Sitting in the Unknown

BEING ROOTED IN JESUS CHRIST

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

    whose trust is the Lord.

8 He is like a tree planted by water,

    that sends out its roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes,

    for its leaves remain green,

and is not anxious in the year of drought,

    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Being Rooted

Being Rooted

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Contextually this taking place as the prophet Jeremiah is talking specifically about the need for being rerouted in the relationship of God and the people of Isreal. Metaphorically speaking of the tree, roots and water. Interestingly, I think that this metaphor goes so deep as we even think of the biology of trees, and how often times, when there is a baby tree often the roots are still connected to the Mother Tree, which actually gives the baby nutrients that is unable to get if it perhaps is too small, and cannot get them for its self because on its own its not strong enough, it would strain. Sorry that was super random. I guess my thought was kind of how we are lacking but that even in our lack God, is with us as able to make us grow and truly transform more in to the image of Christ, able to bear fruit even in droughts. Being Rooted, being like a tree planted by the water. How cool is it that we can be like a tree planted by the water, and we can still bear fruit in the midst of drought. Not only, this but the water that we are nourished by is the Living Water, this the Holy Spirit. This passage really give me a lot of hope and peace. As I have come to Australia I have come in a position of pain, fear, stepping into the unknown. I don’t think I really even realized the fragile state that I was in, the vulnerability coming in a posture of faith, truly not knowing what God had in store. If I am really honest, I fully came following the call, just in hope and faith, that God would carry me through it. I have been beyond blessed to be able to come to Sydney, to experience the culture, to meet people from all over the world, to taste amazing food, to see beautiful art. Still at the end of the day I would go home filled, with anxiety, loneliness, insecurity. Going to bed, feeling like an alien, unable to accumulate to my surrounding, utterly alone. I felt unable to connect to those around me not because of a language barrier, but a barrier of fear, that I unwittingly spent years building. A wall I looked at and had no clue how to overcome; in some way didn’t know if I could overcome. So what do I do, I really don’t want to allow fear and uncertainty to withdraw me. Nor do I want fall in to my comfortable and yet debilitating isolation, that I so often run to. I deicide to trust, not myself but rather to trust God has me here for a reason. I leaned on God, I began to really bring these things to Him. He has me here, and its hard and all I need to do is diligently lean on Him. This doesn’t mean at all that I am now miss social butterfly, or that I am putting on a face, but rather, even in fear and uncertainty I do it. I have pushed myself outside my comfort, in small ways, but I trust that God, will use these moments to grow me. See we often say God meets us where we are at, but He doesn’t just leave us there. He call us to transformation!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 COR 5 15-18.

I feel that for very long I have been stranded in the desert, stuck in drought for so long not knowing what God is doing, not always able to feel Him or see His hand, but despite this, I know he is still doing things. Time and Time again I have felt this, feeling like I'm just not enough, I'm too broken, I have been in drought to long, doubting my ability. AND YET time and time again God has been able to use me, fruits have still sprung, and I am shown that it doesn’t matter if there is rain, because my roots are drenched in the Living Water. The Passage "Not I but Christ in Me" rings true more times than I could count could count. God truly, know us, and how each and every one of us can be used. There is no standard we must be at to be used by God. God meets you exactly where you are at, and he grows you from there! He uses you not by the way you think you ought to be used, rather He uses you in His knowledge of who you are, and who can be. I am far from perfect, I am not a good speaker, I lose track often , and stumble over my words. I seek to find God but I also tend to seek my own fleshly desires, and God knows, and He doesn't give up on me, He time and time again, reinvents, re shapes, and redirects me back to Him. He doesn’t let me end my story, in fact he just keeps on adding more to it. I am ranting again oops sorry. Also sorry I don't know how to write newsletters, but I really wanted to just share things that I am re-learning, things that I am seeing with fresh eyes, and ways that God is moving. Oh Before I wrap up I had one more thing I wanted to add, or actually two things. This does pertain to the roots thing. I was listening to a sermon by Megan Fate Marshman, the other day and she said something that really struck me. She said what we fill or selves with is what we flow. As I have been talking about fruit, and bearing fruit, it got me thinking. I was reminded that when we fill ourselves with God, we flow the fruits of the spirit. Faith beckons action, filling ourselves with God by seeking Him, flows results! And you got to not just be filled once, you got to be filled daily! If you know me you know I love a good drink. Not like alcohol, I mean I do drink alcohol once in a while, but I just mean like a cold drink, like soda or coffee. Anyway in this same way that I seek to be filled with Coke Zero, I want to be unquenchably thirsty for the Lord. I want to be filled by God, to I can flow Him all the time. A tree drenched in water, bearing the fruits of that water, even in the worst storms or the insane drought. Okay the last thing. The last week I got to visit a church in Sydney and the Pastor had a metaphor of being on God boat. Saying that a relationship with God, is like we are standing between a dock and a boat, getting g ready to kick off the dock, in a split moment we need to choose getting on the boat, or staying on Land or falling in the water. As Christians we ought to jump in the boat. Later the Pastor had said something about a storm, and how in the boat we can have hope and confidence that we are safe on the boat, and we will get through the storm. I t got me thinking about those not on the boat, those on the Land or drifting in the water. How they also see the storm, experience the storm, but they aren't in the comfort of the boat, they never know if they will get through out. Maybe they've lost hope in the storm and enduring if for so long, that they have made the choice to end the storm for themselves. I really hope that God uses me to help other people on the boat. Not to sit idly by on the boat but to be in action. I believe God wants a full boat. So I encourage you and me to take the risk, jump into the storm in the water and help others onto the boat! The storm might not be easy, but going through a storm and having a hope for a clear day, is better than never knowing if it will end. In conclusion, how cool is it that God loves us enough to come into the storm for us, to experience it, and to bring us out of it. To have a Father that even in droughts, know us and uses us in ways we could never imagine. I hope as you go into this next month you take time to notice that ways in which, God is using you. I encourage you to move with risk in love, to do the things that are not easy or fun to show reflect the light and hope of God to others.