What I learned from my hydrangeas...

I love hydrangeas.
They are so beautiful.
They only bloom once a year....

To my sadness my hydrangeas in the backyard have not bloomed for a year. I couldn't figure it out. Too much sun? Maybe, my husband is the gardener not me...so I couldn't tell you what's wrong...but I look at them often....

I just enjoy looking at our garden and plants and stand in awe of God's beautiful creation.

This year The Lord taught me a lesson...

I looked at the plant and noticed a bloom! (remember they did not bloom last year...so it's actually been 2 years)

Just one bloom....the week of Mother's day ! I felt it was a bloom just for me.

What's different?
Same location
Same soil
Same amount of sunshine

What gives? Why did this plant bloom now and not last year?

The Answer- a lot of water. A constant drip. Water drops every day....

What I realized is as my son Isaac plays in the backyard, he constantly turns on the waterhose. The spout is not fully snug to the hose so the water drips directly into the hydrangeas.

The hotter it is outside, the more water play for Isaac.
The more water play, the more the hydrangeas are watered.

Jesus said if we abide in Him and His Word abides in us we will produce much fruit. Not some fruit but MUCH fruit.

JOHN 15:5

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me you can do nothing. (Amplified Bible)


Here's the lesson I learned (and am still learning)

The hydrangeas were watered daily.
My son turned on the hose and the hydrangeas directly benefited from the water drops day in and day out.

This is the same as we drink of the living water- Jesus-- drinking water daily.
The water symbolizes:
Reading the Bible - daily
Praying - daily
fellowship/relationship/accountability - daily
thanking God- daily
Praising Him- daily
listening to Godly Bible teaching- daily

Sound monotonous?

No way!
Does your body need water daily? Of course.
In fact we need to drink water every few hours or we'll dehydrate.
Do I want to hear "I love you" from my spouse daily? Of course
Do I want to tell my spouse and children "I love you" and pray with them daily? Of course.

When my husband and I were newly married we frequently discussed this.

How do I know if my life is "bearing fruit?"

We decided to check in with each other and discuss to see how The Lord was working in our hearts and lives and what evidence of "fruit" could be seen.

Frankly, both of us felt disappointed.

We aren't living in the mission field, we aren't serving full time ministry, we are just two people married in college trying to build a life together. We love Jesus and learn more about God in our daily Bible reading but in the "fruit" area back in our early years....we felt like the green hydrangea plant, green yes, alive yes, but no real solid fruit or colorful flowers.

Well we were young and did not understand what fruit was and what fruit IS.

First, Galatians 5:22-23 teaches us the FRUIT of the Spirit is love, joy peace longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self control. Not FRUITS of the Spirit "Fruit"- singular. Love is the primary Fruit of the Spirit. Love is what our lives should reveal ...when we are abiding in the vine we should have an ever increasing evidence of love for God and love for His people.

A few months ago my honey and I had a talk and he said I can tell you are more in love with The Lord than when we first got married (16 years ago). He said and the reason is because you are in your Bible....

That's fruit!

When your child is being bratty and you hold your cool- THAT'S FRUIT
When you apologize first to your spouse instead of holding a grudge, that's fruit.
When you let go of the hurt that brother or sister "did you wrong" in the church and he/she was never called out...and you can pray for him/her with out any bad feelings, that's fruit
When someone gives you a call for a need and you PRAY FIRST talk to God about it before saying yes to the invitation, that's fruit.
When you turn off your phone and give your child all your attention and love on him, that's fruit.
When you wake up in the morning hungry to read the Word of God, that's fruit.
When you give and love someone without expecting anything in return, that's fruit.

Bottom line.

Like the hydrangeas in my backyard.... Drip drip drip.  It was watered a little bit every day for 365 days.
Consistency. Not religion or compulsion...but a daily intentional decision of the will to stay close to the vine, to get the water the branches so desperately need to bloom and reveal "Fruit."
Staying connected to the vine, thirsty for Living Water, staying thirsty for Jesus AND the Holy Spirit and seeking to magnify the Father's name you'll look back 16 years later and say wow Lord. I didn't do anything really. I just sat there being a plant and obediently read your Word, the Scriptures and lo and behold...BEAUTY brightly colored hydrangeas. Brightly radiant oranges, apples pomegranates! Fruit!

The fruit of Love will be produced in you as you stay connected to the water source of God's Word.
So you might think but I don't have 2 hours to sit and have a devotion.
I get it.
But do you have 5 minutes?
10?
15?
Just like the hydrangeas received just a few drips every day...it mattered.
"Every second you give to God is important" David Trujillo.

As you sit and drink, you'll notice you WANT MORE. You want to spend more time. You want to pray more. You want to talk about God with your spouse. You want to listen to Worship.
Drip, drip, drip.
You are staying close to the vine and you are staying hydrated.
Guess what else?
Hydrangeas are needy. It needs a lot of water and just the right amount of partial shade to bloom.
Just like us.
We are needy.
We can't hang in the heat of the day.
We need our shade, our refuge Jesus to shelter us.

Thank you Lord for teaching me through those gorgeous pinkish-purplish hydrangeas how much I need you! I thirst for you and I SO desire to bear fruit, MUCH fruit for you!

What I learned from a t-shirt at In N Out

You know when you're done with a road trip you just really want to get home?

However no amount of trail mix or chips or fruit can hold you over you just want to eat a real lunch??
On our way home from Zion Utah we stopped in Victorville at In N  Out. We usually do not eat inside we just take it to go in the car...(we go in and out!)

But this time we ate in the patio and there was a good reason!

As we sat down, 4 young girls sat near us...

4 young women in their early twenties. All beautiful... They began to talk and laugh and of course I could hear.... They discussed bars and what their favorite drinks were. One young lady had a t-shirt that read
"Mimosa Monday, Tequila Tuesday and Whiskey Wednesday"

My heart felt sad and my Spirit grieved. I need to talk to these girls!

Now I love talking about The Lord, encouraging people praying with others...
With Believers.
When it comes to talking to strangers about Jesus I get nervous.
I silently prayed for them and prayed for an opportunity to share.

I got up from my family and walked to the rest room ... I prayed Lord I feel you want me to share with these girls but what do I say? "Jesus loves you." And walk away? Do I point out the t-shirt? Holy Spirit lead me. I walked into the eating area and Olivia is there "Mom they called our number . Our food is ready." Oh well ... I guess I lost my chance (good the flesh said... You're off the hook) "No! I need to obey ! I prayed in the Spirit. Olivia's just going to have to come with me"

"Liv let's get the food and you come with me. The Lord wants me to talk to these girls"

What do I say Lord what do I say???

Then the Holy Spirit reminds me- the t-shirt!!! The girl's t-shirt!

"Hi! Can I ask where did you get that t-shirt?"
She answers  and says the store name...
I said "when I saw your shirt, it made me really sad. My dad died the day after Christmas from drinking. I just wanted you to know that Jesus is the living water you are looking for. You are all beautiful and God loves you."

Oh ok thank you... One girl said. Another girl did not look pleased but she simply stood quiet.

I had some flyers for a young women's conference in
My purse and I gave them one each.

I walked outside and shared with Chuck. He prays "Lord I pray whatever my wife shared with those young girls it would be received and they would come to know you"

I share this not to boast. In fact, these are completely awkward moments for me.
I debated whether or not to share this at all...

But today I realized it's important to share this t-shirt story because-
-it was a random day, Friday
-it was a random city- Victorville
-it was a random place, In N Out
-it was a random group, four young ladies
-it was a random t-shirt with a message
But the message I was impressed to share was not random. In fact it is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16)

see this event was a divine appointment.
I have seen alcohol kill people.
I am a young lady too.
I like In N Out.
I like fashion and it was natural for me to approach them with a clothing question.
It was a divine set up!

My husband pointed out that this girl will probably remember my conversation with her every time she puts on that shirt... God will remind her that while those alcoholic drinks can lead to alcoholism and kill, Jesus is living water and He gives life. (John 10:10)

Jesus went out of His way to meet up with the Samaritan woman. It was a divine set up, not a random coincidence. (John 4:1-42)

I almost walked away. When I saw Olivia's little face I immediately thought... I lost my chance to share. But the Spirit pressed me...NO- don't walk away. Share now!

What I learned from that t-shirt  at In N Out is this- STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Be bold because the young people today need Jesus. Have a church flyer, gospel of John or other witness tool with you if the opportunity comes. Don't let anything get in the way of sharing , not even your burger or child because the enemy will use anything to get you to NOT speak up...let's do this! Let's be about our Father's business and allow the Spirit to lead us to seemingly weird places for people that are ripe to receive the Gospel.  (Luke 10:2)

What I learned from the girl at the MAC Counter...

What I learned from the girl at the MAC counter...

It was my birthday and thanks to a generous husband I was instructed to go to Nordstrom and buy something nice. 

I bought shoes... 

But first stop I went to the M.A.C. counter. 

I had enough used M.A.C. Items to get a free lipstick (via their recycle program) would she think I was ghetto for not actually buying anything? Wait! Who cares! Recycling is good and it's my birthday. I drop it all down...giving up my recycled compacts to get a free lipstick. 
She told me she liked the color of my dress, a cobalt blue... 

 Then that's when I learned a lesson.  

She said she owned a dress the same color and never wore it. The designer was someone special and the dress cost $2,000. "I can't bring myself to wear it! It's the same color as yours... It's beautiful I love it but it still has the tag on it" 

I thought about this conversation for a few weeks and it finally hit me.

 The Lord is teaching me this--- 

Don't save your life, SAVOR it.  

 What does that mean? 

Jesus said whoever saves his life will lose it...

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭35-37‬ NKJV)

We  find ourselves saving things for "just the right moment" only to find that moment never comes. 

We get grumpy when things don't turn out quite right or worse, we get bitter and mad at God. 

You see, that young woman  at the MAC counter was beautiful and sweet. The dress is just a dress but she thought it was so valuable because of the monetary value.  I thought ... How sad! Just wear the dress and stop waiting for something and live for today!

Like Pastor Sandy Adams shared recently, our priorities are out of wack. We place significance on things that don't matter and not enough significance on what does! 

Think for a moment of a friend or relative that you love and cherish... You love going to his/her home. I guarantee this friend has a generous spirit about her or him. She loves to make you feel at home, gives you little treasures to make you feel special. Or maybe the friend or relative gives of himself. Always building you up. Praying for you encouraging  you giving you that precious commodity - time... Listening time. 

See people that give of themselves Savor life. Don't save..... give away. Use that fancy dress. Wear the expensive perfume. Take your kids to the beach and don't care about the mess in your car after. Treat your wife special and don't worry about the bill.  Treat your husband special and don't care about the dishes. 

Don't save your life lose it.
Don't save your life SAVOR it.
That's what Jesus did... he gave it all and we should too!  

Savor means - taste (good food or drink) and enjoy it completely. God wants us to taste and see that HE is good! His Word is food and water ....His presence is fullness of joy! Let's savor life and not save things ...may God adjust our priorities. 

Thank you MAC lady... You and your blue dress taught me something with the Holy Spirit's help of course!