God will prepare me for my leap.
“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
- Matthew 13:18-23 (New King James Version)
If you read last week’s email, and are struggling with whether or not now is the right time for you to take your leap, today’s email is for you. Even if you're not, I think you'll get something out of this so keep reading!
Before you start thinking "Man, Marlena's so great for following God’s leading in her life" or "her faith must be so strong", I wanted you to know something:
This wasn’t the first time God told me to leap.
That’s right. Over the past 10 years I’ve leaped at God’s direction from my first job right out of college, jumped back in after a few years because I got antsy, felt led to leap again a year or so later but didn’t do it, finally gave in and took a mini leap a year or so after that, and now here I am with the final big leap.
Clearly, my “leap” has been a process to say the least. While it’s been partially a battle of my faith vs logic in some ways, and sheer growing up in other ways, the fact remains that God has done A LOT of work on me to get me to this point.
That’s why the parable in this week’s scripture struck such a cord in me. I could literally see myself in all the examples of ground that the farmer sowed his seed into. In the area of my faith for doing business full-time, I’ve been “wayside” ground, “stony” ground, thorny ground and now, praise God, “good” ground. And best believe, now that my soil is fertile, I’m bout to take this word “seed” God has given me and produce ALL OF THE FOLDS ok??!
But it took me a minute to get here.
I don’t know where you are in your process but, wherever you are, I want to encourage you to remember that God is working on you. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not ready yet. Or if, like me, you disobeyed a lil’ bit 😬 or leaped but jumped back in for whatever reason. God is using all of this to strengthen your roots so that when it’s time, and that word hits you?? Baybee you’ll know it’s time and you’ll be fully mature enough to finally say yes and not look back.
Whatever ground you categorize yourself as right now, be honest with yourself about it and give yourself grace if you need it. Your time is coming and God is perfecting that which concerns you. Just keep letting Him work on you and, before you know it, you’ll be ready.
Still hungry? Eat some more //
Psalm 138:8, James 1:1-4, Mark 4:26-29