So Close

I have been driving past this scene for weeks, and God just won't let its truth leave my mind. Looking closely, you can see 3 potted plants that are almost completely dead and a sprinkler only a few feet away. The truth that God implanted (get the wordplay? :) ) on my heart is that there are times when our heart's desire is to grow in Him. We desire to learn more about Him, but at times are at a loss as where to start. Sometimes the answers lie only a few feet away! These plants desperately need water, just as our lives desperately need the Living Water that only Jesus can provide. Won't you turn on the water?

"For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water." (Revelation 7:17)

Fishing Truths

The next few posts are coming from a delightful, relaxing, chigger biting, canoe tipping, fish catching day at a dear friend's stocked pond. God was pouring His truth into my head so fast that I had to use my voice recorder on my phone to capture them all so I wouldn't forget. Satan likes to laugh in my face often when God gives me a word and then by the end of the day I forget it. Not this time!!!

Truth #1 So many times when we are setting out to catch "fish of the faith", we go to a place or a foreign land where there seem to be a bunch of fish to catch. And when we don't catch them, as in this picture where my husband and son have moved to another dock in hopes of more fish being there, we get discouraged and go to another place. I feel like a lot of times, God is just calling to catch fish on our own dock. It's hard to fish a sea when you don't have experience in your own pond.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

Real or Artificial?

The choices for bait were plentiful. I have no idea what they are all called, but all I know is this...Some were alive and some were rubber. I started out with a larvae looking white wormy thing that was completely rubber. I will give it this...it's fake tail wiggled as you reeled in which seemingly made it look alive, but NOPE, it wasn't. The girls and my son, on the other hand, fished with sweet, sacrificial worms. Something about worms and being sacrificed to catch something else reminds me of Jesus. The girls and my son alike had a great fish catching day because of their authentic, real bait.

As we seek, with Jesus' guidance to lead the lost to a saving relationship with Him, I'm praying that our lives are real and authentic like the worms, and not fake like the ugly larvae. The fish were only attracted to the real bait. They sniffed (well, not sniffed, but I don't know the word) the larvae, only to move on. Is that what the world does to us as Christians? Do they come close enough to "sniff" our faith only to move on because it doesn't seem "real" or authentic?

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2Cor. 2:14-15)

Just Waiting to Be Caught

There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. (Ezekiel 47:9)

As we sat on the dock, preparing our fishing poles with bait, Mike's pole with the bobber hung slightly over the side of the dock. I looked down, and there were at least 5 fish underneath the pole. It was as if the fish were just waiting to be caught! It blew me away!

How many people cross our paths each and every day, just waiting to be drawn into the hope that we have? God purposes every heart that He creates to have a yearning to worship something. Unfortunately, in this life we have bought into the temporary cravings of this world that leave us discontent each and every time. Draw others toward your "pole" by putting off the "fragrance of Christ"! They will be so drawn, whether they understand what/WHO is drawing them, that they will want what you have on your pole!

Where the "Living Water" flows everything LIVES!

Growth Where You Least Expect It

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:1-2)

A popular saying goes, "Bloom where you are planted", but the problem here is that I didn't plant these! (not this year anyway) The red geraniums in the background were planted this Spring, but the white flowers, Vincas I think, were planted, and thought to be pulled up more than 5 years ago.

God showed me through this picture that it is Him who plants the seeds, and it's His timing as to when they will bloom. There have been areas in my life where I thought God had bloomed me all He could, and that He was ready to plant a new "bloomer" because the old had had it's season. Just like the added summer rain resurrected this beautiful flower, I know that any flower that He has planted in me He can bring back at any time as it fits into His purposes for my life.