If you are a Believer, you understand the terms: sanctification, refining and pruning. They are all processes God works in us to shape us and grow us into the one He has designed us to be. It takes being moldable and not hardened to shape something. I think of my kids' Playdoh. It's such great fun to make anything you can imagine, any shape or size and even color (if you are allowed to blend the colors-heehee!!) But if you forget to put the lid back on correctly, the playdoh hardens and no longer is moldable. So sad, such a waste knowing it could have been avoided.
We must be pliable in the Creator's hands. Only in Heaven will be be the perfect creation He designed us to be. Meanwhile, we are in the process or season of change. It takes a journey of faith and trust to keep moving forward. It isn't always easy. We cannot learn how to endure if we don't have something to endure. We cannot learn patience if everything goes "according to the plan." We cannot understand compassion until we have nothing and someone offers help in our time of need. We cannot understand joy until we have felt deep gratitude or hope. We cannot understand being full, until we have been empty.
Just as in life, I believe as we mature in Christ, our seasons change quicker, at least I feel they do, and should. It took the Israelite people 40 years to make an 11 day journey!! The first time you do something, it seems to always take the longest amount of time, but the more you do it, the easier it gets, or at least the more familiar you are, therefore, the quicker the process should go. Right? I think it depends on our willingness to cooperate!! When we refuse to accept the instruction, when we try to do it our way, when we think about it and procrastinate...denial or refusal will always prevent us from moving forward quickly.
I have noticed in my walk with the Lord over the past year to be one of many seasons. It used to be loooong seasons with the Lord. I would work one one thing "wrong" with me for what seemed like forever and then I'd get it finally, then I would "practice" in it for a while, until God brought about the next pruning session. This past year however, it seems that there have been many prunings, one after another. One thing different is that what used to be seasons of love, hope and joy have become foundational parts of my soil. Circumstances don't change my joy in the Lord, for it is my strength. I can not and ought not to ever loose hope that He is there with a perfect plan, working all things out for His glory and my good. So it is no longer good and bad...it's working it out with joy and then resting in His goodness and peace...as He continues to prune a little more. It's a process with an eternal deadline. It doesn't mean I am a complete looser or that I am spiritually inadequate as Satan would have me believe...it means I am a work in progress towards His glory! It means He is near. It means He is actively working in my life. It means power of creation is creating something new in me! The old is moving out and the new is coming!!!
So, how do the seasons change quicker? Why do they change quicker? My only conclusion is that I am more in love than I was before, so I am ready and eager to please Him with all my heart, all my soul and all my might!! I have spent most of my life wishing I was someone I am not. I have become what may be a lifelong process now of finding my identity in Christ and not the world or my own. It is His approval alone that I desire. I don't care what I want to be or wish I could be. I only want to be what He created me to be so that I would be found pleasing in His eyes forevermore. Some things are harder to accept, of course, none of like all of us, we see the sin others don't, but God in His sweet timing, will prune it back, waiting for us to bloom even more brilliantly than the season before.
God, help me to be more pliable so there is less resistance to Your hand molding me. May there not be great lengths of time between the pruning and the blooming! Give me the grace and humble heart to see the areas of change needed and lite a fire within me to get it done. Lord God, I praise You for loving me enough to prune me, shape me and mold me into something greater than I am on my own. Cleanse me, You know my thoughts. Remove the hardened pieces which are dead and fill the area with newness and life. I know You live inside me and I pray for a pure dwelling place. You alone are worthy of all praise and honor. Anything good about me is only a reflection of You!
God, I pray I never resist You. My a day's journey not be years! I'm asking in Jesus Name, that Satan be bound from discouraging me, making me think I am less than I am, causing me to doubt Your promises, becoming lazy or insecure in Your Word. It is my desire to be fully Yours and serve You. I remember what You have spoken to me and I am thankful for Your recent reminders of Your goodness and faithfulness. Prune me and receive the glory each time I bloom for You!! Layer by layer, season to season, Your glory be seen. How the time flies. amen.
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