Matthew 15:13
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.”

Our beautiful backyard quickly became a jungle-like setting over the summer. This was my first summer in our house, and with zero experience as a gardener, I let things get out of hand. What was our beautiful landscape when spring sprung became an overgrown mess due to my “not-so-green-thumb”.
Weeds and dead plants are stubborn. They don’t give up their spot easily. The small tools I possessed didn’t get the job done. So, I brought out the big guns — the shovel.
I pierced the ground to go in deep. Wiggled and pulled, wiggled and pulled — doing everything I could to get the roots to budge. Finally, I felt the pressure start to pop and the roots gave up their sacred ground. The ground was finally free of their stronghold. I had a fresh start to build a new flower bed that can (hopefully) thrive and flourish.
Now, a little role reversal. You are the root, God is the gardener. Do you hold onto your sacred ground — refusing to let go of your plans? Do you stubbornly fight back against His tugs? Are you rooted in the Lord? Or are you rooted in your ways?
Sometimes the Lord has to dig deep inside of us to pull out unhealthy roots planted deep inside our sinful hearts.
Proverbs 19:21
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of Adonai will stand.”
Getting to the root of the problem. It’s something my mother always taught. She would ask us to be “gut honest". Instead of treating just the symptom, we discovered the heart or “root’ of what was going on.
Most tantrums and tears are ruled by our fears. When you get down to the nitty gritty, you discover the root of what of why we are scared.
Ripping out roots is not easy — and it hurts. The roots in our lives become so engrained in how we think and operate. When they are ripped out it leaves us feeling empty and abandoned. There is a panic of not knowing where to “take root”.
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
How many times do we pray for our dreams to come true, but never release how we expect those dreams to come true? We pray for him to answer our heart’s desires — in our way.
Over the last year my husband and I have undergone fertility treatments. It's a daily process of taking my temperature, tracking my cycle and report on how I am feeling. Everything I am doing I completely focused on having a baby.
Our journey has been filled with disappointing numbers. You can always tell the results of your treatments or blood work by your nurses’ voice. The big blow to us was when the nurse told me if my numbers weren't good they would not do the treatment.
Bam! Disappointment flooded my heart. I never thought the clinic would refuse do the treatment. I mean it was our money, our time, our emotions going through the process. But for fertility clinics, success rates matter and if your numbers don’t line up for a victory — they might not do it.
Isaiah 12:2
“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”
I knew my dreams were being ripped out of my future. Yes, the ultimate goal was to be a mother. But, I wanted and desired to go through the whole process. I wanted to see the positive pregnancy test, celebrate with my husband, feel the baby grow and kick in my body, work on the nursery, circle the due date on the calendar. Everything that comes with getting pregnant and having a baby.
As I recovered from the news I cried out to God in probably the most deep, raw and painful way I ever have. No complete words, just a deep cry I couldn’t contain. In that moment though, the Lord helped me realize it was time to pull out the “root” of my expectation.
He commands us to not hold anything back — including the roots of our desires.
Over the next few weeks He softened my heart towards adoption. My husband and I were always open to it, but I really, really wanted the pregnancy. I wanted it the way I always envisioned it. However, when I started to feel him pulling on those “roots”, I could feel the pressure to just let it go.
Trusting the Lord when he calls us to release the roots of our desires is scary. But as His child I have to trust His plan. Scripture confirms he will “answer the desires of our heart”. He knows where to plant our “roots” so our lives are more fruitful.
Psalm 1:3
“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
This weeding process is painful, but cleansing. It’s emotional, but restoring. It’s agony, but peaceful.
When pain and sorrow hit, it’s easy to become self-centered and “woe me”. The Lord shows us through His word how to react. I am reading a lot about Job. He lost it all — his children, his health, everything he worked for, everything he possessed — gone. But he never cursed the Lord, despite his wife and friends telling him to do it. He questioned God and cried out to him, but never sinned.
Job 5: 17-18
“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.”
Job didn’t understand what was going on. Things were so good, then everything fell apart. His friends said “curse God”, Job knew better.
Job 10: 12-13
“You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.”
There it is, the root of it all. It’s not about us. It’s about HIS purpose, HIS glory, HIS ways. He sees the bigger picture, we don’t.
Philippians 4:19
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
I am not saying this is easy. It’s hard. It downright sucks sometimes. But, as followers of Christ, we are called to deny ourselves daily and follow Him, that includes giving up our desires and our roots.
He loves us. He wants to bless us. He put those desires in our heart in the beginning. We must remember, it’s His plans for a bigger purpose than what our feeble minds might fathom.
Psalm 112:7
“They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.”
When the Lord pulls out the roots it doesn’t always mean it’s a big “no” on your dreams. Sometimes he calls us to shift how we pray for our dreams, so it matches HIS plan.
For me, my prayer has changed. It’s no longer “Lord please let me get pregnant”. It’s become “Lord please give me a child in the way you see best — if it’s through pregnancy thank you, if it’s through adoption open that mother’s heart to us."
Will I still be heartbroken if we don’t get pregnant? You bet. I also know God has a plan and it’s my job as His child to follow his lead.
Jesus commands us to fully trust him and follow him. If we hold onto our “roots” we never can follow him completely. We are stuck because our roots hold us back.
Gardeners know when it’s time to rip out a plant. Our God is a master Gardener who knows if we ever want to grow — HE has to rip out some our plans — so we can truly experience his beauty and blessings.
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