Today after a day of rest and corporate worship with the other team here in Dublin we drove the 2 hours back to the camp to finish closing it up for the winter. We had to take everything down yesterday. The tents, the big meeting tent, the play grounds, the campers, the kitchen. Everything got moved into the big barn to be locked up for the winter. Our primary responsibility today was to just do the last of the cleaning, the kitchen, the grounds and they also asked us to pull some weeds. I was assigned to pull weeds from along the fence line, so I went off and got started. It was honestly really good to get some time by myself with God. I got started with the instructions of pulling weeds and grass out from directly around these beautiful red bushes that had been planted earlier this summer. They were being smothered at this point and weren’t able to grow. I was honestly a little frustrated by this work at first because I figured what is the point of doing this right before winter, the weeds are just going to grow back anyway. There were entire fields right there full of grass and weeds waiting to infiltrate again. 
I kept working even in my frustration, and God slowly revealed to me the spirit of the work I was doing. I was pulling weeds so that these bushes could take off and grow stronger and bigger so that they would not be so easily smothered. As He was revealing this to me he also revealed to me how He acts in the same way in my life as I was for the bushes. He comes in and removes the lies and hurts that are in my life smothering my growth. Now there is still a world full of lies and filth that is waiting to get into my mind and heart, but he pulls out these things that are closest to me and gives me the opportunity to grow in truth and light. I have to grow though; I have to get bigger and stronger than those lies so that I am not smothered. It is a painful process because some of our roots are entangled with those weeds. It is not easy, but in the end we get to walk with more boldness and in the light of truth. Something else that I noticed as I went through the day was that my back began to get sore and my hands got splinters and were raw from the moisture and the prickly weeds. How cool is it that God is willing to come into our world, get the sore back, the raw hands and so much more to deliver us to the truth of our identity. God is such a great gardener. What are some things that God is wanting to remove from your life to deliver you to truth and light today?
I kept working even in my frustration, and God slowly revealed to me the spirit of the work I was doing. I was pulling weeds so that these bushes could take off and grow stronger and bigger so that they would not be so easily smothered. As He was revealing this to me he also revealed to me how He acts in the same way in my life as I was for the bushes. He comes in and removes the lies and hurts that are in my life smothering my growth. Now there is still a world full of lies and filth that is waiting to get into my mind and heart, but he pulls out these things that are closest to me and gives me the opportunity to grow in truth and light. I have to grow though; I have to get bigger and stronger than those lies so that I am not smothered. It is a painful process because some of our roots are entangled with those weeds. It is not easy, but in the end we get to walk with more boldness and in the light of truth. Something else that I noticed as I went through the day was that my back began to get sore and my hands got splinters and were raw from the moisture and the prickly weeds. How cool is it that God is willing to come into our world, get the sore back, the raw hands and so much more to deliver us to the truth of our identity. God is such a great gardener. What are some things that God is wanting to remove from your life to deliver you to truth and light today?
