Pruning, do you enjoy it?

I suspect that you are probably like me and don't like pruning.  Not the pruning that you do to your plants, I am talking about the pruning that God does to us. 

"Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2

This least year God has done a lot of pruning in my life.  He currently is continuing to allow things into my life that are shaping me.  I found this poem this morning and found comfort in its words.  Perhaps today God is also pruning in your life and you can find encouragement from this poem.

"It is the branch that bears the fruit,
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth,
A fuller life.

Though every budding twig be trimmed,
And every grace,
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,
May lose it place.

O whose life of joy seems left,
With beauty shone;
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn.

Rejoice, though each desire, each dream,
Each hope of thine,
Will fall and fade; it is in the hand
Of Love Divine.

What holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That you, whose life has borne some fruit,
Might now bear much

Annie JohnsonFlint

Thank you Annie for this poem.
Every day I read the following verses and head into the day ready for what the Lord has.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways; declares the Lord" Isaiah 55:8

"The LORD your God is with you, HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." -Zephaniah 3:17.

So today I am learning to accept help from others.  Another friend is coming today to drive me while another family member comes to watch our children.  Thank you Lord for all the people you have put in my life and for the job you have provided for Troy.  Thank you for getting all the insurance issues worked out and Thank you for great nurses and doctors.

I have so much to be thankful for.  Most of all I am simply thankful to have a God who is much bigger than me and continues to keep me in the palm of his hand not matter what cahos ensues.