<\/a>Whenever anyone acquires a piece of land: AKA a spouse, children, a home & a ministry within those confines, there is quite a laborious process in tending the fields and farms before the gardens, orchards\u00a0or vineyards actually start producing fruit, meaning families are flourishing as a whole unit. \u00a0There is hard, back-breaking work like plowing the field, ripping up weeds, tilling the soil, planting of seeds and watering the ground before the smallest sign of plant life even appears!<\/p>\n

My analogies go as follows:<\/p>\n

Hard, back breaking work is the Truth that\u00a0to be a Godly wife & mother it will depend upon\u00a0your longing\u00a0to\u00a0sacrificially offer the Lord everything you have in regard to body, soul & Spirit! \u00a0This job is taxing physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually.<\/p>\n

Plowing the field means granting Jesus the right to turn the field of your heart into soft, pliable & useable soil where there’s hard, rocky ground. \u00a0Ripping up weeds means acknowledging sins; our own as well as ones others have put on us, and plucking them up by the roots. \u00a0The illustration of uprooting the tares is likened to confessing those sins. \u00a0As we do so, we are making room in our hearts for God’s love, grace & mercy through Christ to flow into us while receiving forgiveness for ourselves as well as others.<\/p>\n

This, to me, is the tilling of the ground. \u00a0It is where we have acquiesced to the plowing & removal of weeds by letting the Lord turn\u00a0over that once unrelenting place so\u00a0seeds now have adequate space to grow. \u00a0You see, Father will salvage every single spot of that ground if we but concede to His doing so! \u00a0In proper perspective, we know that everything is sanctioned to God & by God from eternity anyway! \u00a0Therefore, why not trust\u00a0Him to do what is best with the earth He created from the beginning!<\/p>\n

Next, with the planting of seeds, I relate that to us\u00a0accepting &\u00a0appropriating our Creator’s discharge of\u00a0duties for us which He enlisted from the start.<\/p>\n

Once we are determined to be excavated & cultivated, we are prepared for what’s to come. \u00a0And what I have found\u00a0is the common thread through this planting process is to have complete reliance upon the Lord! \u00a0When waiting for the rain, we are tested in our faith. \u00a0I mean, only He knows when it will pour out on us.<\/p>\n

But do we abide until then? \u00a0Because, with my similar analogy of us being both the farmer & the one being farmed, that seed inside the dirt is like us\u00a0women when we go\u00a0through hardships; In the midst of either being that praying farmer\/woman or the bud buried below, we are forming & birthing from a seed to sprout! \u00a0And\u00a0eventually the hope is both to become and usher in\u00a0a crop of rich, abundant\u00a0vegetation in ample supply fit for the Master Gardener!<\/p>\n

And maybe you don’t connect the dots between my women\/farmer\/farmland analogies here. \u00a0But I write them to express the truths of what goes on behind the scenes between having a piece of land yet managing\u00a0that land compared to taking up residence somewhere\u00a0yet actually occupying\u00a0that\u00a0home (as in: “For me & my house we shall serve the Lord”).<\/p>\n

Some do not understand the immense servitude, dedication, commitment, devotion & passion it takes to surrender to the Spirit’s work within our lives in order for the sweet, pleasant flowers to bloom in all their magnificent splendor! \u00a0My motive in writing this blog is to inspire you towards focusing on the end scene of your life, from here in the present, as a picturesque landscape endowed with plush pastures!<\/p>\n

But it will cost you your will.<\/p>\n

It will require\u00a0dying to self constantly. \u00a0It will take failing multiple times as we\u00a0learn. \u00a0It will mean pressing into the process of the Spirit’s desire to prune us regularly,\u00a0picking up our cross & carrying it. \u00a0In order for the transformative power of Christ to occupy more & more of our souls, we have to see our lives not as our own.<\/p>\n

Just as farmers always face the elements, so will we. \u00a0But we WILL\u00a0gain advantage over our adversary’s works – weather, pests, weeds – when we rely on our Savior’s strength. \u00a0The troubles we face only build our character. \u00a0With each\u00a0step of faith, we gain more & more hope to prevail in the midst of the trials. \u00a0When we trust God is with us and for us, we better understand both\u00a0our purpose\u00a0and our significance as wives and mothers; who other than\u00a0a farmer can appreciate another\u00a0farmer’s travail?<\/p>\n

Sisters,\u00a0it is worth the extensive requisite of time & energy to be Godly women; for, each person’s plot of land makes a difference\u00a0in the lives of others. \u00a0The fruit & vegetation produced in & through us will not just help feed our families but our neighbors!\u00a0 Plus, once we advance in our understanding of how to care for our fields\u00a0well, \u00a0we won’t have to limit our help to merely sharing our fruit but also be\u00a0in positions to impart those tools & skills to other women in how to care for their\u00a0land! \u00a0This way people\u00a0are not just always coming to us to have their needs met\u00a0but on the contrary, they too are taught the tall trade of wife & mother for themselves. \u00a0And in turn, after the Spirit has provided what they need through you sharing your experiences, those ladies subsequently launch into their personal ministries! \u00a0So the cycle continues!<\/p>\n

Becoming a great farmer comes when we realize we are both\u00a0the land God uses AND the ones He entrusts to\u00a0manage that land! Failure to see both roles will lead to weeds, death in the fields, and a poor harvest. Respecting our dual nature as both farm and farmer is essential and monumental: God gives us as women opportunities to help others grow while being grown ourselves.<\/p>\n

Once we reciprocate the blessing Jesus\u00a0offered us in\u00a0the gift of hands on training, we administer to others what we’ve obtained through our experiences of both being farmed and the one farming! \u00a0Both are imperative for optimal growth! \u00a0And\u00a0on the ripple effect goes in reaching women everywhere for the Kingdom!<\/p>\n

When we each\u00a0have\u00a0our individual farms functioning in full operation, we’ll collectively\u00a0reach the ultimate unity in the Spirit Jesus Himself prayed for in John 17!<\/p>\n

So… Which do you struggle most to embrace – farming or being farmed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever anyone acquires a piece of land: AKA a spouse, children, a home & a ministry within those confines, there is quite a laborious process in tending the fields and farms before the gardens, orchards\u00a0or vineyards actually start producing fruit, meaning families are flourishing as a whole unit. \u00a0There is hard, back-breaking work like plowing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Farm, Farmer or Both?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,13,14,7],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8H2IJ-5a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honingintohome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}