When we read the Bible expectantly, beautiful things can happen.

I recently heard a pastor speak about how we read the Bible. He asked if we read it because we are supposed to or do we read it because we want to draw closer to God. He suggested that most of us do both and admitted to doing so himself. He then challenged us to start reading it expectantly. He said if we want God to communicate with us, we need to intentionally read His word, not just skim over it to check a box.

I was intrigued by this concept. What does expectantly look like? When I pray about something or for someone, do I expect an answer?  Are both my heart and hands open for the blessings I hope for?

As I pondered the idea of expectantly, I decided to start keeping a pen and paper handy when I read my morning devotion. If I am reading expectantly, then I would think I would receive information worth writing down.

I was not disappointed.

I took a few days and wrote down the verses that spoke to me. I had been praying about some life changes and my focus word for the year is trust. As I read back over what I wrote, here’s what I found.

“See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19

He (Jesus) replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

I just had to smile as I read what I had written and then I felt a little convicted. A little nudge reminded me that trust wasn’t just meant for think of when making future plans.

A couple of weeks earlier, I was driving to work in the rain. The rain quickly turned into a flash flood. It was dark and each time I drove through standing water, it would splash all the way up to my windows. I drove to work at a snail’s pace in a white knuckled panic and I was in tears when I arrived, so very thankful for my safety.

Thinking back on the experience, I now wonder if I was ever truly in danger. The God I trust with my future is the same God who kept me safe in that particular storm and the same God who has held me close during all the storms I have weathered. That thought filled me with a deep sense of peace.

Reading the Bible expectantly reminded me to trust that God holds me close yesterday, today and tomorrow. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 😊

We never know what kinds of fruit may come from the seeds we plant.

Last weekend, my hubby, my mama, and I decided to take a look at some old scuppernong vines that my grandmother planted over fifty years ago. They were a complete overgrown mess. They hadn’t been touched or tended in at least twenty years. The original trellis was on the ground.

Trees had grown up around the trellis and the vines received very little sun. Briars had grown up into the vines along with both sweet gum and pine trees.

The entire situation looked irredeemable. Could there possibly be any life in the middle of that dead mess?

My Daddy, who was working on another project, looked over the fence at us and said, “Lois planted those. They were the sweetest, golden berries you ever tasted.”

Could my grandmother’s planting work still be viable after all these years of neglect?

We began to search for life among the rubble.

My hubby noticed right away that there were scuppernong vines climbing the surrounding trees. Vines have to come from a root. We started cutting and tossing.

To our happy surprise, when we cleared the debris from the top, we found many mother vines rooted deeply in the ground. When we snipped a little closer to the roots, we could see they were very much alive.

We marked them with pink flag tape and began cutting and tossing everything that hindered their growth. My hubby grabbed a chainsaw and took down some trees that were blocking the sun.

It was a lot of hard work as we searched, cut, raked, and hauled. We all had scratches from the briars, but in the end, we had the promise of a fruitful life restored.

The following day, Mama woke with the desire to check on the other vines my grandmother had planted. These were the bigger ones where we often found the most fruit when I was a kid. Again, we found the same situation. There were brambles, briars and trees, but when we cut and removed what wasn’t supposed to be there, we found plenty of living, rooted vines. Delighted, we tagged them as well.

We will soon put in new trellises with strong cables to support those old, but living vines. We will install some type of watering system and we will wait and hope.

As children of God, we are all in the planting business. Sometimes we get to see what we plant on this side of Eternity and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes what we plant lives long after we are gone, but, that is not for us to decide. All we can do, is plant as much as we can while we are here and trust God to do the rest.

Some old scuppernong vines reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy