Devotionals for the Heart: When God puts you through a pruning process

The Pruning Process
A devotional by Sarah Cole

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”—John 15:1-2 NIV

Despite the crowds, the stress, and the long lines, I’m like a kid in a candy store when I arrive at Costco.

First, I grab a cart and make a beeline for the snack aisle for a case of Skinny Pop popcorn and graham crackers. Then, I head to the deli department to select one $5 rotisserie chicken. After I size up the birds and put the plumpest in my cart, I let up on the gas and people-watch as I glance around for the last-minute purchases that catch my eye.

This time of year, truckloads of fall mums arrive in vibrant maroon, yellow, orange, and pink. The one I purchased sits on my balcony, and its neon pink and orange blossoms are the perfect backdrop against the stunning sunset. Even though I watered it thoroughly and gave it lots of sunlight, the blossoms dried up. Surprisingly, it wasn’t dying as I suspected; it just needed pruning to divert energy away from the dead buds into creating new ones.

In today’s anchor text above (John 15:1-2), Jesus Christ gave His twelve disciples a final sermon. He used a gardening metaphor to describe the importance of growing spiritually and drawing strength from Him—the true vine. He told them that He was setting them apart to bear fruit. For that to happen, pruning was essential. His ultimate concern for them and us is the condition of our hearts.

Like the branches in Christ’s story, we’re all unique, and our pruning won’t look the same. He will prune us differently. This is a process where we surrender to Him, knowing that He is up to something good in our lives.

Throughout my life, I’ve witnessed God’s pruning process. Sometimes, He has removed friendships I prioritized over Him. Other times, He asked me to part with a bad habit that distracted me. God also dealt with my attitudes that grieved Him. It was never a pleasant experience, but in hindsight, I was grateful that He loved me enough to take my spiritual growth to the next level.

My mum plant is blooming today because I took the time to remove the dead flowers that were stunting its growth. In the same way, Jesus wants to remove the fruitless areas of our lives so we grow to our full potential, experience a deeper walk with Him, and pursue His kingdom above our own.

Whatever keeps you from thriving in your relationship with Jesus, let Him remove it. The beauty you see in yourself afterward will be worth it.

Let’s Pray:

Dear Father,

So many things in life clamor for my attention that I sometimes give you less time than You deserve. Please forgive me for setting my heart on lesser things. Align my desires with Yours and do whatever is necessary to help me flourish spiritually so I follow you more closely and do the kingdom work you’ve prepared for me to do. In Jesus’s Name, I pray, Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Pruning” by Tehillah Worship. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Sarah Cole’s interest in writing began in grade school when her poem was published in the local paper. Since then, she has written for her college newspaper and two community newspapers where she wrote restaurant reviews and articles for their ‘best of’ spread. 

Her experience as an administrator in the marketing field gave her the opportunity to write ads for a local business journal.

After a 20-year detour and a three-year season of adversity, God reignited her passion to write. Two divine appointments later, the short story she wrote about her father appeared in the St. Paul Almanac, and a short story about her cocker spaniel Gigi was published in Mysterious Ways by Guideposts. She believes her adversity was worth the lessons God taught her.

Sarah's devotionals have been published in David C. Cook’s The Quiet Hour and Devotions, The Secret Place by Judson Press, and Pray a Word a Day by Guideposts. Her short story will be featured in an upcoming book, Too Amazing For Coincidence, also to be published by Guideposts. To this day, Sarah smiles, pinches herself and gives God all the glory.

When she's not writing, she's enjoying her hobbies that include dog sitting, watching cooking shows and taking day trips.

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Connect with Sarah:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smittyc65
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@SarahCo45835279
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.cole.52

Devotionals for the Heart: Pruning

Pruning Season
A devotional by Sharon Musgrove

“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” – John 15:2 (ESV)

Gardening brings me awe and great joy. The activities of creation are entertainment to me.

For as long as I can remember, the outdoors has been my place of respite, a break from the to-do list that always seemed to originate indoors. For some, rest is found in coming in. I prefer spending quiet times in the yard because it is here that I witness how God has structured the laws under which life exists.

Three years ago today, I wrote about the importance of rest, likening winter to a Sabbath time. We require time and seasons for renewal. God designed it this way. Our lives include both day and night. Stopping our work is a commandment written in Exodus 20:9-10 (ESV), which says, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work...” God blesses the “setting down of the load.”

Years have come and gone, and as I have come through yet another winter season, I know that it is time to address the garden’s needs before spring shows up.

It’s time to prune.

Like a fruiting plant, I am maturing. This is the year that God has pointed out the time to cut back is at the end of the rest period. It’s at this time that the leaves are absent, revealing the true state of the branches. The bare bones of the plant show what has not survived heat of summer, damage of harvest and the bitter cold of winter.

I’ve come through a tough year. There is damage done, yet there has also been wonderful fruit. According to God’s cyclical design, rest was a requirement. And I took it. Slowing my pace, going on vacation, and taking naps were all a part of that rest. Reading replaced studying. I invited prayer. I shared with trusted people. I listened.

The rest has given me the nurturing to be ready for cutting season. I scrutinize my bare bones and know that I cannot be fruitful if growth continues in certain areas. I’ve been holding up dead weight. These areas must go.

Yet there are parts of me that have been strong and faithful. Parts of my life that have produced great fruit year after year. It makes sense that these “tried and true” parts should be preserved...right?

John 15:2 tells us that God trims both the nonproductive and the productive. One for being dead weight, the other to make room for more. All pruning for the purpose of more fruit.

What goes? The new shoot or faithful stock? The Gardener chooses. How will I respond?

If I hold too tightly to the fruit of my past, I will resent the cut. Be resentful of the Cutter too. I will not rejoice in the new fruit because I am focusing on the loss rather than the intended gain. If I have faith in God, I will accept His choice in pruning, perhaps grieving the loss, without becoming angry and resentful.

Pruning demands faith. Faith in the Gardener, not in the fruit.

The purpose of winter is renewal of the soil. While little happens outside, everything is happening inside. The building up of the soil is the building up of faith. Look closely. Cuttings become compost that replenish the soil. Everything is useful, there is no waste in the garden. And timing is everything.

I hope that you can glean from personal seasons of fruitfulness that God is faithful to produce fruit through you. I pray that you trust in His wisdom of rest and reliance for renewal of your heart. And I pray that your growing faith produces feelings of assurance and hope, in the midst of pruning season.

~*~
Author Bio:

Sharon Musgrove is a self-proclaimed sociologist. The opportunities opened to her, over the years, have led her on a fascinating journey observing human behavior. 

She has a diverse background in business, fitness and health industries. This background led her to a unique position writing curriculum and teaching for two private, Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both recovery programs served women primarily from the homeless community.

Sharon has traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the rural Maasai communities. She's been privileged to participate in Leadership camps for maturing young women. These annual camps have a mission of encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often abused young Maasai girls.

Easily identifying personally with the brokenness of the women she's served, Sharon now sees all people as needing more encouragement regardless of cultural or socioeconomic status. Within these ministries, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and witnessing its transformative power has become her passion.

In her leisure time, Sharon enjoys her garden, health food, travel and a good story. She and her husband, Jeff, make their home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. They have two grown children. Currently, Sharon is writing her first Christian historical fiction novel utilizing her study, experience, and understanding of self-destructive behaviors.

Devotionals for the Heart: Blossoms

Sixty Blossoms
A devotional Paula Moldenhauer 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”~ John 15:1-2 NIV

The snip, snip of scissors punctuated the tiny ache I felt as the blossoms, now faded and drawn, toppled to the ground scattering pastel petals across the concrete of my driveway.

Necessary though it was to cut away the old blossoms so new ones could quickly replace them, it was hard to let go of the glory of that rosebush, which now stood taller than my head. Never had it been as beautiful, never had it produced this many flowers. Those sixty plus roses, lying in clusters at my feet seemed to whisper a truth I didn’t want to think about.

I gathered handful after handful of fading blossoms and tossed them into the trash. I struggled not to mourn too deeply at their passing.

Glancing back at the bush, a bit of satisfaction pushed at the loss. The bush now looked fresh and vibrant. Newly budding roses popped out, no longer hiding behind fading flowers.

My life had many blossoms I thought would live forever—jobs I’ve done, friendships that grew, talents I discovered. And yet many times they opened up, let off their beautiful fragrance, showed their moments of glory, and were then cut away.

And yet I remained. Pruned. Shaped. With room for new blossoms.

There is perhaps no greater analogy in my life than my recent steps into an empty nest. Letting each child go and become his or her own bush includes loss. I miss them. I miss my role in their journey. I let go of directing and soothing and teaching. I allow distance where I long for closeness. As I hear the snip of time’s pruning shears, I begin to see new blooms. Relationships slowly shift from mom-in-charge to mom-held-at-arm’s length, to mom-as-friend. Schedule that once was crammed full of children opens up to space to more fully become me. A marriage that was strongly child-focused discovers the joy in being two-focused again.

Each of life’s blooms is glorious. I long to tell the young to embrace every bloom the Good Lord sees fit to produce in them, to stretch to the Son and let that flower grow to its full potential, bringing joy to all who delight in its beauty and perfume. I want to encourage them to also allow the Master Gardener to cut away blossoms at His will. He alone knows which buds need space to grow and open to the Light and which old blossoms are hindering new growth.

Come to think of it, this blossom cycle continues forever. Like the rosebush that produces season after season, there will always be buds, full blooms, and fading flowers. We need only the grace to surrender to the Master Gardener to be a bush that flourishes, always full of blossoms.

My Prayer: Lord, help me enjoy the mature blossoms in this season of life. I surrender to Your shears, willing to change as new seasons come. Give me excitement for the buds. Prune me and shape me so that I can consistently produce beautiful, fragrant offerings to You.

~*~
Author Bio:

Author, speaker, and mom of four, Paula Moldenhauer encourages others to live free to flourish. She shares this message when speaking at women’s events, and it permeates her written work. 

Paula has published over 300 times in non-fiction markets and has a devotional book series, Soul Scents. Her first published novella was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards, and she now has six published works of fiction. 

Paula and her husband, Jerry, are adjusting to a sometimes-empty nest in Colorado. Today’s devotion was adapted from her devotional book, Soul Scents: Rooted. 

Visit her at www.paulamoldenhauer.com and sign up for her newsletter to get a weekly Flourishing Moments and periodic updates on free days for her books. For daily Flourishing Moments, “like” Paula’s author/speaker page.

Join Paula in Denver at the Whole and Free Women’s Conference coming this September. Register here!