Two years ago, I bought two baby fruit trees.  One was a meyer lemon tree, and the other was an orange tree.  My plan was to plant them in large planters, take care of them so when they matured a bit more, I would transplant them into the ground after we had moved.  Now, I will be the first to admit that I have every other color of “thumb” but green…so this was an experiment for me.  For a long time both were doing great!

Up until this last summer that is… our drought summer!!  My lemon tree took a sudden turn for the worse!  It started drying up and the more I watered it, the worse it became.  I could not figure out why this was happening when my orange tree was doing so well!  I decided in an effort to save it (thinking by now that I was over watering it) I had Mike help me transplant it into the ground.  He found the culprit…small larvae of some kind were eating the roots!!  Argh!!!  The root ball was so small and sad, and my little lemon tree only had one green stalk with a few leaves on it.  I thought about chucking it and starting over, but I just couldn’t ignore the fact that there was still hope of life in this tree.  It looked extremely sick, but it was still alive!

It’s weird that I care so much for this lemon tree…but now it’s become a challenge for me to see if I can revive this plant!  I’m not giving up!  I’m fertilizing it, watching how much water it gets, pulling out weeds that try to plant themselves in it’s soil, and covering it at night when it’s cold.  It’s beginning to get very cold outside at night and my tree has only two leaves on it.  Yet, I still believe there is hope.  Don’t laugh at me when I tell you that every time I look out my window at my little tree, I pray God would touch it and restore it.  You’ll think I’m strange, but I’ve even gone outside to lay hands on it and pray!!  🙂  Our gardener told me he thinks it has a chance (I like our gardener…he’s a nice man)!! 🙂  This tree is special.

My little lemon tree.

My humongous hope.

I think it’s become more than just a lemon tree to me.  It’s a symbol.  Sometimes things may look hopeless, right?  Like yucky larvae, sometimes the enemy tries to eat up our roots!!!  But this tree reminds me to stand tall and to fight for promised fruit.  Those two leaves have literally been hanging on for 6 months or more!   I keep expecting them to fall off…but they still hang on!!  I’ve been waiting for answers to prayers for longer, and this little tree reminds me that good things are ahead!  If my lemon tree can do it, so can I!?!  I know God speaks to us in many different ways…could it be that he’s speaking to me through this little tree?  Encouraging me to hang on when I don’t see things happening around me?  

I’m just going to say it:  I believe this tree will bear fruit one day…and I can’t wait to blog about THAT!  But in the meantime, this is where my little tree and I are at…hoping and praying…and believing.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.”  Hebrews 10:23.

There is a lot I did NOT like about yesterday…just saying.  It was like every which way I turned, I was hit with yet another yucky circumstance.  Have you ever had a day like that?   You just want to call a “do over” and begin again…or just crawl in a hole and hide.  At several points, I was literally asking myself, “Am I seriously under attack?  Cause it feels like I’ve got a target on my back!” then I’d quickly take cover as enemy arrows flew past. I decided to handle it the best way I knew how…with anger, crabbiness, some cry baby tears, and frustration!  Yeah…I know.   😉

I’m not the quickest, but I’m learning!

My whole day didn’t start out bad though, in fact, my morning was great!  I had the sweetest time loving on Jesus that morning (with my kiddos all back to school after the crazy busy break). It was so peaceful and uninterrupted.  I felt the Lord speaking to my heart and just washing me with His love, His faithfulness, and His goodness.  Cue the singing angels! 🙂  I haven’t felt that in a while because I’ve allowed my life to become too busy lately with less important “stuff”.  But then I went on with the rest of my day, silly me, I don’t know what I was thinking, and things started to go terribly wrong.  Mostly little things, (with the exception of the SCARY dad at pick up who was yelling at me in front of my kids about where I had parked of all things…he made my daughter’s legs shake she told me later…still forgiving him!), but each new thing adding up to a heavy amount of “yuck”!  I finally went to bed last night just “reeling” from it all, and wondering what exactly happened…I just wanted to go to sleep so the day would finally be over….

…and then suddenly, as if a light went on in my head (a God light!),  I remembered the sweet morning I had had with Jesus.  Suddenly everything made sense.  Oh…..I see.  I should have known!  I made someone (the enemy) very mad with my worship this morning.  A smile began to form on my mouth as the realization set in.  I must have done something very RIGHT then!  So I WAS under an attack!  Yay God!!  Point for Team Tami! 🙂

Whether we know it or not, we are in a spiritual battle.  Yesterday, I believe the enemy’s plan was to discourage me, frustrate me, depress me, and just defeat me, along with those around me….but he failed…because God swooped in JUST IN TIME to remind me of the truth, and how much GREATER HE IS than the enemy.

Phew!  🙂

Ephesians 6: 13-18 says, “Be prepared.  You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own.  Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.  Truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation are more than words.  Learn how to apply them.  You’ll need them throughout your life.  God’s word is an indispensable weapon.  In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.”  The enemy is always going to try and trip us up, to get us to lose our faith in the ONE who already defeated him at the Cross!  He’s always trying to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus!   We’re in a battle!

Today I’m alert.  I’m more prepared.  I’m worshipping Jesus all the more.  I know WHO’s in me! 🙂  Greater is He that’s in me than he that’s  in the world!  (1 John 4:4)

If I see that dad at pick up today, I’m choosing to bless him, to secretly pray for him, just cause I know that’s more powerful in the spirit than what I’d want to tell him in the flesh!  Take that, enemy!

Today is going to be a great day!

Enter a caption