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- Thread starter RiverOL
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What Does It Mean To Be Grafted In?
“Grafted In”
In horticulture, the term grafting means the joining of a section of one tree (the scion) into the trunk, or life force, of another tree (the rootstock) with the result of them becoming one tree bearing the characteristics of both. The scion determines the fruit type, while the rootstock influences tree size and other such characteristics. This technique is used to propagate specific fruit varieties, as most fruit trees don’t come true to seed, and cuttings don’t root easily.
Grafting in the New Testament refers specifically to the Gentiles being grafted in through Christ to the inheritance of Israel. Let me propose that it may also refer to the individual who is saved by grace and who then becomes a part of the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12), or who is metaphorically grafted into the vine of John 15.
Why Graft the Grape Vines
According to Decanter, grafting “allows grape vines to express the desirable varietal characteristics of the scion in the fruits, while developing or keeping the root system of the rootstock”The article continues, “In the 1860s, when new botanicals were being brought from the New World to Europe, a tiny louse, later named as phylloxera, hitchhiked to Europe in live vines from America. Since its arrival, the pest ravaged all of Europe and almost wiped out plantings of Vitis vinifera, the wine species of the genus Vitis, in this part of the world and beyond. After various failed attempts to eradicate the phylloxera, scientists discovered that the domestic vines from America are naturally resistant to the insect, which feeds on the roots.” Grafting the European vines into the American vines gave resistance to the insects.
According to Grafted Sellars, wine from grafted vines is greatly improved, not only because of resistance to pests, but also because of flavor profile, vineyard management, and overall quality:
Flavor Profile
“Grafted wines often display a more consistent flavor profile because they benefit from the precise combination of grape variety and rootstock. The controlled vine growth and disease resistance can result in wines with intense and predictable flavors, making them appealing to both winemakers and consumers.“On the other hand, non-grafted wines may exhibit more significant flavor variation due to the unpredictability of vine health and development. While some non-grafted wines may offer unique characteristics, they can also be more susceptible to disease-related flavor inconsistencies.”
Vineyard Management
“Grafted vineyards are more manageable and sustainable. Winemakers have greater control over disease prevention, yield, and vine health. This predictability in vineyard management allows for better planning and resource allocation.‘Non-grafted vineyards may require more extensive pest and disease management and additional attention to soil conditions and vine health. This can lead to higher maintenance costs and potential risks.”
Overall Quality
“The overall quality of grafted wines is often considered higher and more consistent than non-grafted wines. This is primarily due to the benefits of disease resistance, improved vine vigor, and better climate adaptation.“While non-grafted wines can be of excellent quality, they may require more meticulous care and attention to achieve the same level of consistency and resilience.”
The Grafting Process
So, now that you know why, here is a simplified step-by-step guide to how to graft the vines:- 1. Choose a compatible rootstock and scion:
Select rootstock and scion varieties that are compatible within the same fruit species (e.g., apple scions on apple rootstocks). - 2. Prepare the graft:
Make clean, matching cuts on both the rootstock and scion using a grafting knife. - 3. Join the graft:
Align the cambium layers (the green layer just under the bark) of the rootstock and scion, and secure the graft union tightly with grafting tape or wax. - 4. Protect the graft:
Seal the graft union with grafting wax or compound to prevent drying out and protect against insects and diseases. - 5. Provide care:
Place the grafted tree in a sheltered spot, keep the graft union moist, and monitor for new growth.”
Grafting
Simplified, here is our microcosm: We choose (free will) to be joined into Jesus Christ, our Savior, and we want to be compatible with Him and His will for our lives. We do our best to match Him, and He helps us along by making the “cuts.” The original healthy grapevine that produces much is Christ. Through reading the Word, prayer, and His great love, we are perfectly joined and provided with what we need to become more and more like Him. Years down the line, by grace, we look enough like Him that the cut can not even be found. We not only become part of His body, but we are protected from disease and attack. Our very existence in this life becomes more palatable and manageable. We live dependant upon Him, and He provides for us.Psalm 103:1-4 promises:
“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”
As we acclimate and grow in our relationship with Christ, the very Spirit that nourishes Him, nourishes us. As the sap passes through the vine and into the branches, so the Spirit passes through Him and into us. We are His and He is ours. Hallelujah!
Amidst the joy and promises, there is a warning:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:1-8, the words of Jesus Christ).
Bearing Fruit
Bearing fruit is necessary to remaining in the vine. And what is our fruit? It may be what the Bible terms “the fruit of the Spirit” evident in our lives: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). It might also be the fruit of our actions, performed for His service: “we…have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects—bearing fruit in every good deed” (Colossians 1:9-10). In addition, it could be the fruit of our prayers and requests as we live in fellowship with Him: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:7-8). Colossians 1:11-12 speaks of being “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might” for “all endurance and patience with joy.” It also mentions “giving thanks to the Father who has made us worthy to share in the inheritance of God’s people in the kingdom of light.” In essence, we are dependent on God for power, and our ability to exist in that power, through our connection to Him, along with the joy of thankful service.
I understand, and this is the voice of experience, that I cannot navigate this world doing good on my own. My own good is not good for much anyway. All my “righteousness is as filthy rags.” Thank You, Jesus, for grafting me into You where I am safe and useful!
God bless you and graft you into Himself.
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In His Deliverance of a Desperate Man, Jesus Gives Us Hope
Mark 5:1–20 speaks powerfully of an angry, alienated, and lonely man, driven to despair at the hands of evil spirits. This ancient story captures the emptiness and desperation of countless people today.
“This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him…. He tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
The man inflicted punishment on himself, as many in our culture do emotionally, and some physically, including cutting themselves.
When Jesus saw him, He said, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
Christ addressed one demon who had a legion of demons under him. This lead demon, realizing Christ’s authority, begged Jesus to cast them into a herd of pigs. “He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”
A crowd gathered around Jesus and saw the formerly possessed man “sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.” Jesus told him, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark writes, “So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”
This story reveals much about demons, people, and Jesus. Demons oppress, attack, and possess people, sometimes empowering them to do evil, always doing them great harm. They prompt people to hurt themselves and inflict evil and suffering on God’s image-bearers. Perhaps this is the closest demons can come to avenging God for casting them out of Heaven because of their sin. Demons recognize Christ’s absolute authority over them. Jesus commands them at will, and in loving mercy delivers a man from his miserable life.
This extreme case is relevant to all of us. In cultures where everyone realizes there’s a supernatural world, demons make themselves known as false gods to intimidate people, demanding worship and exacting retribution. In modern Western cultures where people routinely deny the supernatural, demons often accomplish their purposes more effectively by flying under the radar and working covertly. If we had eyes to see, we’d realize that all around us, fallen humans become the unwitting tools of evil spirits, harming themselves and others, and living wretched lives, sometimes quietly under the facade of social respectability.
Jesus loves afflicted people and went to the cross to deliver us, freeing us from the evil and suffering inflicted upon us by demons and ourselves. In delivering that desperate man, He gives hope to us all, showing us a picture of the total and final deliverance of His people from the powers of evil.
When Jesus rescued him from evil spirits, the man was at last “in his right mind,” thinking clearly. Jesus transformed him. The delivered man overflowed with gratitude, as should all who know Christ’s grace. To embrace Jesus as our redeemer is to be delivered from considerable evil and suffering now, and eventually from all evil and suffering. Jesus liberates us and calls us to testify to others of His mercy and power to defeat evil and relieve suffering.
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How Can Couples Communicate Better During Conflict?
On of the most common complaints that I hear from couples in my office, especially women, is that their partner doesn’t listen to them. For instance, Karen, age 40, has been married to Derek, age 42, for a decade and they bicker often due to poor communication skills and defensiveness on both of their parts.
Karen put it like this, “I don’t know what to do to get Derek to listen to me. We’re considering moving, and he keeps searching for homes in Florida when he knows I want to stay in New England close to my aging parents. I just want a smaller home that’s easier to clean but he wants to leave the area and won’t listen.”
How Can Couples Communicate Better During Conflict?
In a recent article for the website Candidly.com, Certified Gottman Couples Therapist, Kimberly Panganiban decodes one of loves greatest mysteries: when conflict arises, how can you be truly heard?
No matter whether a fight revolves around a petty concern, or has grown from something small into a screaming match, Panganiban’s strategy is grounded in a simple concept — what she calls a “gentle start up.” At its core, a gentle start up is “a way of complaining (or communicating concerns) without blame, which gives our partner the best chance of hearing it and responding without defensiveness…”
The article goes on to outline three steps that Dr. John Gottman encourages couples to practice in order to achieve a successful gentle start up. First, you should be mindful of the way and the words with which you communicate your frustration. Begin sentences with “I feel,” followed by an emotion — for example, “I feel sad” or “upset,” or “ignored.”
Then, continuing your careful style of communication follow your feeling up with a description of the object of your upset. For example, “I feel sad about the way we aren’t taking on an equal share of the household chores.” Notice in this example that the second of Dr. Gottman’s 3 steps is employed — that you “describe the situation that you are upset about, [and] do NOT describe your partner.” This kind of careful use of language can prevent your partner from feeling attacked and becoming defensive, and will enable you to foster a productive dialogue.
Finally, finish your initial statement in the conflict with an “I need.” In other words, “tell your partner what you need in clear, concrete terms. Make sure you are sharing a positive need as opposed to a negative need. This means that you share what you need to have happen versus sharing what is happening that you don’t like. Negative needs are critical by nature so they need to be avoided.”
While these three seemingly simple steps will likely yield positive results and reduce conflict in your relationship, Panganiban also acknowledges that the dynamics of a partnership are often unpredictable. She notes that “we can choose all the right words but if we are still having critical thoughts in our head, chances are that will come out in our communication with our partner in some way, such as our tone of voice. The gentle start up is most successful when you actually start thinking about things differently, not just saying them differently.”
Indeed, the gentle start up is as much about a mindset as it is a set of words. Once I explained to Karen and Derek that they could learn the skills they need to decrease defensiveness and improve their communication, they were willing to give the gentle start up a try. And when they began listening better to each other, they came up with a compromise for moving that they could both live with.
Derek speaks, “Even though I would prefer moving to a warmer climate (like Florida), I understand that Karen wants to be near her parents who are in their mid-seventies. So we agreed that we’d downsize to a smaller house, and invest whatever funds we have left after the sale of our large home. This way we’ll have a nest egg to either spend more vacation time in Florida or buy a second home later on.”
Panganiban sums it up by saying that “the goal of the gentle start up is to actually shift your thinking from what your partner is doing wrong to how you feel and what you need… So the gentle start up is about giving ourselves the time and space to reflect on our own internal world before bringing that to our partner.”
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Belonging is a Two-Way Street
We often talk about how much we want to belong. There is a clear desire in all of us to feel included, a part of things. It is a huge part of feeling purposeful in this communal world.
We enter institutions and relationships with a deep hope. We hope to find belonging. We hope the people and the places we find ourselves in will accept us and include us.
But belonging is a two-way street. And what we rarely think about is the part we have to play in cultivating belonging. We rarely consider how we might help others belong.
Victim Mentality
The reason for this is that we generally view ourselves as a victim of the world around us. We are the consumer and people either give or withhold what we desire. That is the narrative we choose.In today’s world, we are cocked and ready to go off if we do not feel included. If belonging is withheld from us, we are ready with all kinds of sundry labels for those evil people who hold us at arm’s length.
Sometimes this is justified. But not as much as we use it. We adopt victim mentality in traffic and in lines at the store. At home with a loving spouse and at our workplace.
We hold people responsible for our belonging. Sometimes we even give them little tests to see if their approval of us is up to snuff.
Ownership and Responsibility
We try to make belonging a one-way street. You must accept me.But there is another side to belonging. One that is equally (neither more or less) important.
If we truly want to experience belonging, we have to do our part in creating a culture of belonging. We can’t be bigoted toward others while ranting about their bigotry toward us. We can’t belittle others “in good fun” and then complain when we’re ousted by another group.
We hold others to a standard we are not willing to live up to ourselves. What’s worse, we don’t even think we need to live by a standard. We assume everything about us is good and justified.
Belonging is about community. It is not about personal affirmation. It is about unity and togetherness. It is not about promoting one’s self-esteem.
We run into this pandemic in all areas of our lives. We want to be loved but give no real thought to how we are loving others. We want to be celebrated but do the bare minimum to reward others (or even to consider them). Belonging only happens if we are working at it together. It is not something “they” give to ME. It is something the community pursues in truth and love. It is a culture thing. And if we demand it works for our benefit without any of our effort, we are foolish and shortsighted. Belonging is a two-way street.
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Why the Grandparent Effect Still Matters Today
I didn’t grow up with a grandparent nearby. And while my parents have ten grandchildren, they only live within a two-hour drive of one of them; most of the rest are at least a two-day drive away. Our family (while bigger than many) is not unusual.
Bill and Gayle Clark with their ten grandchildren.
One of the challenges of modernity is how separated from our families we often are. The ease of movement and economic mobility, while very useful to careers and personal choice regarding geographical context, has often meant parents become separated from their adult children and/or grandchildren. While we are living longer, with more possibilities for grandparents to enjoy and support their grandchildren, we aren’t always getting to take advantage of this.
Cross-generational Care
The National Institutes of Health equates physical proximity between family generations to health and economic well-being. Grandparents (most often grandmothers, but definitely also grandfathers) help with childcare helps which allows more people to participate in the labor force. Having adult children nearby delays nursing home health and assists older adults in staying independent for longer.
However, families are diverse, and there is a great deal at play in how we are able to care for each other. And while the “grandmother effect” has been recognized for decades as a vital element in human thriving, for most of history, it was rare to have grandparents living as long or with as much health as they do in today’s world. Even today, the vagaries of divorce, mental health, personal preference, and the need to work longer past traditional retirement age can impinge on the mutual benefits of cross-generational care.
My research on seventeenth-century families reveals that much of this is not new. Even without the lowered life expectancy of the past, the idealistic view of symbiotic generations helping each other out was hard to achieve. The English Catholic families I study had their share of challenges due to being a persecuted minority, and while their difficulties might have resulted in them bonding with each other, it appears they sometimes also resulted in intergenerational conflict. I have been inspired by Susan Cogen’s research on grandparents in the seventeenth century to think more intergenerationally about how families navigated persecution.
Divergence Around Faith
Grandparents frequently were concerned enough about the religious life of their grandchildren to sponsor their attendance at Catholic schools in Europe (which was an illegal activity at the time, but many families took the risk anyway) or to encourage their calling as priests and nuns. Sometimes, upon the death of a parent, grandchildren were sent to live with a living grandparent—occasionally this was someone who could nurture their faith.But sometimes the English state intervened and moved a child from a Catholic family to the home of a Protestant grandparent (in the case of interfaith marriages). Tensions around thoughts about how to nurture the next generation could easily flare up when money or legal status overlapped with divergence around faith.
For instance, the Calvert family (who became the Lords Baltimore when they were given the colony they called Maryland) chose to lose their positions at court in order to retain their Catholic faith. For three generations, they sent their children to Catholic schools on the continent in order to educate them in the Catholic community and practices. However, in the early 18th century, the fourth Lord Baltimore, Benedict Calvert, decided to conform to the Protestant state church to retain his positions. He sent for his boys, including Charles, his teenage heir, to come back from their Catholic school to join him in his new Protestant faith.
The boys’ Catholic maternal grandfather was horrified that the boys would be pressured to renounce their religion. He worked hard to prevent them from leaving their school, asking the priests at the school to delay their departure or to move them to a different location. When Benedict finally got the boys back home, he forbade them from seeing their grandfather until they had all been confirmed in the Church of England. The heartbreaking letters written by the boys and their grandfather reveal the latter’s investment in those relationships. Clearly, while rich family relationships are formed by the presence of kinfolk like grandparents, those same relationships can cause tension, and are not uniformly positive.
We Are All Better Off
Hurt and trauma between parents and their adult children can handicap grandparents’ ability to be effective in coming alongside their family later in life. But even with those challenges, there are ways to allow older generations to be helpful in the limited ways they can, and it turns out we are all better off when we do this. My youngest sister had great distress in her childhood because of choices my parents made.In adulthood, she concluded that she did not “owe” them anything. But once she had children, she chose to accept the real assistance and investment they wanted to make in her kids, because it was good for that next generation. When she went through a terrible divorce from a husband who had never been a spiritual mentor to her children, the support of my father (and my mother, with her limitations) in helping create a home life with regular spiritual conversations with their grandchildren was what she and they needed.
My own parents’ ability to grandparent has been mitigated, though not eliminated, by cancer and Alzheimer’s. My mother was able to be present and helpful with the births of the older grandchildren, but by the last few, her disease prevented her from being able to care independently for babies and preschoolers. However, she still reads to the children, watches funny animal videos with them, and smiles as she watches them play. And they benefit from thinking about care for the elderly, helping her walk, being patient with her as she asks repeatedly for the same information over and over.
The grandparent effect doesn’t mean that perfectly healthy relationships are formed among all three generations. However, even when there is pain and disagreement, research shows that we are all better off when we stay near to each other, working through those painful elements. We have options today that have not always been available in previous centuries, with earlier deaths and debilitating illnesses. And many stories in the Bible demonstrate the pain that parents and children inflict on each other.
Still, biblical grandmothers like Naomi (Ruth 4:16) and Lois (2 Timothy 1:5) give us a small sense of the intimate and vital role provided by grandparents when they are in close proximity to grandchildren. And as someone without children myself, I crave the presence of my elders to help me slow down, listen to stories about the past, and to cultivate gratitude for the leading of God across generations. The grandparent effect can shape us all in healthier ways, if we create space to allow it to.
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Bloom Again: A Weekend of Power, Purpose, and Testimony
God has been doing some amazing things in my life recently and I wanted to share some of it with my readers! I actually had the incredible privilege of speaking at a first time ever event called Bloom Again. It was a powerful women’s event held in Augusta, Georgia in early May.
This event began as a plan to have a east coast launch for the authors of the new best selling devotional: Before She Knew Jesus. However, Becky Vasquez and Ashley Weston had a bigger vision in mind. It bloomed from there, and it didn’t take long for several of the remaining authors, like me, to jump on board! Right from the beginning we could feel God’s hand in the details as it all came together!
A Women’s Gathering Igniting Identity and Purpose
Bloom Again was a call to women of all ages to gather, connect, and be reminded of who God says we are! No matter the age or season of life, it was a time to gather and rekindle that fire inside. A time to dig a little deeper, with intentions of walking in obedience, and being the women God calls us to be!Sadly, the busyness of our day to day lives, often makes it easy for us, as women, to lose sight of who God says we are!
And in case you don’t know: God calls us “Daughters,” and that’s one truth that no one can take from us!
Excitement Mingled with Anticipation and Expectancy ~
We openly invited women of all ages to this Christian women’s gathering, including mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to unite in one place, with one purpose. We used our Social Media platforms to encourage women to come and be a part of something bigger than themselves. To make new friendships and draw closer to Jesus, all while endeavoring to become exactly who God is uniquely calling us to be.Women from literally all around the country gathered, not knowing exactly what to expect. Yet each one was ready for whatever God intended to show us through it! Anticipation and expectancy filled our hearts as the time approached. And I can tell you that we did not leave disappointed! Jesus was in our midst that day, and I believe lives were transformed in this short span of time.
Peace and Tranquility Filled the Air ~
From the moments we began to gather together on Friday in preparation for Saturday’s event, there was a sense of peace and tranquility in the air. Some of us had never met face to face, even as co-authors of a book we’d written together! That sounds crazy doesn’t it?! But it’s true! We were joined together through our interest in writing and publishing, and a desire to share our testimonies and faith in Jesus Christ!Consequently, we all became Best Selling Authors together too! It’s all just so amazing!
God’s Divine provision led us aspiring authors to an amazing lady named Tamra Andress, 6X best selling author and owner of F.I.T. in Faith Media a publishing & media company. She drew us together, united us as authors, helped us find our voices, published our books, and became our friend! She’s a woman on a mission to share Jesus, and helping us to do the same!
I’ve personally written two books with Tamra and a cohort of wonderful ladies. Both of them became Best Sellers within a week of their release! One with Barnes and Noble; One with Amazon.
You can grab a copy at those links and we would love for you to leave us a review!
Check this link on YouTube for More Than Enough trailer!
Some of the Authors of
For me, Bloom Again wasn’t just another event—it was a deeply personal milestone! It marked the first time that I stood before a large gathering of women to speak, not just from notes, but from my heart.I loved being a part of the first ever Bloom Again event in Augusta Ga! ~ I introduced “Yay, You!” to the public with T-shirts, and merchandise, and signed a lot of More Than Enough & Before She Knew Jesus Books! ~Photo courtesy of author.
As I boldly shared some of my personal story, it took me back to my roots, growing up in church, and my faith in Jesus. The fact that I lost touch with that part of myself for a while, made it necessary to seek God’s truth while I was reclaiming my own identity.
There at Bloom Again, I stood as His Daughter, and I witnessed the power of vulnerability, testimony, and the Holy Spirit at work! The atmosphere was charged as women listened to each of each of us, and there was a collective hunger for spiritual breakthrough.
Our Testimonies Impacted Lives ~
Personally, I was tremendously blessed by a few women who sought me out after the event. They told me how they too related to my story. Their words meant so much to me, then and now! Just knowing that they willingly stepped out of their comfort zones to share things about themselves, and even ask for prayer over, humbled and honored me at the same time! A few had already read my chapter, and had such nice things to say! Thanks so much ladies!Breakthroughs, Forgiveness and New Beginnings ~
As women shared their testimonies, the stories of breakthroughs, forgiveness, and new beginnings resounded in truth. A feeling of comradery stirred in the room, as each of us found hope in the words spoken by others. As we listened, we heard words we could all relate to in one way or another. More importantly, we realized we were not alone in our trials—and for many of us, that was the most comforting insight of all.Bloom Again weekend was a time of renewal, and fulfillment that was inspired by our shared love of Jesus.
We wanted more. We wanted to become the women God created us to be. From the moment it all began, to the very end, the atmosphere was one that welcomed you in. It relayed a sense of belonging, purpose, and confidence, all of which were confirmation, that we were exactly where we were meant to be!Honestly, the whole experience is hard to describe. But perhaps it was the feeling of belonging that was the intimate factor that touched hearts so deeply.
Hope Was Ignited for Many of the Women Who Attended ~
While only time will reveal the full impact, it was clear that many women left changed—ignited with hope and a renewed awareness of their identity in Christ. Seeds were planted, that for some ladies might have included reminders of past dreams lying dormant, with the call to pick it up again. Yet for others there might have been totally brand new visions given, with the call to step out to find out!In the end, there truly seemed to be a sense of comradery between women who had never met before that day! And each woman had a new spark of determination in their eyes, as they realized they’d been part of something special. Next steps for each person would be entirely in their court as they left that place. Our prayers are that they will choose to follow through with whatever God laid on their hearts!
****Check this video of photos from the event I shared on my Face Book page and I’d love for you to follow me there! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CEanN1sCr/
In Reflection:
Bloom Again really was so much more than a gathering of random women at a conference! It was a divine appointment for connection, healing, purpose, and spiritual renewal for every guest, speaker and vendor who participated.
We Were Exactly Where We Were Meant To Be ~
We Were Chosen Daughters For Such a Time As This ~
As I reflect on all that God did at Bloom Again, my heart overflows with gratitude. The stories, the tears, the healing, the laughter—it all pointed back to Jesus. Women walked away lighter, stronger, and more certain of who they are in Him. While the event may have ended, I truly believe the impact is just beginning. (The planning for future events is already underway!)If you’ve ever felt forgotten, weary, or unsure of your place—let this be your reminder:
You are seen. You are loved. You are called.
And you, too, can bloom again.
Check out this Patheos Post if you too struggle with identity and feeling like you are never enough:
Do You Struggle to Believe That You Are “More Than Enough?”
Here’s some Bible verses to remind you that God makes all things new! Let go of the past!
Isaiah 43:18 (NIV) “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Revelation 21:5 (NKJV) Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
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