Deep-plowing the Ground

Spring has arrived in Texas. As I look out my office window at the tree line in the back pasture, I see that there are places where the tiny green buds are appearing on the trees and the redbud trees are blooming. Our plum, peach and apricot trees are flowering, and the wild flowers are beginning to appear.

We have been working the ground in our garden, getting ready to plant. I have noticed that it is very difficult to work hard ground, and almost impossible for anything but weeds to grow there. It is even more difficult to work the ground when there are rocks in it.

That is where my life has been for the past few months. I have been in a season when I felt totally empty, but realized I was only empty of the good things of life like peace, joy, strength, motivation. Instead my heart was hardened with grief, fear, apathy, anger and other such things that were stealing my life. When those things grow inside of us, they are more like cancers as they don't stay the same size like rocks do. They grow and consume us and have a way of choking out the good things.

When Charlie and I moved to the country, one of the first things we had to purchase was a tractor. The man who delivered our Kabota tractor walked the pastures with Charlie. He told Charlie that he needed to plow the pastures, and asked if he had a plow. The previous owners left an old plow in the back pasture. Charlie showed it to the man. The man said that it would work, but not very well. It would only plow up the first few inches on the top of the ground, and do a surface work. He told Charlie that he needed a "deep plow." He said that a deep plow would dig deep into the ground and break up the hard places, and at the same time, it would bring any large rocks to the surface so they could be cleaned out. Then he said that this kind of plow was originally not called a "deep plow," but was called a "repentance plow!"

That is what I have needed for my spiritual life...a repentance plow. So last week I made an appointment with a counselor. I spent five hours with her, and at the end of the time, the ground of my heart had been plowed up and the hard places had been removed. She was able to help identify the roots...those things that were causing the anger, hurts and fears that were robbing my spiritual life.

Sometimes we can't see the roots because of our emotions. Our feelings can be fed by lies that we have believed. In the New Testament gospel of John, we are told that when we know the Truth, the Truth, God's truth, sets us free. When His truth is mixed with our faith it replaces the lies and we are set free. That is what I experienced last week. Freedom from the lies is amazing. When the lies are removed and the truth takes hold, joy and peace and motivation and purpose return to our lives.

First I had to take an honest look at my life and my heart. I had to admit that there were hard places. Denying it only makes the situation worse. I then had to tell God that I knew the fears and lies were there. I had to make make the decision not to live that way any more. I also needed help from someone who could see beyond what I could see and who was not bound by the same things that were holding on to me. She, under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, was able to help lead me to freedom. Sometimes we cannot do the work alone. God has made us as one body, jointly fit together. He has made the Body of Christ such that we need each other; each part is important. We are not to walk alone, so it is okay to reach out for help.

The result has been freedom, healing, joy, peace and a restoration to the place of strength and confidence that is truly LIFE from God. I encourage you that if you have places of hardness in your heart, deal with them...God's way. Be honest with God, and then allow Him to dig deep into your life and reveal truth, pull out the hard places, and bring healing, cleansing and restoration.

Now I am ready for a season of fruitfulness!