It’s been a bit since I’ve posted a “lessons from the lawn” type post. I’ll have a heavy hitter coming in just a minute, but I want you to know that every post is written AFTER Holy Spirit speaks to me. Sometimes, it’s a gentle whisper; sometimes, it’s a warning; sometimes, it’s correction. Please know I write from a heart that is growing and processing and digging deeper in my faith. I often mess up. I regularly “fall short.” Yet I’m so, so grateful that I still hear His voice. I hope this will speak to you, too.

PRUNING.

Yesterday, I shared a post from Richard De La Mora regarding pruning. One of the IG slides said, “God is pruning things out of your life because He’s preparing you for greater.”

Put a pin there. We will be back.

It’s been a rainy summer in Alabama.
We are thankful we haven’t had to spend money on watering the grass and shrubs, but it also means the grass and the shrubs are growing exponentially fast and need attention more often. I’ve been busy and I’ve been tired. So, the shrubs have not been tended to. The first two pictures you see are real life photos from earlier this afternoon. (For those of you who know me, you know I like a well-manicured lawn and this is not my “norm.”) However, I just couldn’t find (or just couldn’t make) the time to prune the shrubs.

Until today.

I listened to a Darius Daniels sermon last week and he made a comment that stuck with me: “Many of us are growing in discipline, but we are not growing in discipleship. We’ve put structures and boundaries in our lives – disciplines, per se – because we are dealing with a consequence of something. But discipline is not discipleship.”

As I pulled out the trimmers to attack those shrubs today, it’s was as if I could hear the shrubs crying out, “Don’t trim too much! This is going to hurt! You might prevent further growth!” Interestingly, I was only trimming the surface. The deep parts of the shrubs – the root system, the underneath, the health and life of the plants – wasn’t telling me to stop. In fact, when the pruning was done, it was very apparent that other parts of the plants – previously overshadowed by the surface level growth – were evident and healthy and ready to produce again.

John 15:1-2 says, “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.”
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Now, back to that pin.

Have you given access to Jesus to do some pruning in your life? Maybe you’ve got shoots going off this way and that way and it LOOKS like growth. But will you acknowledge that it’s the root system – the underneath – the actual health of your relationship with Him – that will sustain you, grow you, and grow others in return?

Back to Richard’s quote.

The Lord does not prune us to hurt us. He does not prune us to hold us back. He prunes us so that we don’t get enamored by shallow fruit and find ourselves empty because our root system is depleted.

THAT is the greater.
It’s not more fame.
It’s not more money.
It’s not more titles.
It’s not more accolades.
It’s HIM.

He must become greater; I must become less.

Lord, we give you the pruning shears today. Cut away the shallow. Expose the root system. And take us to greater levels of intimacy with You.

In Jesus’ Name – Amen!

Merriam Webster defines the word SEARCH as “to look at as if to discover or penetrate intention or nature.”

This morning, CJ taught us through Psalm 139:23-24. The very first words? “Search me, O God.”

In Psalm 139:1, David stated, “You searched me and You know me….” So why the need to search again?

Have you ever searched for something? Maybe an important document? Maybe your keys? Maybe an article of clothing that has gone MIA? It’s likely that you searched in one place. And another. And another. And you’ll search everywhere until you find said item.

It’s THAT kind of searching David was inviting God to do. Search here. Search there. Search completely. And if You find anything that doesn’t belong….that offends You, God….I give You permission to point it out.

No one knows our heart like our God. We can make the outside look really, really good….but our heart may be bruised, bitter, hard, and bleeding on the inside.

Search ME, O God. (Not THEM.)
Test ME.
See ME.
Lead ME.

Today is a great day to grant permission for the search. He can heal what we stop explaining. He can remove what we stop controlling.

SEARCH. 👀 🔍 🔦

Vulnerable post. Hang with me.

This morning, I kept having the word “refine” come across my mind. I heard it in a song. I saw a picture in my mind.

I know a lot of people who have felt like they’re in a refining process because of things they are walking through relationally, physically, emotionally, professionally, financially and Spiritually. I can identify in many ways.

So, I did a little research.

Refining happens in stages. I’ll specifically speak to the refining process of gold.

In the first stage of refining, the big debris is removed first.

In the second stage, cloudiness is then filtered out.

In the third stage, dissolved substances are separated chemically.

In the fourth and final stage, the microscopic contaminants are removed, a process called “ultra-purification.”

One statement about this process literally leapt off the page at me: “Refining precious metals (like gold, silver, and platinum) is essentially about progressively removing impurities based on how reactive or stable they are.” Just pause and soak that statement in for a moment.

Now, let’s turn this process to ourselves….to our hearts.

The first stage, removing “big debris,” is what’s easiest to identify (because it’s so evident) and attempt to remove.
What is that for you?
One of mine would be people pleasing (also known as Fear of Man).

The second stage, filtering out the cloudiness, becomes a little bit harder. The heat has to get a little bit hotter….because this one may not be as easy as the big debris to spot.
What is that for you?
One of mine would be responding to situations and people because of past – and unhealed – hurts/offenses.

The third stage, things that have been dissolved have to be separated chemically. Think about sugar dissolving in coffee or tea. When it dissolves, it becomes a part of whatever substance it’s in. Hard to see. Hard to break up.
What is that for you?
One of mine would be unhealthy – and often untrue – patterns of thought, especially about myself. You can’t see them – but they’ve made their way into being a part of me.

The last level is called ultra-purification and is the hardest level to accomplish. The description of this level absolutely blew my mind. This level is the hardest because “The less reactive a metal is, the harder it is to remove.”
These are the things that are deep, deep, deep.
I’ll leave that there.

Now, in the hands of Jesus, refining can take on a whole different approach. Back to that last level of ultra-purification. These are the hardest things to remove because they “look the most like what the target is.”

Lord, would You give us the courage to let You refine us? To remove the big debris. Then the cloudiness. Then the dissolved things. Then any other thing…..so that, through the process, our ultra-purification actually reveals that we look the most like You?

Selah.

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ NLT‬‬

We have a few family traditions at Christmas, but one of my favorites is our Christmas morning meal at Waffle House.

This year, it looked a little different as our daughter was on duty as a Resident Assistant in her dorm. Rather than going around the corner to eat at our nearby Waffle House, we had a 65 mile drive to pick her up and go to a location close to her.

We were up and ready and as soon as I backed out of the garage, I commented on how thick the fog was. Ten miles in….still thick. Twenty-five miles in….still thick. All the way to her dorm…..extra thick.

Not being able to see ahead is scary. What was on the other side of what I couldnt see?

It’s stressful.
My hands were tightly clenched on the steering wheel as if my efforts would make the fog lift.

It’s inconvenient.
It took us about 20 minutes longer to get to her dorm because we had to slow our speed to be safe.

I asked Kyle to take a picture for me because I knew this post would eventually be written. This picture was taken on December 25, 2025…..but I feel pretty certain that someone reading this today feels like it’s an accurate depiction of your life.

➡️ It’s foggy.
➡️ You can’t see what’s ahead.
➡️ The unknown is scary.
➡️ Your tendency to control doesn’t work.
➡️ You’re frustrated that your pace has been slowed.

Anytime we get in the car to travel any distance together, we always pray for safe travels. This time, about 20 minutes in, I had to lift up our trip again. My prayer was literally, “Lord – I can’t see, but You can. Drive this car and get us to Macy.”

I’m writing this post tonight because we got to Macy – but also because I needed to remind myself and some of you that our limited visibility never impairs His. Our tendency to control doesn’t stop Him from being near and available. Our frustrations that things aren’t going as we planned don’t knock Him off of His throne.

If you’re walking through a foggy circumstance or a foggy season – ask Him to strengthen your faith for what’s on the other side. Invite him In to the situation and loosen your grip. Trust His pace. He Is faithful!

“For we live by believing and not by seeing.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Does anyone else remember playing this game growing up? For the moment, you became “the surgeon” and you used some metal tweezers to remove ailing parts of the body. But watch out!!! If you touched the metal with your tweezers, the patient’s nose lit up and a buzzing sound let you know you missed the mark.

I served on prayer team today during the second service and Holy Spirit dropped the picture of this “game” before me as we sang the song “My Hallelujah.” (Link: https://youtu.be/e3HSAyGRzgA?si=guBxnxfKrxARm0P9)

The lyrics of the bridge of the song declare this:
You can have all my moments
All my days
I give You all my worship, Jesus!

The word ALL landed with me and I just prayed for surrender in the room.

So, why the game?

It’s hard to truly give Him ALL when we have broken things or misplaced things inside of us. We may hide away as if all is well or go into work mode to try to redeem ourselves. So I just pray for anything in me…..in you….in us….that needs removal so we can truly be anchored in Him.

Our toes 🦶 – our metatarsals – they give us our balance. Yet, if we are standing on unsteady ground, that is harder to have. What is your foundation? What gives you stability?

Our femur 🦴 – the strongest bone in our body – our core and what holds us upright. Does our strength truly come from Him? Is it misplaced in our performance, our titles, our possessions, our name, our reputation, our gifts and talents?

Our liver and our eyes 👀 – the filters of our body. One filters away toxins; one may allow toxins in. How are your filters? Are you allowing the Lord to heal what is ailing in your body? Are you protecting what you allow in through your eyes?

Our heart ❤️ – the core of who we are. Many of our hearts are bruised and we’ve never fully healed. (And we may have bruised the hearts of others – intentionally or unintentionally.) Is your heart pure? Clean? Anything lurking there that’s causing some blockages to what the Lord wants to do in your life? Unforgiveness? Bitterness? Greed? Idolatry? Lust? Gossip? Envy? _?

The mouth 👄 – it speaks life or it speaks curses. Do our words reflect what we say we are rooted in? Do the words we say when we look in the mirror reflect what He would say to and/or about us?

Finally, the mind 🧠- Scripture tells us that we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Is there any stinking thinking holding you back?

I want to fully mean it when I sing the words “You can have ALL.” And I believe He is ready to do surgery – to heal us – if we will allow HIM to have the tweezers and stop trying to fix it on our own.

The Doctor is in – if you’re in need of His services (hint hint : we all are!), He is ready. He wants to heal ALL of you. Of me. Of us.

“When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬