Sometimes Pruning is Needed

We had this bush on the side of our house. It was pretty ugly, branches all sticking out every which way. Not much to look at, no flowers just small leaves and branches. But last spring as we were doing light landscaping around our house, hubby decided to prune it. I saw how much he had cut off and thought surely it was destroyed, that it wouldn't make it. But much to our delight, encouragement, and hope, it was not. In fact it was far more beautiful than before. Overflowing with bright, beautiful blossoms. Pruning was needed. In our lives, many times, we submit ourselves to the Father for that same pruning, because we, too, have ugly branches sticking out, poking others and hurting ourselves as they drain necessary water and nutrients for healthy growth. In His mercy and grace, He prunes us. And at times, as I can testify, we feel that with all of the cutting, pain, and death, that we are surely destroyed.
But as 2 Corinthians 4:8-11 tells us, We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

So, some pruning is needed for His life to be revealed in my mortal body. And we live. We are given life.