Pain in the summer is never fun. Not that pain is ever enjoyable, but the summer just seems to compound the frustration. Everyone is supposed to be enjoying life and the weather, and you feel like crawling in a hole and never coming out.
Last summer, I sat on the back porch with a couple of friends after my kids had gone to bed and my pain spilled over to them. I looked at my life and wondered what on earth I was going to do moving forward. Generally, I like to keep a tight lid on my stuff; opening up seems vulnerable and raw. But this night was one where the honeysuckle smelled sweetest, the warm air wrapped me up in a hug, and the crickets sang from their little homes under the grass.
It all came pouring out, and was received in such a gracious, loving way.
After I was done talking, my friends prayed for me, asking for direction and hope in the days ahead. And the most powerful piece of that was when one of the girls popped her head up and remembered the story I had told her earlier in the evening about my backyard.
You see, it’s a beautiful backyard but not because I made it that way. We bought the house from a landscape architect, and he had worked magic in that space. My only job was to maintain the thing, and I was terrified. I asked the previous homeowner to show me around the yard and tell me what to do with all of it to keep it alive.
She did walk me around, but ended with a shocking statement: “Just cut it all down to the ground in early spring and it will come back like you wouldn’t believe,” she said.
I didn’t want to cut it down to the ground! That sounded like certain death for all those beautiful plants. As I chopped away the first time, I was convinced that was the last I’d ever see of my lovely oasis.
But I did it. And she was right; it came back like a jungle!
My friend remembered this story and told me that was often how God works in our lives. We cut it all down in what feels like a terrific death blow. We give up all our “good works” done in our own strength, all our mistakes, all our pain, and cut it all down. Sometimes it looks like we are barren ground. But then God rushes life in and brings back a jungle in an explosion of color, scent, and beauty.
I learned that night that I couldn’t let my fear of more pain or my regret over my mistakes define my growth moving forward. I had to cut that down and allow God to take it all. Jesus brings life, but so often I want to hold on to my dead stuff left over from last year.
And He says so gently to me, “Cut it down, child, and let me show you what I can do.”
Leave a CommentI will put the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert together with the box tree and the cypress, that they may see and recognize, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. (Isaiah 41:19-20)
Michele Morin says
“. . . the hand of Lord has done this . . .”
Thank you, Isaiah – and thank you, Hannah — for Truth that should be obvious to me, but which I forget from time to time. Blessings!
Hannah says
Amen, Michele! We all have soul amnesia sometimes!
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Hannah,
I needed your post this morning! I have been trying to hold it all together as another, and another, and yet another straw gets added to the camel’s back (I am the camel). One can only carry so much until it all comes crashing down. Oh the pride of self-sufficiency. How true that we often need to be cut to the ground so that God can come in and do what only He can do and grow up fresh fruit and blossoms in His strength. What a poignant and beautiful reminder….thank you!
Blessings,
Bev xx
Kathy Cheek, Devotions from the Heart says
Hi Bev,
I just read your post on your blog about wrestling with God, it is excellent!
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Thanks Kathy….it wasn’t my finest hour, certainly, but it was honest and real and I do try to communicate that in my writing. Thank you for your encouragement! It really means a lot!!
Blessings,
Bev xx
Penny says
Bev,
I’m sorry that you are struggling through a difficult time. Prayers that you are able to uphold the straw that is being piled on your back.
Blessings to you,
Penny
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Thanks Penny…you are such a sweetheart. Lifting you and the concerns of YOUR heart up in prayer.
Blessings and ((hugs)),
Bev
Hannah says
Thanks for your comment, Bev! It’s so true that we try to carry everything ourselves when He has promised to do the heavy lifting!
Beth Williams says
Bev,
Praying for you and your family! May God bring some peace to your weary soul. I pray God takes all the straws off your back & brings some comfort to you. Praying for the family as well!!
(((((Hugs)))))
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Thanks Beth,
You are an AWESOME prayer warrior and your prayers are felt and truly appreciated!! Thank you for your kind and caring spirit!
Blessings,
((XOXO))
Lara says
Hannah, thank you for your post!! The Lord really used it mightily in my life this Saturday morning.
Blessings,
Lara
Hannah says
Thank you, Lara!
Pearl Allard says
Hannah, thank you for encouragement from your pain. May you and all of us be given the courage to take the pain from trusting Him instead of the pain that comes from resisting Him. Again, thank you.
Hannah says
Thank you, Pearl! Amen to that! It is so hard to trust in the pain sometimes.
Kathy Cheek, Devotions from the Heart says
This is beautiful counsel, coming from a counselor! I am thinking right now of several things I need to cut down or pull out all the way, and I am filled with hope for what new growth God will bring.
Hannah says
Love it! Thanks, Kathy!
Penny says
Hannah,
Your words so beautifully written deeply touched me, thank-you.
“I will put Cedar in the wilderness,”It deeply saddens me that a great deal of our forest is in flames, but I believe God will bring life to it again, as I believe He will to us.
Have a blessed day all,
Penny
Hannah says
Thank you for your encouragement, Penny!
Jill Baker says
First of all, thank you for recognizing the need to be undone. I am in that same place in life, and just hold on to the regrets and mistakes I have made in the past. In my head, they are my own to carry and no one needs to share the ickyness of it all. (I do a great job of that on my own.) I lay it all down at the foot of the cross and ask for forgiveness and know without a doubt I am forgiven through the precious blood of Christ, and on top of that I am loved beyond all measure. But…I am stuck in ME! The unworthiness and failures and inadequate feelings inside my heart. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHH. I am working on cutting it all down and I know He is with me. I continue to lean so hard on the promises to succeed and not to harm, and I know one day He will use my story to help another locked inside the “closet of the past.” Thank you so much for your post. I am hanging it on my wall as a reminder that in order to grow, we need to be cut down to the ground.
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Jill,
We can’t rid ourselves of the guilt and “stuff” that we carry….believe me I’ve tried!! I finally had to say, “Lord, will YOU work this Truth into my heart?? I can’t get your love and forgiveness to stick, but I know YOU can.” I encourage you to ask God to work this truth into your heart…it’s not something we can achieve on our own. Again, it brings us back to that total reliance and dependence on Him. Apart from Him, we can do NOTHING. When we ask….He answers…promise!
Praying He will work love and forgiveness and the Truth that you are a new creation deep into your heart!!
Love and ((hugs)),
Bev
Hannah says
Beautiful, Bev! Thank you!
Hannah says
Jill, thanks for sharing your story. I love what Bev said already about allowing Him to complete the good work in you. He isn’t impatient with you and wondering when you are going to catch up. He knows you so intimately and wants you to come to Him again and again and again. Regret over even our focus during the day can be so poisonous as we stay stuck much longer in beating ourselves up for obsessing on our failures (I have definitely found that to be true in my own life!). Acknowledge where your focus was and move back into Him, refusing to stew on why you messed up. Jesus is drawing you to Himself even in your junk and making all things beautiful.
Subi says
Thank you, Hannah. God’s been working in me on several fronts lately to let go of the “dead stuff left over from last year,” and He has used your post as another nudge in that direction. It’s such hard work, but so worthwhile!
Hannah says
Thank you, Subi! I pray that He will continue to draw you to Himself and allow the dead stuff to be left along the way.
Claudia says
Thank you Hannah, what a powerful analogy “just cut it all down” sounds simple enough but like Bev said “oh the pride of self sufficiency”. I’m listening to Jesus right through these words. I’ve been in that place when you come unglued before your close friends seeking rhyme and reason to life’s hard trials and they too have ushered me in prayer to our God who is always always in control. It’s the letting go and letting God that I seem to get stuck. So I am learning to be a woman of the word. To know God with my mind and not just my heart so that my emotions won’t dictate the outcome but God’s truth and word will.
Hannah says
Love it, Claudia! Thanks for sharing. It’s true that it is not at all easy, although it sounds simple enough to cut it down. Thankfully, I don’t have to be enough for that! I pray that as you soak in God’s truth that He will remind you of His sufficiency so you don’t have to be enough in yourself. That’s what I pray for myself too!
Candice says
What a blessing this morning. Cut it down and God will restore. Amen.
Hannah says
Thanks, Candice!
bethany mcilrath says
Such a powerful image. Thank you for this. It takes the illustration of “pruning” to a whole new level of faith and abdundance.
Hannah says
Thanks, Bethany!
sheryl87 says
Thank for your words today Hannah, they really spoke to me. I love the reminder that Jesus brings life and we need to let go of the dead stuff to embrace that.
Hannah says
Thanks, Sheryl! He is so good to bring reminders of His Life through all the dead stuff.
Beth Williams says
Hannah,
Everyone has stuff they need to cut down. If only it was that easy. Just when you think you’ve let it go and are over the past-in comes the devil to whisper lies. Praying for all here. May you lay it all down at Jesus’ feet and let Him do a good work in you. Thanking God for Godly friends we all have who will come along side us, listen & pray for us.
Blessings 🙂
Hannah says
Agreed, Beth! It’s not easy. I am so thankful that He continues to be patient with us even when we keep going back to the lies.
Danielle Bernock says
Beautiful word picture. Thank you for sharing.
Hannah says
Thanks, Danielle!