GROWING WHERE I AM "PLANTED"

"I thank Christ Jesus our LORD, who has strengthened me, because 

HE considered me faithful, putting me into service.  1 Timothy 1:12

When DL Moody came to know the LORD, he had difficulty getting to serve where he wanted to serve.  Folks saw that he was an uneducated sort, and so the church really had no place for him. Many Christians find ourselves in a similar place as DL Moody at sometime during our journey.  Our issues may not be related to education, but to something that others see that they simply do not like.  Our weaknesses may be entirely lost to us, and we may not have a clue as to what they are. Throughout my military service and other ministry, I found this very true.  So... the question is, "What is a person to do?"  Actually that is the WRONG question.  A better one is What is a person to be?

DL kept being what he was:  A shoe salesman, but he surrendered to the LORD and grew to being a shoe salesman who was moved by the LORD to teach the Bible out of that store. In no time Children were coming out of the wood work, and no one could ignore the fruit this man bore.  I wonder how many lives have accomplished so much and resulted in so much good? I wonder how many have touched millions as did this shoemaker turned preach... He even impacted lives all the way into the 2oth and 21st century?  Why was DL so effective?  He learned how to "be" a Christ Follower who simply became God's shoe salesman who impacted millions of lives... even after his death.  He grew where he was planted even when he was rejected by other people in the church. 

A construction worker expressed to his Pastor how distressed he was about his job.  He had worked at this trade for more than 20 years.  He hated his job and everything about it.  He wondered, out loud, "Why God do you have me doing a job that I find uncomfortable and meaningless?" He expressed this same angst to his fellow construction workers and complained right along with them.  His Pastor guided him to think about the kind of impact this negative witness was having on those non-Christian workers with whom he spoke daily.  The Pastor then posed a question:  "I wonder if God knows what HE is doing having you "be" in the circumstances? The Pastor then said, "Maybe GOD has you where HE wants you."  Then he said to the worker, "When you assume responsibility for being the person GOD wants you to be, then HE may open other doors for you." In other words he advised him to surrender each day to the LORD and grow where he was planted.

The worker decided, instead of being a man who hated his job,  to be a man who cared about those with whom he worked.  He demonstrated care and concern for those workers and even their families.  He took seriously the Christian's Biblically based call to be Christ's Ambassadors.  His relationships began to change, and he received open doors for sharing Christ with those people with whom he worked and whom he served.  He began to grow where he was planted and doors soon began to open:  Within a few months, other doors of service opened for him and he grew in a new place where God planted him. 

 However, before God entrusted him with new service opportunities, HE needed to be able to trust the man with "being" whom he presently was called to be.  The man yielded to God's plan.  He grew where he was planted.  God utilized the man's gift to touch lives that he alone could touch.  Then, when that vineyard of his life had born all its fruit, God transplanted the man and gave him new opportunities of service.

In TLOML and my life, hundreds of lives have been changed.  We have experienced rejection, and  out of the pain of our own rejection, God has grown us and numerous folks surrounding us.  But  let me tell you that I really hated what I viewed as being mistreated and so unfair; however,  after deciding I was a "failure," I made a conscious decision to surrender to the LORD and just "be" with the LORD... NO MATTER WHAT!  I  surrendered what I viewed as my "failure" (which it was not). I surrendered all that I am to God to live one day at a time. I gave up to simply "be" with the LORD, and grow where HE wanted me to be planted.  Instead of being a victim of my own brokeness, and instead of  trying to plan my journey, I made a conscious  decision to "be the best failure I could be" for the LORD. (These were my exact words I prayed to God.)  

It was then  that God began to grow me through some VERY SCAREY times.   For when I learned to "be still and know God," He could then let me put down roots and really begin to grow and make a difference.  It was then HE would heal my wounded broken spirit, restore my soul and lead me in the paths of righteousness for HIS names sake.  I spent a lot of time going through this process, but I do not regret beginning to learn to "grow where I am planted."  Then when the "harvest was in" God transplanted me... in HIS time.  When I have been  sensitive to HIS SPIRIT,  surprisingly I have  wound up in places I never dreamed... places that  impacted many other people and set the stage for our children's journey.

Today, TLOML and I have learned it is NOT about US, but the God of the generations working in every generation to fulfill HIS plan.  Our children are now on their journeys with their own families growing with the ones they love... people whom they might never have met had we not begun learning about "growing where we are planted."   I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in their lives as HE fulfills His plan.  BTW, HE's not finished with us yet, either.  What about you?

QUESTION:  What is GOD saying to you about growing where you are planted?

SoJournerman