Be Free… See the Harvest that’s Right in Front of You, Today!

I made a spur of the moment decision (with my husband’s blessing) last Tuesday and hopped in the car on Thursday and drove to North Carolina to surprise my youngest son for his 25^th birthday!  What a whirlwind and what a wonderful time I had and it all began by my hearing a blurb on the Christian radio station, saying, “Give yourself permission to take a break and do something you enjoy!”  For you see, I had been toying with the idea of going to North Carolina to surprise my son but I kept talking myself out of it, saying I had too much to do.   Once I heard those words on the radio, something sprang in my heart and I knew I was to give myself permission to go!  My to-do list would/will eventually get done.  I am so glad I listened to my heart and went!  My trip was filled with one blessing after another, as I spent unrushed, special time with family and friends and my son was very surprised and happy to see me.  What a gift!

One of the most amazing things that happened to me on my trip was what God taught me while I was there.  Friday morning, in response to my time spent with God and reading His Word found in 1 John 5 (MSG), I journaled, God, what truth do you want to “confirm to me?”  He led me to the following two Scriptures of:  1 Corinthians 15:58 that my labor in the Lord is not in vain and Galatians 6:9-10 …There will be a harvest!  Wow!  In response, I wrote the following prayer in my journal, Heavenly Father, please help me to see the harvest that’s right in front of me, right now, starting with the one looking back at me in the mirror. This was huge to me!  God was talking to my heart, showing me two specific things.

1) I was so concerned about the harvest that I want to see in my grown son’s lives, that I was failing to see the harvest in my own life.  It was as if God were saying to me, Tammy, you know that harvest you think you want to see or that you so yearn to see, in your sons lives?!  Well, I am just as concerned about and excited about the harvest in your life.  Open your eyes, dear daughter, and see what I am doing in your life, all that I have accomplished and done and celebrate it!  Rejoice with Me!  Thank Me! Praise Me for it!  For I have been doing miracles in your life, growing you and blessing you etc. etc.

             2) God showed me that I had a picture in my head of what I thought the harvest was suppose to look like in my sons lives, i.e., I think they need to have “good jobs with 401K’s and health insurance, be married with kids, have a nice home, have a close walk with God and live happily ever after!”  That’s my picture of what the harvest is to look like in their lives.  But, God showed my heart that that might not be the picture of His harvest (His working in their lives), at all!  I needed to erase my picture that was in my head, so that I could have open eyes to see the things that He was/is doing in their lives today!  How amazing and powerful is that?!

In God’s faithfulness and with my new set of glasses on, if you will, I had an amazing day with both my sons.  My eyes were opened to how God is being faithful and how He is working in their lives, today!  They both are good, respectful young men who have their own personal relationship with God.  Their relationship with Him may be totally different than mine is but that’s totally ok; it’s their relationship with Him.  They both are working, providing for themselves and they both are surrounded by good people who enjoy them for who they are and genuinely care about them.  That’s a harvest!  That is the fruit of my labor’s not being in vain!  God’s Hand is on them; He is working in their lives!  I am to be patient as He continues to grow them into all He has planned for them to be.  Meanwhile, I am to see, celebrate, rejoice over and enjoy the harvest in their lives that I see right in front of me, today!  That, my friend, is being free—living free!

So, my friend, is there a harvest right in front of you that you may be failing to see?  Do you need to erase any made up pictures in your head, for yourself or others, so God can give you glasses to see His picture that is unfolding for your life and the lives of others?!  Are you living free in Christ, trusting His plan and purposes or are you bound up, like a tight rubberband, seeking to make what you think needs to  happen, in your own strength etc.?

Dear one, may you be able to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10a).   He loves you!   And those that you are so concerned about… He loves them even more than you do!  His Hand is on them!  He is working in their lives!  Be patient, for sometimes things just take time and meanwhile, look up and see the harvest that is right in front of you now—and be free!