“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12 NLT
Stewing with anger, I tossed around in my bed trying to calm my mind and get some sleep. I was dwelling on the emotional mistreatments I had endured for some time now and had experienced enough of it. It was becoming clearer to me that I was involved in a very unhealthy friendship. After getting little to no sleep that night, I shuffled my way to the kitchen for coffee the next morning. As I took my first sip, I heard the pitter patter of feet coming down the stairs. Looking over at my daughter’s youthful morning energy, she asked if we could plant flowers that day. Spring had already sprung, and I was way overdue with the previous commitment I had made to her. So, with a heavy heart from what I was dealing with, I reluctantly agreed to garden with my little girl. With tools in hand, my daughter and I started grinding into the hard rocky ground. After laboriously going at it for some time, I began to remember a scripture verse I had seen in my devotional previously.
“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12
God was tenderly showing me that my heart represented this hard soil, and it needed some cultivating for Him to grow what He wanted in and through me. In that moment I knew that unforgiveness was creating in me a heart of stone, and I was having a hard time letting go of the hurt feelings.
That day I could see God purposefully starting a gradual process of emotional healing. The work of preparing rocky ground and also releasing the hurt and rejection to God is hard, but both are essential for growth. I started to take inventory of what unforgiveness does in one’s life. It prevents seeds from taking root, making it impossible to produce a fruitful harvest for Him. We are chosen by God to live in a right standing relationship with Him, and seeing our pain through God’s perspective helps us overcome. We have an enemy who wants to divide believers and weaken their faith by not living in harmony. I believe this is why Jesus prayed about unity three times in John 17:21-23. We also need to remember we are not fighting against flesh and blood but the spiritual evil in the heavenly realms. Eph. 6:12-13. We need our spiritual armor and to be armed with prayer to fight these spiritual battles. Most importantly, Jesus commands us to forgive because He forgives us. I have found that forgiveness is not so much a one and done, but it’s a continual dialog with God until you begin to see that person the way God sees them…His child whom He loves dearly. I promise you my friend, He does heal and takes away the sting. He will show you a beautiful garden once again, filled with a bounty of flowers. Let Him cultivate your heart with His love, and He will shower you with a harvest of righteousness.
Your fellow Able Mom,
Jayme Elizabeth
Father, thank you for your healing and filling my heart with your love and forgiveness. Thank you for taking away the layers of anger and hurt. I want to produce a harvest for you; so I pray blessings on the one that I’m forgiving today and everyday.