Get Your House in Order: A Must Read Repost

"Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."
Matthew 7:20

(This is a repost from December 13, 2012)

Mom and Dad this summer celebrating their birthdays..
2012
My Dad shared this verse with me a few months back. His words were "Honey, there's a verse that goes with what your saying and it says "you will know them by their fruits." Always the word. Everything has to be backed up with the word of God, truth, and this is certainly one that took me a while to grasp. But when I did, talk about eye opening...oh dear, to come out of denial right into the open field of truth!And to hear it out of my Daddy's mouth, knowing that it came first from my Holy Father's mouth.

Yep, it hurt too. You mean what I am seeing on the outside is an indicator of what's inside. All this time, I am only seeing what I want to see. And when I line up with the word of God to recognize them (whoever) by their fruit...I realize the fruit is not from the healthy tree but the diseased one (Matthew 7:18). Uh oh. And in my recovering codependant self, I finally recognize that it's their own tree. I am able to see it but I cannot change it. I cannot make it bear fruit nor can I rescue it.  I acknowledge and move toward acceptance. I am able to love and trust the Lord with all my heart,  soul,mind and strength. Hard lesson to learn. Lord, let me be recognized by your fruits. A daily dying of self and taking up my own cross, to be more like you. Amen

I recognize my Dad as the tallest, fruitful tree there is, closest to heaven. I love that I have been able to spend so much time with him in these past few years. Just yesterday before Luke's musical, he was sitting at my kitchen table, working on his bible study homework. I was rushing through  and he said "hey honey, listen to our memory verse for this week...I stopped in my tracks, music to my ears, from my Dad's voice, the Father's words.

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."
                                                                                                                                   Isaiah 45:22
Fruitful Blessings,
Suzanne

Day #351 Examine my fruits

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