Remaining in the Vine

Every week you can find me writing a post or two on marriage, but I want you to know that here at The Alabaster Jar, this site is more than just a place where you receive godly counsel and encouragement for the married life.  I also have a passion for discipleship as well!  Perhaps you have noticed this, lately?  I refer to these types of posts as ‘Growing in Godliness’.  Being that we are Christ-followers, we can always learn more about drawing closer to our Savior, don’t you think?

So here’s the story of where my discipleship heart came from, (of course it came out of pain, much like where most growth comes from)…..When I was 19 years old I heard the Gospel message.  I received it with joy, but unfortunately the joy was short lived because I just didn’t understand the Truth.  At that time of my life I had no one teaching me and guiding me towards Jesus, and those Kingdom seeds that were sown were easily snatched away by the Enemy.

When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  Matthew 13:19

During the next 7 years I made poor choices, lived a sin-filled life, and denied the existence of God.

But then I heard the Gospel message again and I fully surrendered and gave my heart to Jesus Christ.  Yet,  I still didn’t know a thing about the Bible and following Jesus, and I still had no one in my life teaching me and guiding me towards Him.

But God being a redeeming God and an all-knowing God, had a great plan for me in all of this because….
He discipled me.

He took my hand and led me to Him.

He put in my heart a hunger and thirst to know Him, and boy did He deliver in teaching this strong-willed daughter of His!

As a new little ewe lamb looking to her Shepherd, He led me to the following verses and the Christian life just seemed to click in my mind and ‘I got it’.  I had that ah-ha moment.  The moment when the light bulb went on.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:4,5

‘Remain in me, and I will remain in you’ were the words that I tucked into my heart.  

And my desire is for you, dear sister, to grow in the Lord and abide in the vine as well, and here’s some ways to help you.

5 Steps to Growing in the Vine

• Stay connected to Christ and He’ll stay connected to you.  
• Keep reading your Bible even if you don’t understand what you’ve read.
• Pray for the Lord to show you understanding of His word.
• Have faith.  You’ll grow in Him if you keep learning about Him.
• Keep attending church where you’re taught about Him.  (I went from church to church to church until I finally found one where they actually taught me the full counsel of God.)  Note:  if you are not growing spiritually at your church, then find another church!  Your spiritual growth is way too important to sacrifice for the sake of your comfort or tradition.

My heart is for all women to be encouraged in their journey of following our precious Savior.  I don’t want to see any walk away from the Truth or be confused because they don’t understand the Scriptures.  So because of this, just expect more posts to come your way about growing in godliness!  But don’t worry, I still have a heart for having a glorious marriage and the marriage posts will continue, because we just need some practical application from time to time for our most important earthly relationship, don’t we?

However, our marriage relationship is not to trump our relationship with Jesus Christ; we need to constantly nurture it and nourish it so it can grow because apart from Him you can do nothing.  The cultivating of this relationship is key to the Christian life.  Your fruits will start to blossom, fellow daughter of the Most High God, and when they do, it will spill over into all other aspects of your life.

Now before I leave you there are two very important subjects that the Lord is leading me to write a series on, because you can’t write just one blog post on such deep topics!  I’m looking for your feedback and thoughts on which one you’d like me to start with.

Here are the two topics:

1. The Holy Spirit (gulp!) and along these lines would be learning what your spiritual gifts are as well.
2. Obtaining wisdom.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts as well as finding out where the Lord leads us!

Live a poured out life for Christ,

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Linking up with these fine women:  Raising Arrows, The Better Mom,Time-Warp Wife, A Pause on the Path, Women Living Well, Cornerstone Confessions,