A little gardening... and the Gospel

I just spent the last hour and a half weeding out my garden.

What I thought were beautiful vines growing were just weeds.  Weeds that were infesting my whole little patch of land next to my house.

I was even told that they were flowers so I let them grow and grow...but no flowers appeared.

Yesterday my neighbor came over and was talking to me about the garden. When I told him what I thought they were he laughed and said that I was just growing weeds. UGH....

So today after work I got down to the nitty-gritty. Shearing away and throwing weeds in all directions.

I had a lot of time to think and go over things in my head as I cut and dug out the weeds.

It got me thinking about life and the things that "grow" up out of no where. One little sin (weed) here and another there. Then a prayer of forgiveness (my shears) and they are cut away. But if the Word (weed killer) is not applied to life then the weed will eventually grow back and dig its roots deeper and deeper. Little things creep into the mind or heart and take root and if they are not dealt with through the applying of the Word on your life the weeds will eventually take over.

A little weeding and look what I have found...
There were beautiful little flowers there the whole time and I never knew it.

It's like weeding away the bad things in life and living by the Word and all of these promises and beautiful things start to show. They were there all along... But my sins (weeds) were hiding them from the promises (beautiful flowers) that were designed for me!!

What an amazing feeling.

A lot of hard work, blisters on my hands, sores on my knees and kinks in my back (and many more hours to go) but it is totally worth it!


Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! Luke 1:45

Adoption

Working for an adoption agency has taught me a few things.

• There are soooooo many children looking for families.
• There are soooooo many great families looking for children
• I wish I could help every single one of these children find forever families.

Remember that old song you used to sing growing up in church?
"Jesus loves the little children...ALL the little children of the world...Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight...Jesus loves the little children of the world!"

How hard is that for some people to remember... Jesus loves all the children!! It doesn't matter if they were born into poverty, born with a missing limb, born with a brain defect, born into a richman's house. Jesus loves them!!

Matthew 19:14 says "Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

We are told throughout the Bible that we are meant to have children. "Fill your quiver with them"; "Children are a heritage from the Lord";  "Train up a child in the way he should go".

"When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world." John 16:21

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". Matthew 18:3

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 18:10

"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers." Proverbs 17:6

And I believe that this scripture talks about adoption.
"He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!" Psalms 113:9

There are also instances of adoption through out the whole Bible.

Did you know that Mordecai adopted Esther after her parents died? It says in Esther 2:7b that "Mordecai took her as his own daughter". Esther went on to be Queen and save her people from destruction.

Moses was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter according to Exodus 2:10. "When the child grew older, she [Moses' birthmother] took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,saying, “I drew him out of the water.” Moses grew up to be a great leader and save his people from slavery and take them on the path to the promise land.

Do you have it in your heart, like Mordecai and the Pharaoh's daughter, to raise up another world changer? One that may not have been born of your flesh but born of your heart?
Do you have enough love for just one more child? Maybe one that has never known the love of a parent?

Adoption may just be for you.

Just remember: EVERY GOOD AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 1 Samuel 1:27