“Your love NEVER FAILS. NEVER gives up. NEVER runs out on me.”
His love is so relentless.
We say “Stop! Just leave me alone, God. Leave me in my hopelessness and stubborn will.” And all He does in response is LOVES us even more. He chases our hearts. He CHASED my heart, and He is chasing yours.
I have to remember this promise. Finding out that one of our girls at Restore Her may be leaving is one of the hardest moments ever. But one of the most beautiful reminders that God’s pursuit of her heart is relentless and not based on location. Even when we run the other direction, try to force away His love, try to lock people out of our hearts like she has. God pursues. He loves.
This week, God has been painting a picture for me of fruit. Of how we are made to be fruitful fruit-bearers. He showed me the difference between a fruit and a vegetable- that fruit has seeds and multiplies because of it! Vegetables are dormant, like someone in a hospital who is bed-ridden is called.
God called me out of my vegetable state. Passive, silent, and alone.
And He gave me the honor of becoming a fruit: one who bears fruit, plants seeds, produces life, and brings JOY and ENERGY (simple carbohydrates… nutrition reference! 
).
Ephesians 2 tells us that “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world… but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ- by grace you have been saved… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God!”
Out of His great love for us, He pursues us! Not because we are deserving, but because of His love and grace towards us. Even when I was dead, Christ saw LIFE in me. And chased it down so He could set me free to thrive in it. I trust that He does the same for every one of His children- even our girl at Restore Her. Relentless love is so hard to receive sometimes, because we do not understand it. We don’t get why so much love is being poured out on us and we fear vulnerability, so we run. It’s like we think we can run far enough away from love that it will leave us alone. But in those farthest places God is more present than ever. In fact, He is there before we even get there- waiting to hug us!
A fruit tree must trust so much in it’s roots, must be so focused and firm in those deep roots seeking out water, that it doesn’t worry about the fruit it gives off. An apple tree for example, must trust so much in the roots that it can fluently produce apples and let them drop to the ground, knowing more fruit will come. If the tree were to cling to an apple, hold on to it’s fruit, than those fruits would get moldy and gross! In the same way, we have to focus on sending our roots so deep into God’s heart, God’s desires, and God’s intentions, that we don’t worry about producing fruit and we don’t cling to the “apples” he has already given to us! We have to let the good things he has produced go in order to experience more.
Like a tree- God holds us tightly [like roots]
so
we can hold all things loosely [like the branch holds it’s fruit].
The fruit will keep coming.
But that apple can’t reproduce until the tree lets it go, it hits the ground, it breaks, and the seed seeps deep into the soil.
As I was soaking in this analogy with the Lord, I looked up to see a guy walking past me holding a big bundle of bananas under his arm, eating them one at a time! I couldn’t help but laugh out at Him and the situation! It looks so goofy to hold onto a bunch of fruit, when God made it to be multiplied and fluently given out!
This picture is such a reminder to trust that the things God has done have beautiful purpose, but to fruitfully multiply them, you have to share with others! Tell what God has done, let the fruit go, and trust that God will keep faithfully producing life through you!
{OH and as I prayed about what to do with my graduation cap… God gave me the green light to make it into a fruit hat and tell who He is through it! 🙂 }
