God has good gifts to give his children! He has more of himself and his presence
to shower upon us - if we will reach for him. I believe that he is waiting on us
to expand our vision and truly believe; that with God all things are possible.
On the inside cover of my Bible I have written: Conceive higher, believe higher,
receive higher. That phrase has motivated me for years to take the limits off
what I think God can do in my life and to reach for more of him.
Late last summer I was driving through our small town when I passed my neighbors
house, and noticed that his apple tree was overflowing with gorgeous, bright red
apples. And even though I had passed this house numerous times, on my way out to
the highway, I hadn't noticed the tree before. But now it caught my eye, and I
became intent upon getting some of those apples. I made a quick call to my
friend Cleo, drawing her into my obsession to conquer the apple tree, and we
were off and running in our common goal of; apple sauce, apple pie and baked
apples.
The man who lives in the house with the apple tree is single, and by his own
admission could only eat so many apples. So with his blessing and a promise from
us to provide him with applesauce and apple pies we set out to pick apples.
The first time we picked apples we brought our daughters and between the four of
us we accumulated about four larges bags of fruit. The second time we went to
pick apples, the tree was a bit sparse (the rest of the neighborhood was
catching on to our find) but we still managed to fill several bags. After making
pies and apple sauce galore we decided that we needed just a few more of those
amazing red apples and we went back for our last picking (I told you we were
obsessed!). This time we left the daughters at home knowing there would be
nothing they could do to help. You see, between us and the rest of the
neighborhood that apple tree had been almost picked clean. The rest of those
delicious, juicy apples were at the very top of the tree and those apples
actually seemed to be bigger and redder then the ones that had been growing on
the lower branches. We could see them just out of our grasp, teasing us with
their inaccessibility.
So there we were, the two obsessed housewives climbing the apple tree to get to
those apples. Well to be honest, Cleo was climbing and I was catching the apples
as she tossed them down to me. I can't even imagine what this looked like to the
people driving by, but the really pathetic thing is - we didn't care. We were
intent upon those apples! The apples were the prize and we were determined to
get the prize!
God has so much for us! But because he is a good Father and always has our best
in mind, he knows that so often we are better off if we have to reach and
stretch to receive from him. He could just drop in our laps the things he
desires to give us, and thankfully sometimes that happens. But most times he is
wanting us to come up higher, having our hearts and minds expanded so that we
can see so much more is possible then we imagined.
In my example of the apple tree we had to reach, stretch and climb for the best
fruit. Spiritually speaking, we do the same thing by reaching out for more of
God with all our hearts. Extending our reach, straining to have more of him.
Determining to spend time in prayer each day, setting apart time to deepen our
relationship with the Lord. Determining to walk in his ways according to the
word of God and to stop setting limits on what God can do in our lives. When we
start expecting more from our relationship with Him, he readily pours forth more
of himself upon our lives to show that he is faithful to the one who dares to
believe!
God loves us so much and desires to meet our needs. To those of us that need
peace of mind, he desires to give us a deep and abiding peace that can never be
shaken. To those of us who desperately need forgiveness, he desires to give us
the ultimate forgiveness found in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. To
those of us that need healing, he desires to reveal himself as the healer. To
those of us that cry out to be loved, he desires to fill that place in our
hearts, having it settled forever that we are indeed loved!
Whatever it may be you need today, I encourage you to reach out with all your
might, stretching toward the God who created you and loves you.
Paula Friedrichsen copyright 2003
pjfministries@hotmail.com
Paula Friedrichsen is a Christian Speaker and newspaper columnist from Mammoth
Lakes, California. She has developed "The Abundant Life Seminar" to educate and
inspire women toward greater fulfillment - spiritually, physically and
relationally. To schedule her for your upcoming conference / retreat, or to
learn more about this presentation (or other topics Paula speaks on) go to her
website www.pfministries.com - or call 760-935-4295
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