Job 14:7-9
"At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
Its roots may grow old in the ground,
and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
Today is the first day of the new year and often times this day can represent a day of new beginnings or that breath of fresh air. For a moment we feel no stress, anxiety or worry because we are at the beginning of a new opportunity to leave the past behind and walk towards our dreams and aspirations for what the new year holds for us. Not a care in the world, we have our minds made up and no one can change that...then tomorrow comes...dum dum dummm dum! Oh why couldn't we just stay in today forever. Our hopes of a new beginning are crushed and then the bad begins to outweigh the good all over again. Why?
Because we allow it to!
I remember when I first read this verse about the tree. I had seen it many times before but this time I READ it and I finally understood it. I shared with you last time about Job. His life was full of tests and trials and when it seemed like it just couldn't get any worse...it did. And yet he still had hope for a life of restoration. If you didn't get a chance to read "There Is Always Hope", I encourage you to go back and read it in the November archives. We are that tree that at times in our life has lay dormant and cut down. We appear to have no more life and it seems as though all hope is gone, but all the tree needed was a whiff of that wonderful water. In the same way our chopped down spirits need just a whiff of Gods everlasting water. He gives life to the lifeless and allows us to grow once more.
There is so much to share and I hope that I can encourage you with this word.
The roots of a tree may dry up but just as the scripture says, "yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant." It doesn't really matter who or what chopped you down in the past but what does matter is that there is still life in your stump. A seed will not grow until it is given the necessary things needed for a successful growth. It waits to be put in the proper place, in some type of soil. Then it sits patiently waiting for water. At the first touch of that water the seed begins to open. And lastly, a seed needs warmth. It cannot grow until these three needs are met. We are much like this seed and even more so like the tree it becomes. But we tend to forget that before the tree grows above the earth, it must first grow below the earth. Even though we can not see the roots of this tree growing we have to have faith that something great is taking place and creating the foundation of what will serve as the anchor to hold that tree in place. The roots grow deep beneath the surface to do everything they can to keep that tree from becoming uprooted when the storms come. We are that tree and we feel the winds and rain in life but our root system is what determines whether we become uprooted or withstand the storms of life.
My heart weighed heavy with the picture of the stump that was left from the severe beating it had received. It had been chopped down and roots dried up but there was still hope. Have you been chopped down? Did someone, something or even just hard times weigh heavy on you? Or maybe our own actions at times caused us to let our branches hang low giving the enemy an opportunity to take a good reach and pull with all his might. We did not allow God to prune us and cut away that which did not belong in our life and so we allowed diseases to overtake our roots, which in turn killed the body of the tree.
My encouragement to you would be this. You may be cut down, feel defeated, or even left with no hope but remember this...Gods word did not say at the drop of water, it said "at the SCENT of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant." God wants to restore your roots but you must want it too. Our roots are the life giver to our tree. They are what anchors us to the foundation that God has set for us. But we must allow the things of God to be what runs through our feeder roots to the body, not the things of the world. If we allow negativity in, then negativity is what we become. We must take in the positive so that even the living things that surround us will have the opportunity to experience restoration and a reviving of their spirits.
Remember this as well...
Just because we can not see the restoration of the roots taking place doesn't mean that it is not happening. This is true faith...when you can look at a person and by faith see the change and restoration that God is doing in their life and wait patiently for the first sign of a sprout of new life. New life has begun but be patient and soon we will see the stem of hope rise up from beneath the surface. Not hope for us...because we already know what God can do, but hope for those around us that if He can do it for me, then He can do it for you.
I want to close with a challenge for all this new year. In the midst of all the New Years resolutions I would like to share with you what God placed on my heart to do with my family and I hope that you would join in with us too. I went out today in search for a glass container. I found a vase but you can use whatever you choose. Today we will begin by writing down all the things we are praying to see God do in our lives this year as a family. Everyday for the rest of this year we will each write down one great thing that God has done for us on that specific day and date it. Into the container it will go. When we focus on the blessings in our life, no matter how big or small they are, we begin to allow God to bring restoration to our roots. Our container will say "Restoration of our Roots" on the outside of it and each day will be a reminder of how God is continuing to restore us all. This will force us at the end of each day to focus on the positive no matter how tough the day may have been and when the year is up we will be reminded that God is always there for us even in the midst of struggles, change, and trials.
I chose a glass container for 2 main reasons:
I would encourage you to join me in this challenge and see what God does to restore the very roots of our foundation in Him.
I would love to see your blessings grow as the months go by so please share a picture with me if you can. Our container is pictured at the top of this page and waiting eagerly to be filled :)
Be Blessed! and Happy New Year!
Because we allow it to!
I remember when I first read this verse about the tree. I had seen it many times before but this time I READ it and I finally understood it. I shared with you last time about Job. His life was full of tests and trials and when it seemed like it just couldn't get any worse...it did. And yet he still had hope for a life of restoration. If you didn't get a chance to read "There Is Always Hope", I encourage you to go back and read it in the November archives. We are that tree that at times in our life has lay dormant and cut down. We appear to have no more life and it seems as though all hope is gone, but all the tree needed was a whiff of that wonderful water. In the same way our chopped down spirits need just a whiff of Gods everlasting water. He gives life to the lifeless and allows us to grow once more.
There is so much to share and I hope that I can encourage you with this word.
The roots of a tree may dry up but just as the scripture says, "yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant." It doesn't really matter who or what chopped you down in the past but what does matter is that there is still life in your stump. A seed will not grow until it is given the necessary things needed for a successful growth. It waits to be put in the proper place, in some type of soil. Then it sits patiently waiting for water. At the first touch of that water the seed begins to open. And lastly, a seed needs warmth. It cannot grow until these three needs are met. We are much like this seed and even more so like the tree it becomes. But we tend to forget that before the tree grows above the earth, it must first grow below the earth. Even though we can not see the roots of this tree growing we have to have faith that something great is taking place and creating the foundation of what will serve as the anchor to hold that tree in place. The roots grow deep beneath the surface to do everything they can to keep that tree from becoming uprooted when the storms come. We are that tree and we feel the winds and rain in life but our root system is what determines whether we become uprooted or withstand the storms of life.
My heart weighed heavy with the picture of the stump that was left from the severe beating it had received. It had been chopped down and roots dried up but there was still hope. Have you been chopped down? Did someone, something or even just hard times weigh heavy on you? Or maybe our own actions at times caused us to let our branches hang low giving the enemy an opportunity to take a good reach and pull with all his might. We did not allow God to prune us and cut away that which did not belong in our life and so we allowed diseases to overtake our roots, which in turn killed the body of the tree.
My encouragement to you would be this. You may be cut down, feel defeated, or even left with no hope but remember this...Gods word did not say at the drop of water, it said "at the SCENT of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant." God wants to restore your roots but you must want it too. Our roots are the life giver to our tree. They are what anchors us to the foundation that God has set for us. But we must allow the things of God to be what runs through our feeder roots to the body, not the things of the world. If we allow negativity in, then negativity is what we become. We must take in the positive so that even the living things that surround us will have the opportunity to experience restoration and a reviving of their spirits.
Remember this as well...
Just because we can not see the restoration of the roots taking place doesn't mean that it is not happening. This is true faith...when you can look at a person and by faith see the change and restoration that God is doing in their life and wait patiently for the first sign of a sprout of new life. New life has begun but be patient and soon we will see the stem of hope rise up from beneath the surface. Not hope for us...because we already know what God can do, but hope for those around us that if He can do it for me, then He can do it for you.
I want to close with a challenge for all this new year. In the midst of all the New Years resolutions I would like to share with you what God placed on my heart to do with my family and I hope that you would join in with us too. I went out today in search for a glass container. I found a vase but you can use whatever you choose. Today we will begin by writing down all the things we are praying to see God do in our lives this year as a family. Everyday for the rest of this year we will each write down one great thing that God has done for us on that specific day and date it. Into the container it will go. When we focus on the blessings in our life, no matter how big or small they are, we begin to allow God to bring restoration to our roots. Our container will say "Restoration of our Roots" on the outside of it and each day will be a reminder of how God is continuing to restore us all. This will force us at the end of each day to focus on the positive no matter how tough the day may have been and when the year is up we will be reminded that God is always there for us even in the midst of struggles, change, and trials.
I chose a glass container for 2 main reasons:
- For starters, I have nothing against journals, but being one who enjoys journaling, I find that it is very easy to set that journal aside and forget about it from time to time as life gets busy. With a glass container/jar, I will have to stop and write something every evening when I walk past and see it staring me in the face from my kitchen counter :)
- and 2nd, I will love seeing my blessings from God grow day after day and know He loves me more than I could ever imagine.
I would encourage you to join me in this challenge and see what God does to restore the very roots of our foundation in Him.
I would love to see your blessings grow as the months go by so please share a picture with me if you can. Our container is pictured at the top of this page and waiting eagerly to be filled :)
Be Blessed! and Happy New Year!
