A Note to the Sojourners…

My dear Sojourners,

There was a period where we moved four times in twenty-two months.

How this has formed and shaped you, I really don’t know.

But I know the One Who has led us this far, who ordained those miles and homes for your good and His glory - God the Father Who loves you more deeply then I ever could. He knows the beginning from the end and we can trust Him always.

There was a time when I was convinced that putting down roots was the most important thing for all of us - me, who told your father when we were first married that I wanted to move often, never wanted to settle in one place for long. But once you all came along, that dream slowly changed, and when we began moving just when we were settling, I began to fight back.

“Root”, as a verb is defined as, “to establish deeply and firmly”, and that is all I wanted in the waves of early motherhood and I couldn’t see much else.

And yet, wherever we landed, I cast my eyes for somewhere else. Too cold, too hot, too near family, too far away, too dangerous, too bland…too, too, too…

When you begin to search for fulfillment and comfort in anything other than Jesus, you will find that what you set your eyes and heart on will never be enough. What you think is best will quickly become ash in your mouth and you will flail around, causing more chaos in your quest for “the thing that will fulfill”.

I’m not sure any more about the importance of putting down roots, if I am going to be honest with you all.

I keep going back to John 15 - the passage where Jesus points to Himself as the Vine. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the Vinedresser.”

He then continued in verse 4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.’

We have been grafted into the Vine of Christ - and we are held in Him by the Father, the Vinedresser, Who faithfully tends each branch.

I don’t pretend to understand the intricacies of any of it, but what I see in the passage above are branches bearing much fruit, not because their roots are firmly established in the soil below them, but because they are receiving all they need from abiding in Christ, by letting His words abide in them and, as a result, producing much fruit.

I don’t see anything about comfort or ease here, which I will admit, is what I long for from time to time as I see your growth in Him causing you pain. But by being grafted into the Vine, we are glorifying God the Father as our sorrow mingles with joy and we prove to be followers of Jesus Christ.

So, in this season of sojourning, as things don’t always feel settled and your hearts wrestle with wondering where we all fit - abide in Christ. Be in His Word, Lift up your voices to Him in worship and petition. Instead of curling in on yourself, let your life, like the leaves unfurling in the sun, open wide before the One Who cares for you.

With love from,

The one who sojourns with you