Friends .. I don’t know about you .. but me .. I’m grateful for the fact .. that yes .. living by faith brings a whole lot of joy .. however .. the truth is .. it also involves great pain .. haha .. you know .. that pain we feel as God prunes from our lives those things that just don’t honor Him .. for yes .. when we stepped into our lives as a Believer .. we brought with us a whole lot of baggage .. and yes .. that baggage is called flesh .. which carries with it .. the old way of thinking of what we could do .. haha .. in our own power totally apart from any dependence we had on Him .. for yes .. it’s the pride .. the anger .. and yes .. that downright selfishness we all know too well .. haha .. but wait! .. we do have those things that produce outwardly good .. you know .. like giving money and helping the needy .. and no .. don’t get me wrong .. those things are wonderful .. however .. if they stem from our flesh .. they’re offensive to Him .. and yes .. they’re offensive simply because .. these are the things that feed our pride .. and yes .. these are the things we use as an attempt to balance out our own wrong doing and guilt .. haha .. so yes .. with each and everyone of us .. He has His work cut out .. He has to tear away our deeds of the flesh both good and bad .. so that yes .. we can learn to totally depend on Him in all that we say and in all that we do .. and yes .. it can be a painful process at times .. however .. as we’ve learned to trust along our way .. this process of His is absolutely worth the grind .. for yes .. it’s in the end that we’re learning to not only love others with His kind of love .. but yes .. we’re learning to love ourselves the very same way .. and yes .. as we all know .. haha .. oh yeah .. love wins period
“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit .. while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”