I received the following story from a dear friend and I would like to share it with you for consideration. Pruning in our lives sometimes requires change, clearing away and/or confession.

This weekend I had the privilege of pruning some trees and large plants in my front yard; It has finally gotten warm enough to enjoy being outside again. I have missed being outside because Texas has had a very cold, gray, and longer than usual winter. Anyway, I pruned some out of control, but fantastic rose pushes. You know rose bushes have some mean thorns on them. While I was pruning those fantastic rose bushes I got hurt quite a bit. My clothes got stuck. My gloves got stuck. My hands and arms got pricked.
Then I got to shape some other trees by taking off straggler little branches to clean the trunks and shaping them. I had over 2 trash cans of limbs. I have more pruning to do, but it sure looks better out there.

I am sure you have heard this, but Do you know who prunes you? You may be getting pruned by Our Lord as you read this. Sometimes we are grateful as the pruning relieves pressure; Other times it just plain hurts. After pruning those rose bushes I started thinking about how the Lord feels when he prunes us. It never occurred to me that it would be painful for Him to prune us, but it must be.

Being pruned requires faith that our Lord is doing what is best for us- to strengthen us, grow us, make us more beautiful, more desirable. The United States of America is going through some pruning. We have let prayer be taken out of school, and allowed tolerance of things God would NEVER allow in HIS kingdom. The good part of the pruning is that Christians are realizing that we have a right to speak and a duty to speak and live our values. We have not been abandoned by God. We are seeing our conservative values be recognized again because we have decided that if we don't stand up and protect our rights, it won't happen. This takes faith, because any Christian growing in their walk with God, stands firm with faith, prayer and petitioning our Lord for help.

Beth Moore says,
"Believers who know what they want to believe and refuse to be challenged may have a stand
of faith, but they may not have a walk of faith."

1 Corinthians 5:7
We live by faith, not by sight.

Let me encourage you this week to recognize the challenge to your faith: Walk in faith, stand firm, voice your rights. If you don't understand this verse- to walk by faith not by sight, ask the Holy Spirit for help and understanding. Listen and Look for HIM to speak to you because you asked.










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