Being Planted by the great Orchardist

Being married to a home orchardist and gardener has taught me a lot over the last 1.5 years. My husbands new hobby of growing our own food has rubbed off onto me. One things that I've been fascinated by is the cycle of the tree and the job of the orchardist. When we received our first 35 fruit tree's, most of them came to us as "bare root trees." This means that the tree is not planted into a pot after they remove it from the ground but rather they are sent, once in their dormant state, to us with bare roots ready for our TLC. There are a lot of reasons I don't know or will pretend to share about why but the tree is bare of anything...a fresh, usually 2-3 year old tree. We receive these trees in the winter when they are in their dormant season because it's the best time to plant them, as to not shock the system of the tree. This dormant season is usually the time the orchardist does a "hard prune" to get the tree ready for the spring and he decides what branches are the best for producing the most fruit. The next season is when the tree breaks dormancy, a season known as "budding out". The tree "buds out" and pushes as many fruit bearing flowers out as it can as well as a few little leaves. This occurs every year in the spring, when the weather begins to get warm and we stop having freezing temperatures at night. In this season, the bees pollinate those flowers and that is what will eventually bring us fruit.

After the flowers start to fall off and hopefully were pollinated, the leaves push out to fill the tree called "leafing out". This is also the big long season of glory for the tree. It grows, sometimes super long branches (some of which are a bit crazy) and tries to get as much sunlight as it can to grow (remember photosynthesis from science class?). The tree then starts to produce fruit and grows in it's big sunny glory. During this season, the orchardist goes in and pulls off some of the fruit to produce better fruit on the branch, a thinning out. The orchardist also does a small summer prune to control some of the growth and to direct the path he wants the tree to grow in as well as does the big harvest when the fruit is ready! Then once the fall arrives and things begin to cool off. The tree drops it's leaves and goes into a season where they are getting ready to rest. In the season, the orchardist watches and waits for the tree to go completely dormant in preparation for the big prune. It's a quiet season for both involved, the trees and the orchardist but it's also a time of anticipation for the work ahead. Are you still with me? What in the world does this have to do with anything? Well, right after Christmas, I started the Life Lived Beautifully Planted study. It is a study about some of the disciplines of a Christian life. Each week, we study a new discipline of the Christian life and I just started week 3 and have been blessed by it.  Something God showed me through it and was working on my heart prior was the whole concept of our Christian walk in relation to a fruit tree. God has revealed so much of Himself to Maxwell and I through this new adventure of big gardening/orcharding. We are exactly like a fruit tree and God is the Orchardist. He does the hard pruning in our dormant times. This is what people often call their "dry" seasons but I'm starting to see them in a different light. It isn't a bad thing or a bad season, it's an amazing season that we must all go through in order to be ready for what He has ahead for us. We shouldn't feel down or depressed in this season, although at times I know we feel like we can't hear God or we don't feel close to Him but that is when we need to dig deep into the disciplines the Bible teaches us and get ready for what He is going to do.  I just came out of a dormant season due to this pregnancy. It was a time of quiet and rest and not much to share on here or instagram but now as I'm starting to "bud out" I am seeing the light of what He was teaching in that time.     One of my favorite quotes from the study is "to be a healthy tree, or in our case to be a righteous person, doesn't mean always performing at an optimal level and always bearing visible fruit for all to see." Just like the fruit tree's, we must go through the season of waiting and quiet, rest, then growth and production. "This is the God-ordained process that brings about optimal health." (Kara Holmes) We should not get frustrated by these seasons, or allow Satan to get into our heads and tells us we aren't growing and God isn't there. He is there, He has a plan and a purpose! He is the great Orchardist and He has a plan for our growth, for our fruit and for His harvest. Allow Him to work and in order to do this, we must plant ourselves in His presence through these disciplines (Bible study, meditation, prayer, worship, ect) and be ready for the seasons He has for us.  I'd highly recommend the Planted study. I'm only on week 3 and the things I have learn about the first 3 disciplines have been amazing! It's a very short study in terms of day to day but yet I find myself meditating on the truths throughout my days. (This is not a sponsored post, just something God has been teaching me and a tool He is using in my life!)

Too many good Bible Studies....Not Enough TIME!!!

Today, I heard of another new Bible study and my text to my husband was, "To many Bible studies I want to do, not enough time!!" There is SOOOOOO much

My Story

Today I'm getting personal and raw. If you know me personally, you know that I am an open book, I'm not afraid of emotions and tears but I've never written my story out before and laid my heart out for all to see. This is a long post but one I hope you find encouragement in. Grab a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and get ready to see my heart.  

Beautiful Print by Holly Holt

I was raised in two very loving, but split homes for my whole childhood. My parents divorced when I was

What Stirs Your Affections for Christ?

A few weeks back, Gretchen from Life Lived Beautifully posed a question on her Instagram feed.

"Matt Chandler once asked, "What stirs and heightens your affections for Christ?"...Life can get so busy and drive us away from our passions God has woven into our souls. We were made to use our breaths and our days to bring God glory. Through his grace upon amazing grace, we have been given life through Jesus, and sometimes we need the flame in our hearts to be kindled once more."

This struck a chord in my heart. What are my

New Blog Tour!!

I am so very excited to be back in this little space! I have been in a time of growth and change in the last two years, which I'll be sharing more with you about soon, but last summer God urged me to take a step back from blogging and get my heart in the right place. I had started this blog for fun with no direction from God. I wasn't living a life fully abandoned to Jesus and wasn't following Him to lead my path. I was making my own plans and trying to put them in place in my own power and it just wasn't working. I felt defeated and disconnected. I was looking with envy at what others were accomplishing and it wasn't going well. My husband, Maxwell, was frustrated and I wasn't in a good place.

So I stepped back. I took a much needed break to get my heart in the right place and prayfully considered this option of coming back to this blog or shutting it down. After much prayer and gaining wisdom and advice from God and my friends, I've decided to come back to it. I have lots to share, lots God is teaching me and I pray that it will be of benefit and help and encourage someone out there.

My verse for this new blog is Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." I am not perfect, but my goal is to try to glorify God in everything I do in my everyday, often mundane life/job as a stay at home wife and mom. I hope you follow along!

With a new purpose and passion for this blog, I decided it needed a new look! So Molly from the Life Made Lovely team worked with me to create this new look and over the last month and I love it! I've been working hard to organize the back side of the blog to make it easier to find things and to work on some larger areas that I think would be helpful for you all! 

Here is what my blog looked like before....

This week I had the pleasure of working with Molly from Life Made Lovely! She did a great job and worked with me through my particular desires! If you are looking for a redesign of your blog or website, I'd highly recommend both Heather and Molly! They are both so helpful! Thanks ladies!!

Worship Wednesday: Truth in the Tinsel

For today's Worship Wednesday, I'm sharing about what I have planned to do with Aston to celebrate the Advent season. I am so excited about Christmas this year (well every year really) but this year, Aston will understand soooo much more and I am so excited to use this tool*. I purchased Truth in the Tinsel last year and we did a few of the crafts but with a very fussy new baby, I was overwhelmed with life so we didn't get to much. Also, last year Aston was 2 and the concepts were a little over his head. While we had some good conversations about baby Jesus, that was as far as his little brain could get. This year, with his love for his Jesus Storybook Bible and his new understanding and comprehension of Bible stories, we are excited to work on this together this year and teach him the reason for celebrating Christmas!

The ebook sells for $7.99 and has all the instructions and for each day's ornament craft as well as activities and Bible stories to go along with each. There is a supply list and then a supply list for each day. I have collected all the supplies for each day into zip top bags so and they are all ready to go so that all I have to do is pull them out each day and not scramble to get the materials when it's time. Yes this took some planning and a little prep time (about 1.5 hours total) but I think it will be great help for us each day. This is why I'm sharing about it now so that if you are interested, you too can get yourself prepared :)

Truth in the Tinsel also has a Facebook page where other moms share their ideas and how they modify the crafts for younger or older kids or how they change them up from year to year.

I hope this gives you an idea of something to do to make Christmas more intentional for your family. 56 days until Christmas!!! and 32 until Advent Sunday!

Click here to view more details

Never Forgotten, Forever Loved

Source

Today's worship wednesday is a bit different in that I didn't have anything to share when I went to bed last night. Not that I didn't have things that didn't stick out this week but more that I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to share today. Then this morning as I was trying to wake up and perusing Instagram, I was reminded that today is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day.

Four years ago at about this time of year, I suffered two miscarriages that deeply rocked my faith and caused me to ask God a lot of "why?" questions. I still don't have my answers, other then the fact that God has brought MANY woman into my life who have also experienced miscarriage or infant loss. The verse that has always stuck out to me as these woman, dear friends of mine, come to me with the news of their loss, is 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

I do not understand infant loss, I still ask God why it happens, even though I know it's because we do not live in a perfect world, with no hurt, pain or loss. The one thing that I do know is that God has sent great people into my life when I was hurting and He sends me to those who are hurting in their time of need. I am very thankful for the friends who stick closer than as sister and pray that I am that same friend to others.

Print by Ashlee Proffitt

Today, especially, I urge you to pray for those who have been or are currently in the depths of loss. Miscarriage is something that most people do not share about. It tends to be something that people keep close to themselves and close friends because the hurt is so deep and you question how you could feel so much pain about someone you've never met and that you, yourself, have just learned exists but the love and bond with your children happens the moment you know of their conception. But often times, others don't feel that same connection, so sharing seems futile. So friends, pray. The sister who sits next to you at Bible study, or the woman who sits at the park may be dealing with this deep, empty pain.

And if you know someone who is going through or has gone through miscarriage or infant loss (because the pain is always there and the child(ren) are never forgotten), I urge you to follow this link. Ashlee Proffitt is giving the Print at the top of this post to every name given to her, in honor of her son Aaden Sage who died soon after his birth (you can read the story here.) She knows deeply and personally that any child, no matter how old or young, is Never Forgotten, Always Loved!

Worship Wednesday: Open Your Bible

Photo by She Reads Truth

I just finished the She Reads Truth Open Your Bible series. It was such a great study to remind me how important it is to be in the Word daily! Not only for me but as a mom too. This verse stuck out to me during the study in a new, more important and critical way,

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:6-9

First off, for those of you who don't know what She Reads Truth is, it is an online community of woman who share daily Bible reading with a short devotional each day. It's feels like going to Bible Study every day. I have done numerous plans with them and have grown so much from what I've read. Each days reading takes about 10-15 minutes for me and it is perfect in my busy, up early mom schedule. It allows me to get time in the Word and still have time to absorb it and pray before my kiddos wake up at 6am :) There are a few ways that you can access She Reads Truth. The first way is through their website. This is how I originally began to study with them and I loved it. The other way is through their App for the iPhone (Android coming soon). This is the mode I use right now and I love it!!

So back to the Open Your Bible series or plan. It was a study focused on getting into the Word, opening your Bible every day and spoke about how we should approach and engage with it each day. I had a few flash backs to Principles of Bible Study class in college. "You are my hiding place and my shield, I hope in your Word." Psalm 119:114. Without studying God's Word, we cannot know Him on the personal level that Jesus came to give us. By not being in the Bible regularly, we cannot stay focused on the path He has for us.

What have you been reading that has stuck out to you this week?

Worship Wednesday

I've decided that I am going to start a new weekly post called Worship Wednesday to share various things that have affected me spiritually throughout the week. It may be a review of a book, Bible study or a song, whatever has struck me. I want to use this as a way to encourage you to seek Him more in your daily life and to encourage each other as to what you've been up to in your relationship with God, in the comments if you choose to join me.

This week is simple. I am listening to this song on repeat right now! It is called "Give Me Jesus" By Fernando Ortega. We have had so much happening in our lives and this song just helps me to stop and focus on Jesus, being quiet in my time with Him! I hope you are blessed by it and enjoy it as much as I am right now.

Now I'd love to hear what God is doing in your life right now. So please share in the comments below!

Women of the Bible

Well this isn't my normal type of post but I guess what is normal these days is relative. Life is in flux right now and while my blogging is probably changing some just because I have less energy or time/motivation to do what I used to do before I had a busy toddler, I figured I continue to blog and use it to share whatever I wanted to.

Sooo, this week I stumbled upon SheReadsTruth.com and have fallen in love! I've been looking for a quick, yet powerful devotional to help me stay in God's Word. This reading typically takes about 10-15 minutes and has been so beneficial for me. If you have a smart phone, you can download YouVersion and read through that but I love the look of the website and have so enjoyed sitting down with my computer, my Bible and my journal every day!

I decided to start with Women of the Bible part 1 and have been so blessed by what I am reading! Reading about women who lived thousands of years before me, yet struggling with many of the same struggles I do in my daily life has been so encouraging!

If you are looking for a great devotional, check this out! It has pulled me out of my Bible study rut and I am so thankful for that!

I hope you all have a great weekend! See you next week :)