Pruning. It is a remarkable task that leads to growth, yet it is so hard to do. Wouldn't you agree?
Recently, the Lord reminded me of the pruning I went through 12 years ago when He led me to shut down my blog and ministry dreams right when they were taking off. I was sitting in the middle of my rose garden, tending to a dozen bushes. The Lord said, “Lis, you can have lots of bushes with hardly any blooms or a few bushes with lots of blooms.” I tearfully obeyed and I am so glad because the blooms have been beautiful in the last decade.
Ironically, I am in a different house now with one pathetic-looking rose bush that the pup keeps trying to steal petals off of on the way out to the yard. I can't help but see how this bush has been an annoying yet welcomed reminder of the timeless lesson of pruning. Yes, it is time for me to prune again, even though so much appears to be thriving, for the sake of the whole bush.
Simply put, it is time for necessary endings and new beginnings in order to embrace whole-hearted breakthrough and authentic life transformation that results in aligning with God's best. Yes, this requires a mindset shift away from what the world values compared to what is required of us to steward our heart, mind, body, and soul needs in order to love the Lord, ourselves, and others well. What does this process look like in your life? Join me, and my treasured co-host and friend, Kalie Kelch, on this episode of the More to Be Podcast where we dive into John 15 as well as Joshua 3 and 4 to explore what God's work looks like in our everyday lives and how to join Him in it by faith.
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