Sunday Blessings -The Fruit of Trials

I  was  going   to  post something  else

for  today 's  Sunday Blessings entry, but  I

just   read  this story by  Joni Eareckson Tada

which  spoke  to  my  present situation

and  I  have  to  share  it with  my  readers.

I  am   in  a  lot  of pain  after  my  fall.

Its  scary because I' ve   not  been  in  such

a  lot  of  pain   since  a  long  time.

But   this  trial will   bear  fruit.

It  will  teach  me  to  pray harder and

lean  more   heavily on  the Lord.

Today  was   a   busy  day.

After  church  I  helped  another

church  group set  up  for  their  service.

They will begin worshipping  in  our  

sanctuary from  next  Sunday.

They  were  moving in a lot

of  their  stuff to  be  stored  here.

I   got  so late  that  I  did  not  have  time  time

to  cook  lunch .

I was going  to,   but Ma  and  Auntie

insisted  that  we  have  yesterday 's left-overs

as  I  was  tired.

Last  night we  were invited  to  a nephew 's

birthday  dinner.

That  was  very  nice.

 6  year  old  Yash   with Grannies

He  wanted  an animal  cake.

We had   two  and  half  days  of  non  stop  rain.

It  has  brought  the  temperature  down,

but  everything is  damp  and  soggy.

Commuting  is  difficult.

I' ve  got  good  news.

Aunt  Maya  has  found  a suitable   flat and

she  will  be moving  into  it in  a  few  days.

We  are  so  happy,  its  an  answer to

prayer. This  house  was  promised  to  her

but  there  was some  delay.

Please  pray  for  my  healing.

Fruit Comes Through Struggle

"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be
my disciples." --John 15:

Last week Ken and I visited Tim, a friend from church, who grows several rare varieties
of grapes on the hillside behind his house. I was surprised that Tim had planted
his vines along a steep and rocky portion of the hill. "Why didn't you plant the
vines at the base of the hill?" I asked him. "The soil certainly looks a lot better-and
there's more sun."

Tim smiled. "There's a rule you need to remember when it comes to growing these
special varieties of grapes," he said. "When you feed them luxuriously with lots
of nutrients and fertilizer, the vine produces a profuse bush of leaves and cane.
But the fruit it grows is sparse and very poor. Oh make no mistake," he laughed.
"The plant loves lots of fertilizer. But it invests all those nutrients into growing
lush, dark, beautiful leaves. And when the vine has finished doing that, it has
very little energy left to produce fruit. It certainly looks like a beautiful vine.
But that's it. It just looks good."

How, then, do you get good grapes? As Tim explained it, you have to make sure the
grapevine struggles! You plant it in rocky, flinty soil, or you girdle the vine
by wrapping wires around the cordons, forcing the plant to struggle as it tries
to draw nutrients from its roots. This causes the distressed vine to divert most
all of its prized and hard-won nutrients into the fruit, instead of the leaves.
The result of these trials and tribulations is the sweetest fruit possible.


So... maybe the rocky soil and steep inclines in your life aren't so bad after all.
The trials and struggles, disappointments and setbacks you face, this "girdling"
that presses you in from all sides... is a bruising of blessing. And you won't
bear a crop without it.

Lord, when this life is all over and I stand before you, I want you to find sweet
fruit in my life... and not just leaves.

Blessings,
Joni and Friends