Take Care of Your Roots!
July 31, 2018 10:10 pm 2 Comments
I have chosen Jeremiah 17:7-8 as my life verse:
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water that
sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and
never fails to bear fruit.”
I think this is a lovely picture. There are times of drought, but this tree doesn’t worry because its an evergreen. Its roots go deeply down into the springs of living water. Fruit bearing is not dependent on perfect conditions. So we, like the tree, won’t be uprooted if our root system is gaining nourishment from His Word and His love. Even in rough times, if we rely on God as our source of spiritual vitality, we can produce fruit and bless others.
The strength and stability of the tree is not in its beautiful leaves and branches or even in its trunk. Its life and fruitfulness is completely dependent on its root system. Take care of the roots and the fruit will come naturally.
2 Comments
I am almost finished with your book Outrageous Grace. I do not know how I came about getting it. We were moving into our new house and on top of a box, all by itself, was your book. I was making piles of items we were going to donate to different agencies; when someone called to me. Do you want to give this book to be donated? I am by nature a book lover and I hesitated. Let me see the book, I said. The title gripped me! I opened it and briefly skimmed through it and replied, put it in the house on my Bible. What a sacrifice your whole family went through for the Gospel of Jesus! My own life has been given a boost of gratitude for those in the field of missionary laboring for the Lord!!! Thank you each one of you for being a living example of a true Christian and thank you for telling your story!
Thank you Connie for the wonderful words. God’s love is here, for each of us. All we need to do is allow His love to enter our hearts. I love to hear stories of how I and other missionaries have inspired people to open their hearts to His grace.