“We are casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” II Corinthians 10:5 

I have found that if I say no right in the beginning to something that I should not do, the seed will not be planted. The tree will not be allowed to grow. Sometimes when I’m faced with things that I’m intimidated or feel overwhelmed with it’s easier to say yes when the answer should be no. It is harder to say no right at the start. If I say no, then the seed will not be planted and I will not have to deal with a tree later on. 

An example of this is, I just took 2 months off from posting in my blog. I had a seed of doubt, fear and question: does this blog even matter and are people reading it? I let the seed come in and it started to sprout a seedling. Once I allowed the seed to come in and grow it was making it increasingly harder to go back and continue writing.

The bottom line is I took my eyes off of Jesus. My thinking is that I had to be the one writing the posts and it’s not about me. He is the only one that can give me the words to put down that can influence and inspire the reader. 

As I find myself in the spot of allowing the tree to grow something

happened completely out of the blue. One of my blog post readers shared something with me. You see, just recently my third book was written and published titled, “Ancient Words Freshly Printed by the Holy Spirit”. This book was created by taking the first 41 posts and turning them into a 41 day devotional book. Before the book was completed this blog post reader shared with me that she literally had printed every post off so that she would have it to reference back to. She said that they really encouraged and inspired her. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing that she would even go to the point of printing them off. 

I realized at that moment that my blog was influencing and encouraging those who were reading it. It was now time for me to chop down the tree of fear, feelings of inadequacy and begin to write the posts again. 

How about you? Do you have any little seedlings that need to be taken out before they get to be a tree?

Oh Lord, if I have any other seedlings that need to be taken down, please show me now. I ask that you would help me to say no to any seed that wants to come in, take root and begin to grow where it should not be. I ask that you would give me courage, wisdom and strength to say no in the beginning so that I don’t have to say a bigger no later on. Thank you for being my everything!

“Oh righteous Father, the world has not

known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:25-26