Last fall I started attending a women's Bible study that has really made an impression on my heart and life. It led to me meeting several ladies that have become precious to me. Those relationships led to me attending the Anne Graham Lotz Revival. That weekend literally changed my life. It is so hard for me to put it into words but the one word that comes to mind as I think back is SURRENDER. That word was mentioned and taught to the point that I finally heard to Lord speak loud and clear to my heart. My husband had asked something of me for quite a while that I was extremely resistant about. He had has asked that we find a new church home. I had, like a two year old, planted my feet and decided that I was NOT moving. The Lord really dealt with me that weekend and when I came home, I was surrendered and ready to let my husband lead. That very Sunday, my husband was sleeping because he had worked 3rd shift so I went to the church where I had been attending the Bible study. I knew as soon as I got there that this is where we were suppose to be. I also knew that my husband would be resistant to going there because it was bigger. I told him how much I loved it and he, reluctantly, went the following Sunday. We both knew by the end of the service that we were where we needed to be.
I am still attending the Bible study group and all of this time, my husband has said that he would love to have something like that in his life. My prayer has been that he would make new friendships with Godly men. This past week, I saw on the church calendar that a Men's Bible Study is starting that is exactly what we have talked about. I am so thrilled that Glenn will start this Bible study this coming week. I feel that it is what he needs and that God is going to really start some growth in his spiritual life that he has not seen in a while.
I thought about all of this recently when I repotted a house plant. The plant was in old dirt, had stopped growing, and was looking sick. I asked my mama to come over and help me repot it, hoping that new dirt and with more room to grow that it would survive. When my mama got here, she was shocked to see how pitiful it looked. She basically said that we could repot it but she did not think it would survive. Less than a week later, I called her to announce that not only had it survived but it had grown bigger, looked stronger, and was much greener. She said she had honestly thought it was going to die.
I feel like my husband and I are like that plant. We had been in the same spot, not growing spiritually, and were "sick". Looking back, had I kept my feet planted and continued to be resistant to being "repotted", we would have withered to the point of death. We have been moved and we see and sense the growth that the Lord is bringing to our lives. I can see that we are stronger and thriving in the new place. My prayer is that this Men's Bible Study is used by the Lord to fertilize my husband's spiritual life in a mighty way.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me,
and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing"
John 15:5
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