Do Your Faith Roots Run Deep?

After living in Oklahoma for 40+ years, I know what winds, lightning, and even ice can do to a tree. Those strong winds threaten to uproot the tree and carry it away. The lightning and ice breaks off branches. And when the summer storm or winter ice storm is over, it can look quite hopeless for that tree.

If we look closer; however, the same storm that opened crevices in the earth around the trunk of the tree helped the roots go deeper. And now, the tree has access to new, deeper sources of nutrition and water. And it's been purged of all its dead branches. We witnessed that with a tall tree in our own back yard. One winter, an ice storm stripped the tree of so many of its largest branches. Our next door neighbor asked if we were going to take that tree down. It looked as if it would surely die, but we waited and the next summer, that tree returned to full foliage and even more beautiful than before.

Now, let's compare those trees to our "faith" trees. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

I know about storms – both with the weather storms and those that come to devastate our lives spiritually, mentally and physically. My husband and I went through some intense “faith challenging” storms. Seven years ago at this time, my husband, Ron, had been in and out of the hospital five times, had five surgeries, and other complications that had to be dealt with. The winds were blowing hard, shaking us violently, and making us wonder if we were going to make it. But, no matter the storm on any particular day, we always remembered our confessions of faith from the onset of that faith journey. We kept speaking “We know that Ron is healed! Just like the tree whose roots run deep….we’re determined to stand strong during these winds that have come to destroy us.” And with that statement of faith, we would rebound, be nourished and strengthened to carry on. In spite of the pain, we’d take Ron for another medical treatment, but not before he’d ask me to wheel him over to the beautiful Steinway piano that was in the atrium of the medical facility. How beautiful it was to hear him play “Amazing Grace” and “Count Your Blessings” on that piano, in those incredible acoustics. It was always the sweetest reminder of how good God was to us! Ron’s positive attitude generated so much faith, even with the tremendous amount of pain that he lived with for so many months.

We were very specific with our prayers. ”Dear Lord, we ask that these treatments and medications provide nourishment to Ron’s body – that they do the good things that they are intended to do – that every sick cell be gone and only healthy cells remain, that the tumors shrink and die, that his bones be strong and blood be resilient, and any and all side effects be neutralized and rendered null and void. We expect a miracle as You have said, “Nothing is impossible with God!” May we continue to be firm in our belief that a miracle is on its way. Help us to stand strong upon your Word knowing that it is true. Thank you that our hope is in You.” Amen.

We were literally bathed in Christ’s love by His hand extended to us through so many sweet blessings -- even that he never suffered any side effects from all his treatments. We had loving and devoted friends and family during that time that showed Christ's love to us in the middle of our storm. Here’s the fine print of this post today: "Faith – Love – Hope" had their perfect work in us. Everyday was energized by our hope and expectation that a miracle was on its way. He wasn't healed on this side of heaven but our prayers were answered for him to be healed, and he is healed and whole on the other side in heaven. The scripture I started with. in this post, is the greatest indicator of our prayers being answered for me: “But blessed is the man (WOMAN) who trusts in the LORD, (We did!) whose confidence is in Him (It was). He (She) will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream (My tree was planted there, and it’s still on THAT SPOT). It does not fear when heat comes (No fear here); its leaves are always green (my best color). It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit (That’s ME!) ." Jeremiah 17:7-8 The answer to that question, “Does faith really work?” -- I guarantee it does – I'm proof positive. I guarantee it for you, too!