Our dog, Basil, kept moving when my nephew tried to cut his hair. He didn’t realize this would help him. He has so much hair and he gets so hot. He’s always trying to find a cool place! But on this day, he was running from the thing that would help him and solve his problem. He may have been running out of fear because he didn’t know what was about to happen or because it felt uncomfortable. If he would have only trusted us. We feed him, give him a place to stay, why wouldn’t he trust that we weren’t harming him.
Why do we move away from God when He is working on us to help and improve us. He may be cutting away harmful relationships, bad habits, or damaging character. Like Basil, we may be unsure of what is going on and it may feel uncomfortable, but we have to put our trust in our Heavenly Father who provides, protects, and cares for us! When we are striving to live for Him and it seems like friends are leaving and the stress on the job is rising, we have to trust what God is doing and remain faithful to Him. He will never fail His children.
I sometimes spend time deadheading my roses. This is a pruning method where you break off the flower after the bloom has faded. This helps the roses bloom, again. Other times, I have broken off dead parts of plants to encourage more growing and blooming of the plants. Getting the dead or unproductive things out of the way, gives flowers more nutrients and the right environment to grow and be productive. If it seems like God is removing things from your life, take a look at those things. Were they stunting your growth, slowing your progress, causing you to remain stagnant or pointing you in the wrong direction? Unlike Basil did, when we are faced with trials, we should run closer to our Heavenly Father and spend time with Him in prayer and in the study of His Word to see what He is saying to us, teaching us and preparing for us! God wants us to bear fruit for Him!
It is in God that we live, move and have our being. It is God who provides for us, protects us and keeps us. Why do we fear when things are unclear or are uncomfortable? We should instead trust that the One who knows all, created all and loves us, is working for our good! Be encouraged!
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Hebrews 12:11 KJV
“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
James 1:3-4 KJV
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
John 15:1-11 KJV
Be encouraged. 