She took the utmost pride in her work and gave meticulous attention to detail not to mention she was a very caring person. All of these attributes were precisely the reason why she was the favorite unit clerk among all doctors on the cardiac floor of the local hospital. Along with a good job, Blair had a loving husband and four precious children. She confessed belief in God and Jesus Christ and continually admitted being blessed. Yet there seemed to be something missing-something that was keeping her from being truly content.
Blair had a very troubled childhood and could not count on her mother to be the role model she needed. The only love and security she had ever known as a child came from her stepfather who had died just a couple of years ago. While dealing with her grief she would always verbally acknowledge blessings in her life but then would finish by expressing the frustration she experienced either with work, kids, her husband or all of the above! This behavior started becoming routine and the frustration began to intensify with much of it stemming from petty grievances toward her husband. Socks on the floor, clothes folded ‘incorrectly’ and crumbs left on the kitchen counter were offenses that were so disturbing to her that their marriage was in jeopardy. A pleasant weekend would bring hope of reconciliation only to be followed by the frustrations of daily life.
Dark Times Get Darker
Just as the two were contemplating divorce and consulting lawyers, the unexpected and tragic happened. While Blair was at work she began to feel very strange, weak on her left side and unable to see out of her left eye! The physicians on the floor quickly ran to her aid, assessed and diagnosed her with having a stroke. She was only 28 years old! From that point on she endured months of tests, doctors, physical therapy and medications to prevent future strokes.
At this point, Blair believed her world was truly falling apart. She didn’t realize that there was much more going on that she couldn’t see and the Lord had other plans for her, her future and her family. She couldn’t see the Lord’s hand in any of what was happening to her. All she could see was that she couldn’t walk, had no use of her left arm or left eye and had to concentrate intensely to speak an intelligible sentence. She also saw from this, devastation to her marriage and financial ruin. What was more importantly taking place at the time was divine intervention. God was preparing her for a “grafting”.
New Creation
Grafting is a term used in horticulture to describe the process of taking a bud or shoot of a plant placed into a notch in the body of another plant as it grows to form a new creation. The section of plant is stripped of its outer layers to be grafted into the ‘parent’ plant and then that section takes on the characteristics of the parent.
Unknown to Blair, God was using her current medical situation to strip her of her defenses, self sufficiency and misconceptions of how to live in order to build her back up in him and graft her into his family as a sister of Christ! “A sister of Christ? How can that be?” you may be asking. In the book of John, Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” “God is the gardener” (v, 5,1). He continued by teaching that those of us that don’t live in his will are likened to useless branches that wilt, die and are then gathered together and burned. The ones who live in him and keep his words in their heart will grow, flourish and become a great joy to God (v. 6-8).
I guess you could say since Jesus is “God’s only begotten son”, this is the Father’s way of ‘adopting’ the rest of us into his kingdom family (John 3:16)! Better yet Paul says it in Romans 11:16-32 when he explains the importance of a holy foundation. He says that if the root is holy, so are the branches. If a person is grafted into that holy branch and takes in it’s goodness and nutrients and continues in belief and faithfulness, then that person will find mercy, be blessed and grow in the Lord!
Blair had to be stripped of all she thought she knew of God and herself in order to receive the truth about the Lord, his love, mercy and grace for us. It was this process that allowed her to be grafted into a family of love, acceptance, guidance and protection that she had never known before! Although, you may be wondering how so much good could possibly come from so much tragedy. Through the difficulties of this time in her life God was able to teach her what to place real value on and what to let go. The frustration of crumbs on the counter could be set aside to make room for love and appreciation of constant support of family and friends as well as divine guidance and peace that only comes from God!
Changed for the Better
Blair had to be stripped of all she thought she knew of God and herself in order to receive the truth about the Lord, his love, mercy and grace for us. It was this process that allowed her to be grafted into a family of love, acceptance, guidance and protection that she had never known before! Although, you may be wondering how so much good could possibly come from so much tragedy. Through the difficulties of this time in her life God was able to teach her what to place real value on and what to let go. The frustration of crumbs on the counter could be set aside to make room for love and appreciation of constant support of family and friends as well as divine guidance and peace that only comes from God!
Changed for the Better
Today Blair walks and talks as if nothing ever happened-almost. No, there’s no subtle limp or slurred speech that lingers. Her speech and stride are perfectly normal. What is different about her is a brighter light in her eyes, a confidence in her walk and a peace in her life that wasn’t there before! The distinct presence of God in her life during that time made a life changing impact-for the better-forever!
It isn’t possible for two trees to produce a ‘new’ tree unless the one is grafted into the core or heart of the other. In the same way we can never become new creatures in Christ unless we are willing to allow ourselves to have all the outer layers of self-sufficiency, criticism, judgment, pride and negativity removed. By doing this we can have our hearts and souls, stripped and bear, grafted in with his so that he can change us from the inside out and make us more like him (Romans 11:13-25). A new creature that anyone who saw her would say, “That’s God’s daughter”!
Grafting anything is a process that begins with a cut and ends with healing that leads to production of much fruit. It is the same when he grafts you and me! He cuts away the things in our life that produce only death and then grafts us into Jesus so we have new growth that produces life and fruitfulness. When you think about it, we should expect nothing less from our Creator who created us than to continue creating new life in us! Amen!
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