Broken and Grafted

Staying rooted and grounded in Christ

I write in my Bible; dates of sermons are in the margins, bible study notes are starred, verse numbers are circled and dated. My study bible is a journal of my personal journey with the Lord. This morning, I was looking at one of the handwritten notes that I've written on the inside cover of my Bible.

2/3/09
John 15 - prune useless - prune to bear better fruit "pruned if we don't, pruned if we do" Joyce Meyer
John 11 Joy
Abide - Live, dwell, remain
Romans 11:17 broken branches; grafted in    Wounded healers? Unload your own baggage - 1 yr to hang on the vine. New/old Christians need to heal. rooted & grounded in God's love you become another person. Unconditional love.
Trust God - Clean House
I can't - He Can - I think I'll let Him
How do you feel when you pray?

Shocked Disbelief to Stunned Reality

The shorthand notes from four years ago remind me of how my deeper relationship with God began. Four years ago, in late January, my fiance unexpectedly broke our eight month engagement by calling me on my cell phone. The call was on a Monday morning, at 8:00 A.M., and yes, I was at work. During and after that call, my emotions rapidly changed from shocked disbelief to stunned reality. I felt like I had received a physical blow to my head. However, this event also started me into a deeper relationship with God and a new life that I couldn't even imagine at that point.
 

One Year of Hanging on the Vine

Joyce Meyer is a gifted Bible teacher. My morning routine begins with watching Joyce on television and her lesson on wounded Christians really sank home for me. I was still reeling from the broken engagement. I was in the third year of widowhood. I had been an empty nester for a year or so. And I was tired, hurt, lonely and emotionally empty. After the broadcast was finished, I contemplated the message and examined my emotional baggage.

 I know Jesus is my rooted vine and God is the gardener. My relationship is as a grafted branch. How much fruit have I really produced in the last three years? I am grafted in, but am I ready to commit a year to being pruned(healed) of my emotional baggage? I truly felt like a pendulum on a grandfather clock, just swinging left to right, over and over. Then, another event added to my conviction that God wanted me to make a one year healing commitment to Him.

Sunday morning bible study ended and I was planning on attending the church service. Somehow I found myself standing at a side exit door and my thought was," Oh well, I think I will go ahead and go home." Three blocks from church, a spiritual event happened to me. 

A distinct voice said," Turn around and go back." The voice was clear, calm, and intense. Obediently, I turned the car into a car wash, circled around, and went back to church. As I walked into the sanctuary, the service was just beginning. When Brother Jimmy started his sermon, conviction and disbelief mingled together and started coursing through me. His sermon was the same lesson that I had watched Joyce teach earlier that week on television. Now this story will get even stranger in a minute.

After church, I stayed back until I was the last person. I repeated my story to Brother Jimmy and his wife, Joanne. Brother Jimmy started to get tears in his eyes as he related what had happened to him on Tuesday. He had talked to Joanne because he felt that he needed to change his planned sermon. Joanne told him if the Lord was nudging him that strongly, then he needed to  prepare the new sermon. The sermon he preached that morning was not his planned sermon; the sermon he preached was the new one he felt the Lord wanted him to preach.

 My eyes are brimming with tears right now. My heart feels so full and God is hugging me in the spirit. Oh how the Lord wanted to heal me!  He was able to reinforce to me, through my pastor,  that I needed to make a year long commitment to heal and grow. No more pendulum swinging for me! Obediently, I began my commitment to the Master Gardener. Willingly, I began to "hang on the vine" and become more fully rooted and grounded in Christ.

During the following week, I told friends and family I was not beginning any new relationships for a year. Some were accepting of this, and some were not. Bible study became an hour every morning with an open notebook beside my Bible. The notebook became filled with my thoughts, discoveries, prayers, and conclusions. Writing a journal enabled me to check back on my prayers. Many of them were answered in ways that I would never have thought of. My journey of healing and discipleship had begun.

My purpose for telling you about my spiritual event is not to show you what a cracked pot I am. My walk with the Lord is deep. I am an obedient, faithful woman who believes all the promises God made to us in the Bible. Today, many people deny that miracles or spiritual events happen. However, I want you to know that God does talk to his people today; He is alive. He knows your name, He loves you, and He wants to talk with you.

 

 I am not a silly person who listens for voices to tell me what to do. I am an ordinary woman who has committed to being a servant of God. People will call me an "overboard Christian," but I truly do not care. Listen to an "overboard Christian woman" today. Joyce Meyer has unknowingly helped me, healed me, and transformed me with her teachings because she too, has a deep, abiding, personal relationship with a God who is alive.