As this chapter of my life comes to a close, Jesus still continues to teach me more about Himself. Here are some of the last few things from June 4th that He has been teaching me about.
Jesus woke me up at 4:28am this morning via a mosquito friend who kept biting my face and arms, so eventually I realized that I was supposed to get my butt out of bed. There is a nice roof at the hostel that I am staying at and I generally have spent my morning times with Jesus there so out of habit I went up there to just sit and watch the sun rise. As soon as I got comfy Jesus was like no no we are going on a walk and I was just kind of like seriously! I got out of bed early and now You want to go on a walk?? But nevertheless, I went. I grabbed my jacket, my Bible, my wallet (in case I found a coffee shop open) and my phone. As I started walking the same way I usually do, towards the town, He redirected me the opposite way straight towards the mountain. I walked, really creating my own trail because I didn’t know where I was going, until I found another road. I reached a fork in the road, one going down and one basically at a 90 degree angle (I’m so serious). Before I started up the road I thought “I know I wanted to do this but I didn’t even refill my water bottle!”
Before I proceed He tells me to rest a second, not only rest physically but rest in Him. He directs me to read John 4 which of course is about the women at the well. Wow. He was just there, offering me, ME!, His living water. I am just like this woman; a lier, a sinner, an outcast, broken. And there He was, in the most lovingly perfect way possible, offering me to drink His living water that is endlessly abundant. But in the story, the best part (well to me) is the evident heart change that occurs in her because of how we see her respond. This woman is such a great example of what it means to share the good news. She just simply says “come and see for yourself.” (John 4:29) She doesn’t try to teach or point out that the people are sinners or try and clean herself up so that she is more presentable or ask Jesus for the best tactics for reaching people, she just goes because out of shear love for Jesus she wants to share this life changing moment that happens within her. And on top of that, she leaves her jar of water! I don’t know if she just forgets or expects to go back and get it later, but she drops everything and goes because Jesus is the only thing on her mind. That is true love.
So I continue walking, eventually finding a trail. As I continue, and quite frankly start getting tired again, I stop right at this tree, which let me tell you, this was like THE ultimate tree for climbing. It had holes all the way up the trunk almost like this tree was created to be climbed. A whole lot of the branches on the tree seemed to be dead or dying but there were also still some in tact that flourished with leaves so I just had to be careful about which branches I stood on, breaking a few on my climb up. I get up in the tree and I’m just sitting there, seeing little pieces of the view through the tree branches, but soon realize that I was in an olive tree. So I’m like of course Jesus, lesson number two. So I get down and open my bible up again to Romans 11.
“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:5-6) In other words, there are very few that are chosen but that is not something that is determined by us but by God. There is absolutely nothing that we could ever do to receive God’s grace but it something that He freely gives to His people to where only He can create a heart change.
“For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” (Romans 11:24) Okay that was a whole lot of words so I am going to do my very best to dissect what this is saying. For some reason I always assumed that the word graft meant to be cut off but, after some research, it is actually an unnatural process that someone has to do which, in the end, produces more fruit of higher quality. Now take that knowledge and think about how that would apply to your walk with Jesus and what the verse is saying. It is saying that this is an unnatural thing, this is something that does not occur because of anything we could do but it is something that God, and only God, must do. It is also stating that if you root your life into His living roots, it is absolutely impossible to be the same. The fibers of His roots and the fibers of yourself eventually inter twin, making it impossible to separate them from each other, also known as a hybrid in the sciencey world. Which that is why we can witness the heart change that the woman at the well experienced because if God hadn’t changed her heart then she would have no desire to share the good news. Conclusively, I think it’s so important to, “remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.” (Romans 11:18) God doesn’t need us, we need Him. We would not have life if He did not graft us into His living tree!
Jesus taught me quite a few more lessons that day and I am still resting in that amazing morning with Him where He guided each and every step I took. I hope to live like that every single day of my life. I hope that He will continue to captivate my heart, my life, to just be with Him. That He would continue to point me to His truth.
The next day, I wanted to go on another hike so I did the same thing, wanting to intentionally keep Jesus on my mind. I expected to walk with Jesus as He guided and taught me but I didn’t realize that He just wanted to sit still first. Well, I did know He told me, but I was thinking why can’t we just talk during the hike. So I’m walking and I’m kinda thinking wow this hike is actually really difficult because of the steepness, but I still continued. I run into a fork in the path and decide to take the one that I hadn’t taken the day before, knowing that Jesus was telling me to just stay on the same path. I continue walking and eventually the path curves, soon realizing that it is going to lead back to the original path. This new one I was on was super overgrown and full of thorny weeds, my skin and clothes were getting pulled back by them just as an animals fur would. I just kind of laughed to myself as I persevered until the clearing, understanding the work Jesus was doing in my heart.
It’s not that Jesus’ way is going to hurt less or is better or is easier but that Jesus’ way is the absolute only way. On the other path I still got cut by weeds and caught up in spider webs, but I was so focused on Jesus that those things were an afterthought, barely even realizing that I was getting all cut up. It can be so easy to get wrapped up in myself, wanting to achieve my own desires, even if they do glorify Him in my head, that is just so not something for me to determine because what do I know. No matter how off track I get, His way, the only way, will always always prevail, and that’s just fact! I know that’s a bold statement but I firmly have faith in Him and in result have faith in His plan. Why not accept His perfect gift of peace and freedom in Him; He is already offering this to us daily!
