A Closer Look at the Vine

 

Ezekial 17:8  It was planted in good soil by many waters, To bring forth branches, bear fruit, [And] become a majestic vine."

I have to say, I come from a family of “green thumbs.”   You know those people who can plant absolutely anything and it grows beautifully?  Well, that’s my family.  They grow flourishing vegetable gardens, grape vineyards, apple orchards, and colorful, flowing flower gardens that would put the photos in gardening magazines to shame.  And then, well…there’s me.  I have what you would call a “brown thumb.”  Anything I plant usually wilts and dies within days.  I have even managed to kill a cactus, which the experts say is nearly impossible. 

My “green thumb” dad was out to visit me recently.  While looking at my pathetic vine that was mostly brown and leafless, he said something very encouraging, “I think we can save this one.  Just a little Miracle Grow and some water and I think it will come back.”  Now I was amused because I haven’t been able to keep anything alive my entire life.  But I took his advice and gave it a good shot of Miracle grow and lots of water. 

 

This week, I glanced at my vine and to my surprise, I saw a new vine growth coming up the side of my pillar.  I got up closer to the vine and something caught my eye.  I saw these three pronged “hands” that were strategically placed every few inches up the vine.  When I grabbed on to the vine to pull it, these tough little “hands” were holding it firmly on my pillar.  “Ha,” I thought, “Lord, you really are amazing to have designed this vine so perfectly.”  As I stared at this miracle branch that I thought would never have grown under my tender care, the Lord caused me to hear His voice.  It was just His still, small voice in my heart.  He said, “Your life isn’t your own, Stacy.  You aren’t in control of it.   If you took a closer look, you would see my Hand in your life at all times.  I uphold you and guide you with My Hand as you allow Me.”  Isaiah 41:10  Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. 

This special moment with the Lord in my little “garden” really changed my outlook for the week.  I started watching for His righteous Hand in my life as the week went by.   

I had worked Friday and Saturday this weekend.  On Sunday morning, I called to the hospital to see if they needed me.  I was happy when they said they didn’t.  But I knew I had a mission to get my hours in to renew my license in April.  So I called the other hospital to see if I could work there.   I said to the Lord, “I’d love to stay home and if it’s your will, let it be.  But if not, use me today and open doors for me.  Prepare the hearts of those you want me to share with.”  And of course, the other hospital was thrilled that I wanted to work and off to work I went.   

One of my patients was a woman who came in for a suicide attempt.  I started praying for her as I got report on her.  When I got into her room, I could see she was down and sad.  She had no eye contact with me and she was miserable.  Then I asked her, “What’s troubling you, Sarah?”  She immediately turned and looked at me and her heart spilled out like lava from an erupting volcano.  Sarah shared with me that her brother had just gone to prison for life, her boyfriend was cheating on her, her family was all messed up and she was really struggling because no one loved her and she was all alone.  And worse yet, she thought God must be mad at her because she tried to kill herself.  “On the contrary,” I said.  He is compassionate towards you and loves you more than you can imagine.  Not only that, He is calling you by name and wants to be your Lord and your Savior.  If you give your life to Him, everything will change for you.”  She cried in her misery unsure if she should surrender all to Him.  My heart melted like wax for her knowing how hard it is to break away from dysfunction.  I had known the kind of pain and loneliness she was feeling.   But those days had long past as the Lord has restored my heart completely.    

At the end of my shift, Sarah said to me, “I have been thinking about what you said.  I see your happiness and joy and I want to be happy too.  I decided tonight I am going to pray and invite Jesus into my life.”  God had touched her heart and I knew His great love had changed her.

I shared the gospel with this beautiful woman that God so dearly loved.  I prayed with her as she accepted forgiveness and her new life in Jesus Christ. 

As the tears streamed down her cheeks, I thought how wonderful the Hands of my Savior really are.  These beautiful Hands took the nails for me and for Sarah.  And when I took a closer look, I saw His Mighty Hand guiding me and holding me up, and giving me the strength and courage tell people Jesus is their answer.  There really is something special about these Hands.   

My prayer for you is that you take a closer look at your life.  May you see clearly those Hands guiding you and holding you up.  I pray we all come to know that we have been purchased at a price and our lives are not our own.  Nothing happens by chance.  He truly is in control and upholds us and guides us at all times with His mighty Right Hand.  And these Hands that took the nails…make no mistake about it…These are special Hands. 

**All names have been changed to protect identity. 

 

PS  My daughter excitedly came in the house tonight to show me the first flower I ever kept alive in my life!  A picture of God's grace...

 

 

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever."

 

Who do You Say I Am?

Matthew 16:15  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?

Years ago, there was a famous plastic surgeon, Dr. Maxwell Maltz.  He spent his life changing “ugly” faces into “beautiful” ones.  He went on to write a best-selling book on the amazing personality changes that took place after these life-changing surgeries. 

Years after writing this best-selling book, Dr. Maltz learned the real truth.  That although these people’s faces changed, their hearts did not.  He would change their appearance so much that they would not even be recognized by their own families.  But he witnessed patient after patient complaining and insisting that their appearance had not changed at all.  You see, these people still looked in the mirror and saw the same “ugly” face they paid thousands to change.  Although their facial appearances changed drastically, the same distorted image they had of themselves continued to appear in the mirror. 

 

 

I sat quietly in the bible study as the Lord ministered to my heart.  I thought of this doctor’s experience and recognized the insanity of it all.  After all, that doctor had completely changed these people’s faces, but they just didn’t see it.  And then it became personal to me.  Was I one of these?  You see, I had gone my entire childhood feeling like a fat ugly duckling with crook teeth and a crooked smile.  I had inherited my jutting jawline and crowded teeth from my mom’s side of the family.  It bothered me so much and made me so insecure, that in 2000 I had my jaw broke during surgery to rearrange by jaw and make my teeth straight.  It really did change my appearance.  But to my amazement, even to this day, though many people don’t recognize me, I still see myself as that fat ugly duckling with the crooked smile. 

The Lord truly opened my eyes during this study.  I had never realized that I still saw this distorted image of myself.  I had to ask myself one very important question just like Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 16:15  “But who do you say I am?”   How does Jesus see me?  What is His image of me?  When I asked this question the Lord answered me in a mighty way.

 The High and Lofty One says…

I am His Beloved.  (Colossians 3:12)

I am His Child.  (Romans 8:16)

I am a disciple of the King (John 8:31)

I am able to approach His throne.  (Hebrews 4:16)

I am accepted by the King (Ephesians 1:6)

I am a friend of the King.  (Proverbs 18:24)

I am royalty. (1Peter 2:9)

I am chosen by Him.  (2Th2:13)

I am complete in Him.  (Col 2:10)

I am hidden in Him.  (Psalm 32:7)

I am His workmanship.  (Ephesians 2:10)

I am established in Him.  (Romans 1:11)

I am anointed by Him. (2Cr 1:21)

I am buried with Him.  (Romans 6:4)

I am baptized in Him. (Romans 6:4)

I have been risen with Him.  (Col 2:12)

I am a new creation in Him.  (2Cr 5:17)

I am made alive by Him.  (Ephesians 2:5)

I am adopted by Him.  (Romans 8:15)

I am never going to be separated from Him.  (Romans 8:39)

I am sanctified by Him. (1Th 5:23)

I am justified by Him. (Acts 13:39)

I am designed by Him.  (Jer. 1:50

And the list goes on and on.     So when I look in the mirror and see that old reflection of the ugly duckling from long ago, I praise God that Jesus shines His light of truth on my distorted image.  It’s Jesus who identifies who I am.  My perceived image is not the same as His.  Everything I do, say and my total existence is hinged on who Jesus says I am…in Him.  And that, my friends, is all that matters.  Because God’s word says I am not who I was and I will never be the same again.  And from this day forward, I praise God for the woman I see in the mirror because my identity is hidden in what Jesus did for me on the cross and He is my true reflection! 

He Really is Something Special!

Are they serious?  Do they really pay for me for this?  Some days I just can’t believe I get paid to be a nurse.  I have these awesome opportunities to be invited into people’s lives for a short period of time getting a glimpse of their heart, their families, and oftentimes the pain of life’s unmet expectations. 

So you can imagine what a treat it was when I met, Cecilia, an 87 year old woman.  As I got her medications ready to give to her, she shared she had just celebrated her 14^th wedding anniversary and her husband was healing at a nursing home with a fractured bone just like her.  She must have seen me counting in my head as she said 14 years of marriage.  Before I could ask her the story, a river of words flowed from her mouth.  “We’ve known each other since we were four years old,” she said.  My eyes lit up because she now had my undivided attention.  I said, “Oh this is going to be good.”  She went on, “When we graduated high school, he asked me to marry him.  But I said, ‘no.’” She explained that he went on to go into the service and when he returned, he asked to marry her again.  This time, she said yes.  “But there was a problem,” she said.  He wanted her to go and live with his mom.  She laughed when she told me.  I smiled trying to imagine living with my mother in law (whom I love dearly).  “So I said no again,” she said.  “And I moved to Hollywood!”  Now this story was getting better and better as she spoke.  “Then, we both got married to other people…”  Years passed by, and both of their spouses passed away.  “It was a sad time for both of us.  But then he found me, sent me a card, and the rest is history.”  She giggled like a woman in love as she remembered her love story.  I knew she wanted to tell me.  I could see she enjoyed it.  I loved every minute of it, too.  She shared her wedding details.  Both of their mothers were in the same nursing home.  They really wanted them to be at the wedding but they were unable to travel.  “So they said we could have it at the convalescent center.  We had a full house!  All the people that were in the convalescent home showed up and all of our friends came too!” 

Wow, what a beautiful story, I thought.  Then she looked at me and tears welled up in her eyes, “Yes, he really is something special.”  It stopped me in my tracks.  I saw the love she had for this man she had known since she was four years old.  After all these years, she still loved him and he was still special to her. 

Days went by and I still smiled when I thought of what Cecilia shared with me.  Just a couple days later, I was feeling down in the dumps.  Have you ever felt like that?  I just felt sad, stressed, depressed and all I wanted to do was stay home from work.  I was praying that they didn’t need me at work so I could just stay home and feel sorry for myself.  God had other plans, of course.  So I got up and went to work.  When I was in the car with my husband, I shared with him how I was feeling.  He said, “You know, you can ask Jesus to fill you with joy and He will.  You just have to ask.”  I had no idea how this would change the course of my day.  On my way into work, I said a short prayer to the Lord and asked for His joy.  Immediately He answered and I found myself praising God all day at work.  I even found myself thanking God for my awesome husband.  I said, “Yes, Lord, he really is something special.”  I smiled as I walked around in the joy of the Lord.  My prayer for that day was that I would not focus on myself, but I would focus on God’s call on my life and that I would be about His business and all that He wanted me to accomplish in His name. 

I took care of a woman that day that had gotten into trouble with the law.  She tried jumping off of a fence and she fell and broke her leg and her arm.  When this happened, she said she was crying out to God because she couldn’t get up and the law enforcement was dragging her in the dirt.  My heart went out to her.  Then she said, “I get frustrated sometimes because I realize I can’t accomplish what I want in my life by myself.  I should be able to do this by myself without God, right?”  Mark 10:21  Jesus looked at him and loved him.  I love this scripture.  Jesus sees his need and He loves him.  This is what I felt for her.  I loved her.  I shared with her that God is not looking for people who can do it by themselves.  He is looking for those who are completely humble and know they can’t do anything outside of Him.  It’s then and only then that He sets us free and saves us.  She said quietly at her bed, “I’d like that.”  So she sat up in her bed and I prayed with her as she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. 

What a remarkable Jesus we have.  As I walked away from this divine appointment, I saw the Lord do a total 180.  What I beautiful end to a day I wasn’t even wanting to start!  I went from being depressed and sad to being used by God in the way that He has called me to be used. And this woman went from being dead to being ALIVE FOREVERMORE!  He did it all and I see that my Jesus really is something special! 

**All names have been changed to protect identity