About Getting Rooted in The Vine

You would think since I had been a christian from my mid teens the answer to the question who is in charge of our lives would be obvious. However, it was not until my early thirties that the answer finally dawned on me.

My journey to self discovery began after reading Francine River’s novel The Scarlet Thread. This book tells a story of two women who are born centuries apart but are united through the pages of an old journal. The younger woman Sierra has recently moved to Los Angeles after her husband takes on his dream job for his career. She swears he did not consult her before accepting the job offer and he insists he did but as always she was not listening. Her anger and failure to support her husband take a toil on their marriage which eventually ends in divorce.

Meanwhile her mother had come across some things including a journal that belonged to their ancestor Kathryn while she was cleaning out her attic. Kathryn had journaled the events of her journey on the Oregon Trail. Sierra follows the journey through the pages of the journal and sees similarities between her and Kathryn. Following her divorce Sierra becomes a christian and it finally dawns on her that she has never been in charge of her life. She noted thus, “because he is sovereign… I guess I did not understand what it meant. I have been turning things over around trying to decide how to fix things, how to make them right, how to make sure everything would work the way it is supposed to be. Today I have realised I am not in control at all. God is he always has been he is the Almighty God.”

I will spare you the details of what was written in my new journal after reading this book but suffice it to say I was an emotional wreck.

My Story

You see until my early thirties everything in my life had moved according to “my” plan. Going through college, graduating, finding a job in a profession I cherished.  Getting married to my friend and being blessed with two children. As if all that was not enough there was also being in middle management in a multinational company.

All the boxes ticked until my husband had to take on an international job. We had discussed careers while we dated, this was where he wanted to end up so I agreed to support him. Having completed my masters degree it appeared finding another job would be relatively easy.

The years that followed had me question God. Didn’t he care about me? why was he not opening the “right” doors for me? didn’t he know I had my life all planned out and what was happening was denting everything?

After reading this novel it dawned on me that like Sierra I had been selfish and defiant. Although as a christian I was aware that God had the best plan for my life I was failing to trust him and know that “all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”. Finally there was the answer to the question who is in charge of my life?

What About You?

Perhaps like me and Sierra maybe life has not gone according to your plans. We are told “many are the plans in a person’s heart , but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails”. Similarly, Steve Jobs told us ,”we can only connect the dots looking backwards never looking forward”. Looking back now I know yielding to God’s plans would have been better than struggling to make things work out my way.

Could it possibly be time for you too, to finally come to the realisation of who is in charge and let his purposes for your life come through. After all he is the Creator/Vine and we are merely the creations/branches we cannot accomplish anything without him.

I am curious, have you read the book before? Or have you ever wondered who is actually in charge of  our lives? Let us continue the discussion in the comments section.