Deep Roots- Devotional from book "When God Says Wait"

Evergreen...to flourish through every season. Not flourishing because everything is okay. Flourishing because you know the faithfulness of God and you trust Him in all things through every season.

Below is Day 2 from my 40 day devotional, "When God Says Wait: Finding Joy in the Journey". May you be encouraged to hope through the shakings of life as your roots grow deep in Him!

Devotional from book When God Says Wait

Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep.

Isaiah 54:2 HCSB

My waiting took place in the literal jungle. It’s one of the most beautiful places you can imagine, but it also comes with the greatest headaches. When my daughter was born, my family was living in a small village in Central America. Knowing that we would need a miracle to return home as a family I continued to say yes to following Jesus through the miracle process. My family was already planning to live short term in this jungle before we knew the size of the miracle we were waiting on. Yet, my greatest fear was finding out that my daughter was in fact going to be born in that jungle. A jungle, hours from an airport, away from family, where everyone spoke a different language. It wasn’t quite the picture of happily ever after I had imagined when I pictured bringing that little bundle of joy home. But there we were following after Jesus and what He had spoken over our lives. I have often thought that this wait started in that jungle, but as I think back, my wait actually started years before when the Holy Spirit first spoke to me about the promise He had placed on my life. The intensity of my wait started in the jungle though, as door after door closed in the paperwork, that was needed to head home as a family. I had so much faith that God was going to do what He said, but I wrapped up that gift with my own thoughts, timelines and expectations. Day after day as I watched things get more and more impossible my faith decreased, and fear increased. I was all alone in the wilderness with no hope.

            It took me a long time to realize what God was doing to my roots during this time. Honestly, it took years for me to realize what was happening. While there have been days, I have absolutely hated that jungle I can tell you now that it is one of the things, I am most thankful for in life. One of the things I love about the jungle are the trees. It only takes a short drive out of town to be in the middle of the jungle surrounded by the biggest trees you've ever seen. Some of the tree trunks are bigger than cars. Yet, some of the tallest trees have the tiniest trunks. Regardless of their size everything stays green in the jungle. All year round, as fruit comes and goes, it's still green. Something is always growing even through the longest droughts. As I would work in the garden and out in the yard, one thing caught my attention over and over again. Even though everything is green, the soil is as hard as a rock. You have to dig and dig through hard, clay, rocky ground to get to the roots. With the ground being so hard and dry it makes it almost impossible to transplant anything. The ground is so dry that most of the rain is immediately sucked up by the dirt, leaving the ground looking as if it was never even wet. So how can the jungle remain so green in an environment that looks so impossible for growth? It all comes back to the roots. One thing I noticed during the waiting was how shallow my roots were. I grew up in church. I knew Jesus since I was a little girl, but I didn’t know Him the way a daughter knows her father. My identity had been so wrapped up in the world that after the Lord stripped me of everything, I knew myself to be, it left my roots barely hanging on. My foundation needed serious work and it was only through the waiting process that God had gotten my full attention. It was only through the reconstruction of my foundation that I was going to be able to grow and thrive after the waiting.

When our roots, our foundation, is established deep in Jesus, it doesn't matter what the circumstances or situations around us are. We will continue to grow and thrive. Wilderness seasons often leave us feeling as if we've been left alone in the dark, but more often than not, it is in those seasons where we have been planted. Your wilderness may not be a literal jungle, but if you are waiting you are in the wilderness none the less. It’s in this place where God wants to enlarge your territory like it talks about in Isaiah 54. God wants to strengthen your stakes and lengthen your cords so that your roots are placed so firmly in Him that nothing or no one will be able to hurt your foundation. It's the wilderness where Jesus helps our roots grow so deep in knowing Him that it allows us to continue to grow strong through all the other seasons of life. He is the rock and our firm foundation. Will you let Him deepen your roots today? He wants you to thrive in every season. He wants your identity to be based on who He says you are as His son or daughter. There is purpose in your wait today. Spend today reading through Isaiah 54. If the stripping and shaking of your life has left you drained, today you can be encouraged that your roots are growing deeper. You will prosper in every way as your soul prospers. You will withstand every battle with an unmovable, unshakable, strong foundation in the author and finisher of your faith.

The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

Matthew 7:25 HCSB

40 Day Devotional

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