Goodness, God is so good!! I have been seeing Him move in so many areas of my life since I've been on vacation and just getting a renewed view of who He is and who I am IN HIM!! I think the most important thing He has reminded me of is the fact that He is in control of all I do. That I am connected to Him. In John 15:1-2 it says "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." I have found a renewed sense of security in this passage. In the last few weeks God has truly been speaking to me about bearing fruit. There is always fruit that we're able to produce. We either produce good fruit or bad fruit. God is constantly looking over us and waiting to prune us. When we allow ourselves to be pruned by God we are opening ourselves up to Him in awesome ways. We are saying to Him that we desire Him to get rid of everything in our lives that is hindering us in our relationship with Him. We can choose to either hang onto those things or give them up to God and allow Him to move us past those into a more intimate relationship with Him. It isn't easy to be pruned by the Lord, and it is something that is constantly needing to happen. We are either dying or growing so when we are growing we must be pruned to continue to grow in a healthy way. When we allow something to hinder our walk with God our production slows and it effects every area of our lives. That is when we must come to God and ask Him to look upon us and remove the garbage in our lives.

I have to admit I have been quite content in where I've been recently with the Lord and haven't allowed Him to truly prune me. When I recognized the fruit that was being produced and actually causing me to not really grow more I immediately insisted God prune me. It is so important to continue to grow because if you aren't growing you're dying. I don't want to be a Christ-Follower that is dying. I want to be one that is constantly living by faith and seeing God move in my life and the lives of others in amazing ways!! It can only come by submitting to Him and recognizing that we are in His garden. He has totally shown Himself faithful in this time also and giving me awesome opportunities to see Him work and increased my faith on so many levels. These past few weeks have been nothing short of amazing and I am completely blown away with some opportunities He's given me and I've walked away completely humbled and knowing at that moment God is smiling upon me!! Such an amazing feeling!

This week I want to challenge you to find some time alone with God and invite Him to prune you. It will be a bit painful but I can promise in the end when you rid yourself of the things holding you back in your relationship with Him it will bring you so much more Joy, Peace, and life! Recognize that you're here to glorify Him and do His work. You are to bear fruit and that fruit is suppose to be Godly fruit. Look at your live and see if you're even bearing any fruit, ask God to show you the fruit you're producing and then ask Him to lead you into a deeper relationship with Him so you can bear more Godly fruit!