Satisfied By Love...Day 16

Finally getting back on track in our home.  Little Miss seems to be on the upswing and we've been able to spend a little time unattached to each other which has been helpful for both of us :)  It's my first time feeling like I really have time to sit and listen and write in a few days and it feels like fresh air.

I'm still reading about the vine and branches in John chapter 15 today.  There are many uses of the word "you" as well as "I" so I decided to pick them apart a bit

I (Jesus)                                                                
~ the true vine            
~ abide in you            

He (God)
~ the vinedresser
~ takes away dead branches
~ prunes fruitful branches

You (us)
~ a branch
~ clean by His Word
~ abide in Christ
~ can do nothing apart from Jesus
~ bear fruit
~ prove to be Jesus' disciples
                                                                                         
The subject to ponder today at A Holy Experience is faith.  It's what I see today reading verses 1-8.  We are branches.  Growing from a vine to bear fruit and to prove that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.  We are pruned and dressed by the One who created us to do this.  But how do we abide?  How do we know we are cleaned by His Words?  How do we know that when we try to work on our own, apart form God's plan, we can do nothing?

Isn't this faith?  To believe that He is the vine?  That Jesus is the One who came to keep us connected?  To make us clean?  To be the Word made flesh and to dwell among us as an example so that we can be His proven disciples?  It's faith that causes us to open His word and believe it's true.  Sometimes we see the proof in our own lives or the lives of others and sometimes we keep believing simply because He tells us to.  It's faith to listen to the Holy Spirit and to obey God's Word trusting that we will bear fruit that will bring glory to Him.

We are connected by the vine and He asks us to abide.  He tells us that when we do this He does it too.  Really?  Abide in me?

That takes faith too.  To believe this perfect One would choose to abide in me forces me to look beyond what I have done and what I am doing and all of the things that make me a mess and to believe that He.  Lives.  Here.

When my daughter is sick and the dishes pile up and the laundry isn't done and my back hurts from sitting in the same position on the couch trying to keep her comfortable...He lives here.

When my husband is unexpectedly gone until nearly bedtime and I don't know that because I left my phone at my mom's house when we were visiting and how could I do that because we have no land line and what if there is an emergency?  He lives here.

When my friend is broken and I feel like I do and say everything wrong when all I want to do is lift up and help her see Him again...He lives here.

And when I feel empty and failed and failing and falling apart...He lives here.

The vine is rooted.  Woven into the ground.  Connected to the One Who created all things to grow and bear fruit.  And when we live in faith in Him, so are we.

Father, remind us that You are here with us, especially when it seems hard to believe.  Amazing that You would choose us as we are and then prune and clean and cut so that we grow to bear the fruit You created us for.  May we prove to be Your disciples as we abide in Jesus and remain connected to You...