It’s the midst of fall where most of y’all are. Picture a branch. It just fell off the tree. You hold it up and it looks dead. But it once was a really beautiful brach, so you bring it inside and try to make it beautiful again. You tape fruit to it and try to dress up the fact that it is dead. Sounds really silly right? Well, it is silly but that’s what we do when we aren’t abiding in Jesus. During my QT (quiet time) this week I watched this super rad sermon by Francis Chan called Abide in Jesus- 12/10 highly recommend. He talked about us being the branch, Jesus being the true vine and God as the gardener. If we are not connected to Him then we are a dead branch. Dead branches cannot produce fruit. John 15 talks all about the vine and the branches. In verse 4, Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Basically, if we aren’t connected to Jesus in everything we do and abiding in Him we can do nothing. We can try and be fruitful but that looks just as silly as taping fruit to a dead branch.
This was really convicting for me. So far on the race my ministry hasn’t been my favorite. At points I have struggled with feeling useless, bored, and having so much free time. I am on a nine month missions trip but I wasn’t even doing missions, or so I thought. I have been trying to tape fruit to my branch and call that ministry. For me, that has looked like shutting off my ministry mindset as soon as I walked in the door or when I was getting lunch with a friend or any number of activities. As I have been looking back over my time in Guatemala the coolest stories I have from this trip so far have all been during times I wasn’t “scheduled” to be doing ministry. I have been walking down the street and met people who just wanted to be prayed for. I would have walked right by them and missed that opportunity to show God’s love or change someone’s eternity. Two weeks ago I was on a lunch date with a teammate and we were walking back and a lady came up to us asking for money and because we were abiding in God we got to see that what she really needed was groceries for her family of 11. So, we brought her to the grocery store and got to bless her with a week of groceries. There’s this fab chocobanano place right by our house and my teammates and I have been able to buy extra ones for the guards of our neighborhood and bless their days. I’ve been sitting in Dunkin Donuts writing a blog and a street kid came up and tried to sell me something. I just saw that he was hungry so I got to buy him a donut (probably not the healthiest food but what kid doesn’t love donuts) and see the joy that brought him. Because I was abiding in Jesus in those times, I got to be his hands and feet pouring out and loving his people. There should never be a set schedule or 9-5 of ministry. When we are abiding in Jesus he is making everything we do fruitful and every opportunity is one to be missional. He promises us that. In John 15:2 Jesus says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will bear even more fruit.”
I want my fruit to bear even more fruit and have it all be rich, healthy and fruitful. I know I will only gain that through abiding and remaining in Jesus. I have less than a month left here in Guatemala and I am pumped for what the Lord has planned. The first week of November we will be headed to South Africa. Please continue praying for my team and me. Also, I still have about $1,800 before I am fully funded. I have to be fully supported by November so please prayerfully consider supporting me financially. You can make a donation right at the top of my blog. Thank you (:
Also I made a video just to show a peek into my life and adventures on the race. Here’s the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbs3LjRq8DM check it out. it’s pretty rad.
Until next time….
-Bri
