And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 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. Colossians 2:6-7 NLT
At work, the organization is doing an expansion. I love to see the crane bringing things up, to see the progress. I was equally impressed with the depths of the footings that are required for the eight story expansion. The roots of the building are required to be deep to create a solid foundation and hold up the massive structure.
So it is with my life. I can only grow to the extent that my roots are grounded in Christ. I can not build any foundation until I am firmly rooted in Him.
I admit I was blessed to be raised up in a home where I was given roots in Christ. Most of my early memories, before age eight are tied to learning about God. I learned scriptures from an early age. My dad would read me from The Bible Story books so I learned from the faith of the person’s in the Bible as the stories came alive. I learned praise and worship through songs that I still sing as they come to mind.
When I stepped out of church and walked away from my faith. it was those roots that kept me from getting too far off track. Even as I strayed, the truths of God were within me pointing me back to Him. I couldn’t go far without coming into something that would remind me of the seeds that had been planted early in my life.
When I got back into church, He started building the solid foundation I would need to start growing in Him. He began to show me how the truths that I had learned as a child were truths that could be applied to my life. He showed me that He is no respecter of person. The stories I heard as a child, the principles were good for me to.
As I learned that truth, He started growing me. My roots are deep and because of that I know that God will grow me for His glory and purpose. I started to move the Truth from stories, to knowledge of what could be, to application in my own life. Each application adds another story to the growth of my life. As I grow up towards Him, my roots continue to grow deeper into Him.
I am beyond thankful to how God has become so real in my life. I know I have so far to go, but I also know that He brought me from. I know the areas where He has grown my roots in Him through tough experiences. I know how He has used wisdom gained from His Word and from others to grow me and keep me from other paths that could have deterred my growth. I know how His grace covers me as I continue to grow in Him. It is in the journey of growth that I can see how it started with growing roots.
This blog is part of a #Write31Days series on growth. 31 Days is an online writing challenge, where bloggers pick one topic and write a post on that topic every day.
Restoring Voice 