A Resurrecting Moment

Have you ever found yourself in a stage of life where you felt dead? Or to be less dramatic, you just didn’t feel like yourself anymore? I’ll be honest, I did. Not that I felt dead but I just did not feel like myself. For a long time, I was unaware that I was operating outside of my norm. The former me was dead and I was not sure if I would ever get her back again. It is in these seasons of life that Jesus is trying to get our attention. It’s an invitation to experience life; it’s a resurrecting moment.

It was a slow afternoon at work, so I went to the back of the office and stared through the window watching the wind blow through the golden fall trees. As I watched the leaves fall on the ground, I thought to myself how beautiful a dying tree can be and how faithful God is to bring it back to life when the next season approached. In the same way, we shared the same similarities. See I was going through my own fall season but this one would last longer. This continual season would leave me pruned of all that I had tried to hold onto. John 15:2 reads, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. I did not know then that He was pruning me from all that did not resemble Him.

I marveled at the tree and how it was able to withstand being pruned of its leaves and then bear the frigged winter months just to turn around and bud all over again. Standing there gazing at the tree, I saw that it had thick roots that went deep down into the soil. It was clear that those roots kept the tree anchored to a source that was able to sustain it throughout the seasons of life. Colossians 2:7reads, let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. We must stay connected to our source; the ultimate source of Jesus Christ. In Him, we are sustained, rooted, and eternally revived through a spring of water that dwells within. In John 4:14, Jesus declares, “but those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” It was in this season that I would come to know Him -The Resurrection.

Bear with me, see I thought I knew Jesus, we had a relationship, I prayed, and faithfully went to church every Sunday. I believed in Jesus but my fault I did not believe Him. I know now that there’s a difference. What I was experiencing outweighed all that I thought I knew about Him. I knew that He was faithful, loving, and Just. Still, with knowing all of that, my heart was slowly dying and I was losing hope. Jesus saw my heart and that it longed for it to be revived again. For I humbly went to the throne of grace in prayer and in His presence was life. It was then that He showed me He was also a savior, a redeemer, and a deliverer. Just when I thought my last branch would break, my winter months drew warm again and my heart began to blossom. The one who sustained the trees throughout the seasons had now done that work within me, and from that day on, I believed Him to be the Resurrection.

My prayer is that you will let God resurrect your heart, your faith, your marriage, your family, or whatever it is that needs His presence so that you too can experience Him as the resurrection.

Rachel Darden