But it is precisely to that bleak and dismal place that there comes a living and radiant Light that nothing can squelch or extinguish and with it He ushers in a pervasive Hope that no circumstance of our life’s journey can touch!

You see our life too is like a long journey to a place that we have never been before. Not one that we dreamed up, but a journey of God’s active design. This is not just the trip of a lifetime; rather it is the trip of our lifetime!

And there’s just this one journey, there are no “do overs” in God’s economy...our lives are each a “maiden voyage” so to speak; one to a customer : ) (Hebrews 9:27) One of the first things we need if we are embarking on a “voyage” is a sense of direction. We’ll never end up where we should be if we are heading the wrong way. Although going in the right direction doesn’t automatically ensure our arrival, it IS a good first step. Well, one of the goals of this blog is to point us in the direction of the One who created us with our particular journey in mind, so He can be sure to keep us traveling the right way.  

Let’s just say we find the right direction to head...wait! Don’t leave yet!   It’s not enough to head the right direction, if we are going somewhere we’ve never been, I can’t think of a better thing to have than a detailed map! Sometimes when Lee and I are going on a long trip we use a Trip-Tik. It’s a service that AAA provides; you tell them where you are starting from, where you want to end up and they make a turn by turn map for you, that includes detours, construction areas and places to stop for refreshment. It not only aids you in your arrival, it actually enhances the journey! Well another frequent theme on this blog will be verses from the Bible because it is our life’s road map and our daily survival guide; which not only aids us in navigating our way, it enhances our journey as we head toward our final destination!

So we know the direction to head, we have our detailed map but we are lacking something vital! An experienced guide! What could be more helpful than a well-seasoned guide who can lead the way, direct your path and give sound advice? A wise pastor (Wayne Mancari) once said that the hero of every Bible story is God and the hero of this blog-story is God! He is the starring attraction if you will. This blog will feature snippets about my life, my family and friends and even a few “strangers” along the way...but the only real “headliner” is my God...hopefully your God too!

We will focus on Jesus; the Ultimate Guide who has not only been where you are going; He created the path! So He knows the twists and turns along the way and where every single pitfall lies! We’ll also make the Father (the One I call Papa) and the Holy Spirit our focal points as well!

 If a blog can have a heart this one will beat for the glory of who God is! It will be my profound pleasure, my absolute privilege to talk about the One I love with anyone and everyone who will listen. : )

And by the way, don’t make me do all the talking! Sure this is my blog, but I wanna hear from you too in the form of comments : )Because the truth is there is a fourth thing that we all need for our journey>>> fellow companions! Who you are travelling with affects the quality, not to mention the FUN factor of your journey! Come on, anyone that has travelled with a whiny child KNOWS this is true! Who you are with will make it or break the trip, right?

Well I hope that this blog will not only point us in the right direction, provide us with a road map and experienced Guide; it’ll also hopefully give us the opportunity to connect with fellow travelers...people who are heading to the same final destination that we are! How cool is that?!

The final reason for this blog is....drum roll please....YOU! You and your lives are a passion for me and it is you that is firmly resting on my heart with every story I communicate and every thought I share. The Father has given me the heart of a shepherd, who greatly desires to help care for Papa’s little lambs and to point them to the Great and Good Shepherd; who is the Lover of their soul! I hope that His love and care for you will shine through my feeble attempts and I pray that you will draw closer to Him and experience for yourselves in a new and richer way; His sweet, abiding presence through this simple vehicle.

Blog-keeping Notes: I do apologize for the length of this initial blog, my goal is to keep them somewhere around half as long as this has been. It is also my hope to post once or twice a week so you won’t inundated with daily blogs : ) Also while I am posting “disclaimers” of sorts; I also apologize in advance for my superfluous use of exclamation points, incorrect use of ellipsis points, smiley faces and lol’s...it’s just me, being me...and in this way I am incorrigible! lol : )

With tickets in hand, suitcases packed, survival guide at our fingertips and our Guide leading the way, let us step forth and get started on this the journey of our lifetime!