Lessons From Flowers

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By: Jenifer Metzger

When I was just barely a year old, my parents got saved. They immediately began attending church regularly. We were at church every time the doors were open, as a matter of fact, we were often the ones to open the doors, and then close them. My dad was on the deacon board. My mom taught the preschool age class, then later became the children's pastor. Living for God and church attendance was important to our family.

As a girl growing up in the church, I was part of the Missonettes. If you are not familiar with the Missionettes, it is somewhat similar to a Girl Scouts for Christians. I was crowned Honor Star, the Missionettes class for 3rd to 5th grade girls. I read through the Bible multiple times by the time I was crowned. I began helping in the preschool class at 11 years old, and, along with my childhood best friend, became the lead teacher in the preschool class at age 12. I worked as a leader in the youth group. My life was all about Jesus and church. Bible reading was an intentional habit. Journaling my prayers was a beautiful practice. Church attendance and serving was a passion.

Then I became a young mother. My husband and I were still at the church every time the doors were open. We both served in ministry, even became children's pastors. We prayed with our children and read Bible stories to them. Church and serving God was still the center of our world.

About 11 years ago I began to feel like something was missing in my life. I had an amazing husband, four precious children, a lovely home, a large and wonderful family, a fabulous ministry at church, but something was just missing. Slowly, God began to reveal to me what I was missing. God told me that I was living as a Sunday morning Christian. I attended church. I served in church. I prayed mealtime and bedtime prayers with my kids. I didn't drink, smoke, use drugs, or curse. I did all the right things. But that was it. My Bible never cracked open. My prayers were limited to those mealtime and bedtime prayers with the kids. But that was it.

At this same time, my husband bought me a beautiful hanging flower pot. It was bright, full, and gorgeous. When he told me that he spent almost $30 on this flower pot, my jaw dropped. Friends, I kill flowers. For real. I look at them, they die. With how much this flower pot cost, I was determined to keep it alive. I carefully read and memorized the directions on how to care for my new flower pot. It said: 1) water twice daily, once before the sun comes up, once after the sun goes down. 2) fertilize once a week. 3) Pull dead blooms off so that new blooms will grow. 4) Position in the sun 8-10 hours a day. I thought, "Ok, I can do this." So every morning when I woke up, I went out to my plant, pulled dead blooms off, watered it, and put it in the sun. In the evening I went back out and watered again. Once a week I would fertilize it. I worked so hard on this plant. One Sunday in August I was outside for the evening watering. I was looking at my flower pot and admiring that here it was several months later and I, the known plant killer, kept this beautiful flower alive! I was so excited. Not only was it alive, but it was doing so good!

That's when God very clearly spoke to me. He said, "Jenifer, that's all it takes. Water yourself in My presence and My Word every single day. Fertilize yourself in church every week. Pull off all the dead in your life for new life to grow. And position yourself in My Son all day long. That's it." I realized that it was time to get back into the Word. To dust off my Bible and truly live for God again.

Although I had been raised in the church and was even a children's pastor, I had no idea where to begin. I picked up a Our Daily Bread devotional at my church and decided to start there. I would wake up a few minutes early, open the devotional, read the one verse at the top, read the devotional, then say a brief prayer. After a short time, it wasn't enough. I wanted more. I started reading more Scriptures. Then I started a one year Bible reading plan. The more I read, the hungrier I became. I went from 2-3 minutes to almost an hour. Now, I love spending time with Jesus, I love reading His Word, and I love praying. The emptiness was gone. I became alive again.

Friends, that's all it takes. Ask Jesus into your heart. Read His Word. Pray. Attend church. Position yourself to hear from the Son throughout the day. That's it. When we do that, He fills us.

We'd love to hear your testimony! Please share your story, the story of what's true about you!

It's time for Share A Link Wednesday! Each Wednesday we invite you to leave a link to your latest blog post in the comments. We still desire to connect women of God with one another and encourage each other in Christ. So grab a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea, sit back and visit a few blogs. Be encouraged and share your own stories.