Let the pruning begin

God is working wonders on my heart in ways that I'm not sure I knew existed.  I feel like I've been going through things that are familiar struggles.  So, although they are hard, I've already seen God take me through these same storms before.  Therefore, I know I will come out stronger and encompassing more faith because of it, so I rejoice!  God has urged me lately to spend more time with Him and less time on things that have become pretty big distractions in my life.  So, I've set a part one evening a week to be with Him and to leave all my work at school and all my troubled thoughts with Jesus.  I've only done this twice, but I have already seen God respond by speaking truth into my heart and I'm so thankful! 

Last night at bible study, we went over John 15, talking about how Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  An analogy was mentioned about why you would prune a tree.  One type of pruning is to cut off the new branches because they will require many nutrients which will be taken from the branches that are already bearing fruit.  Another type of pruning is to cut off really big branches that look like they have potential to bear fruit, but are blocking the light from coming into the tree (which feeds the tree through photosynthesis) and not allowing birds to nest and eat all the insects that will inadvertently feast on the tree.  (This was all explained by a guy who helps people grow coffee trees.)  I had never really thought about the practical reasons to prune a tree before, but it all kind of clicked.  Like the tree, sometimes there are things in my life that seem like they have potential to be good, but all they end up doing is blocking the light and not producing any fruit!  God calls us to cut these things off before “insects” start to make a home in our “trees”.  It’s never easy.  When a coffee farmer has to cut off a huge branch that looks like it has potential to grow coffee beans, I’m sure they aren’t singing praises of joy… because they can’t see the ultimate outcome of this painful act and for all they know, they just threw away precious produce.  But after pruning many trees, it might start to get easier to be confident that the tree will later grow more fruit because of it.  In the same way, that is why I am more confident that God will use this time of pruning to help me grow into a more fruitful follower of Christ.