The Vine And YoSelf

It's a pleasant word.  Vine.  I think of deep, rich colors like greens, purples of grapes, sun shining down, dew and frost in a vineyard from nighttime.  I can see the vine travelling throughout the vineyard, leaves and branches, clusters of grapes.  It's enough to make one want to get to Italy :)  It's one of my primary Biblical realities that I live by.

I have a small tree in my backyard.  I wish I had watered it more, and had it better cared for, because this last hailstorm in Texas really tore at its poor leaves.  It's got a few branches and leaves on it, but it was beaten badly by this crazy weather we have here.  And it's out there all alone, just a small tree without the covering of other trees nearby to help absorb some of the heat, freeze, and hail that inevitably comes in our changing Texas seasons.

My friend, you reading, I have to ask - how is your inflow today?  Setting aside everything facing you - setting aside, with determination, everything pounding at you this morning, with your heart tearing through the crowds like the woman with the issue of bleeding, toward your Savior.  Strive to the shedding of blood to get that ministry, that inner healing, that power to live, to rise and overcome, and to see your mind renewed.  There is nothing else in the heavens or earth that will bring true, lasting, deep healing. 

You determining in your heart to not allow anything but Jesus Christ to be your first, foremost, your focus, above your circumstances, your finances..... I've been around long enough to see that He always, always, always comes through in the way He has determined to come through for you.  You may die.  You may be sick.  You may be in pain as you read this.  You may be evicted.  You may lose your husband.  You may have faced gossip, lying, exclusion from other Christians.  God is completely there with you, and if you went to Heaven today with everything I just listed having had happened, and all you ever were able to do was cleave, dwell, receive powerful ministry direct from God Almighty Himself daily, live in the power of the Holy Spirit within you, then you will have done well. 

This is not what we have or haven't been doing.  There's so much focus on what you need to do, what's wrong with you for not just trying more, etc.  BUT - we are certainly responsible for our INFLOW.  I do feel an absolute responsibility to cleave to God, to be a branch ON and IN the vine.  That's my job as His daughter.  If my house is a disaster and thirty loads of laundry await and the bills need to be paid, you better believe that if I don't focus first and foremost on my inflow from Jesus then I'm going to have a beaten down day.  My old life, my mistakes, the enemy will pound all day at me while I just try to live.  BUT - when my inflow, the powerful, sweet, glorious love and ministry from Jesus Christ is given my firstfruits of my day, the day goes 180 degrees in the opposite direction.  I have joy.  I have hope.  Circumstances aren't the challenge they would have been, because I know who holds my days, my future.

I have lost much.  Death, unemployment, financial struggle, hardship, rejection, exclusion, by Christians, by the world.  Sickness, pain.  It's all in my past and some in my today.  But Lord, I set my focus on You, right now, and completely surrender this all to you.  I let you pour your holy, glorious salve on it all, so I can see it for what it is - a powerful, glorious testimony, a precious Father working in what the world would call awful to create GLORY!!!  Precious, forever lasting, never fading, always hope causing Glory!!! 

I am not just your daughter or minister's wife, my Father.  I see me for what I am in you, your partner on this earth.  We meet daily at the pasture so I, your sheep, can learn what You have called me to today.  It is where I turn over angst and wretch and receive a robe from my Father and your signet ring.  I am that son of the home, and will operate completely as your emmisary, accepting no task that you have not told me to accept.

Today is a new day.

Healing is in Him. 

This life is full of second, third, three hundreth chances.  God never marks a failing grade on a test, you get to try again.

Love to you all.  Grace and peace from God the Father fall upon you, your homes, and your husbands and children today. 

Reman (abide) in Me, and I will remain (abide) in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.  John 15:4. 

Lastly, how can you engage in renewing your mind today?  Practically?  Meditate, chew, even obsess a little over this verse.  Explain it to yourself, preach a message on it to yourself.  Tell it to your children. Tell it to someone more broken than you and show them the way.  Let it be first and foremost in your mind and spirit today, even as you go about your tasks.  GIVE GOD HIS KINGSHIP TODAY IN YOUR SPIRIT. 

Big hugs.  And a grin or two :)  And if you've read this far, just know, I'm generally more lighthearted, but sometimes you gotta gets to the nitty gritty of how to overcome.  I'm glad yo' here.