Transplanted and Transformed

Here I am, exposed and sharing part of my life story with you. I share a painful part of my past because I want to also share the transformation, the growth, and the healing Christ has produced in me in this specific area, and hopefully, point you toward the hope Jesus has for you.

We all have roots, in a sense. From the time we miraculously exit our mother's womb, our bodies, personalities, talents, and interests develop and grow. Our "roots" are shaped, fed, and watered by nature, nurture, and our life experiences, both good and bad, and eventually extend out into this world in many complex ways.

Since we live in a fallen world, we are born with a sinful nature and unfortunately, our roots are also shaped by our sin, the sin of others, and the negative effects of both.

The painful part of my past:

As a young girl, I was sexually abused by my grandfather. This took place over a couple of years until I finally had the courage to confide in my mom that this was happening.

From this experience grew painful, deep-seated roots that had invasive, long-lasting effects in my life. In these formative years, I developed an aversion to intimacy, a lack of trust in people, even those closest to me, fearfulness, and a strong inclination toward guilt and shame.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a river bank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees do not fear the heat or worry about long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

The word planted means to transplant.

When we rest our faith in Jesus, we are transplanted. Our life no longer depends solely on our nature, how we were or are being nurtured, and our experiences. We are taken out of the dry, nutrient-depleted soil we lived in and transplanted, roots and all, into new, life-giving soil.

This soil is the love of Jesus Christ.

We enter a whole new life in Christ, and our becoming a new creation is a life-long process, one that needs A LOT of tender loving care and expertise, especially for those painful, deep-seated roots.

Back to my painful past-

I didn’t realize the extent of the invasive and long-lasting effects that grew from the sexual abuse until I got married. Marriage exposed the extent of my aversion to intimacy, difficulty trusting, fearfulness, guilt, and shame.

This created suffering in our marriage. It was no longer just my suffering, it became my husband’s suffering as well. He desired me to trust him, and be completely vulnerable and intimate with him. And when I wasn’t, it was very difficult for both of us! I loved my husband, but I soon discovered I didn’t really know how to love him (or others) in God’s way, with God's agape love.

I often thought, why do I have to struggle with these things? I love my husband, so why don’t intimacy and trust naturally follow?! Why am I still struggling with this over 20 years later? Why are the effects so far-reaching?

My husband was so patient, gentle, and kind, but he couldn’t heal me. How could he? He needed healing in his own ways.

There were many times I wanted to give up and just accept the fact that I would always be this way, that we would always struggle with this in our marriage.

But…

When we think

there will never be any growth in our lives
parts of us will never become new-
when we are tempted to give up in our times of suffering
or when we don’t trust God’s plan for our lives

…the Word of God tells us differently, and Jesus offers us a more beautiful way!

In Ephesians 3:13-30, Paul is depicting the more beautiful way in suffering that Jesus offers us. He penned these words to encourage the Ephesian church not to lose heart or grow weary, and his words are still offering that same encouragement to us today.

Ephesians 3:13-20

"So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and earth. I pray from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

In essence, Paul is encouraging the Ephesians to endure in and through suffering. HOW?? He prays for 2 specific things,

That they would:

Be empowered with inner strength from God’s unlimited resources through His Spirit
Trust in Christ

The strength we need to endure comes from God’s unlimited resources. He always has more strength to give us as we trust in Jesus; as we sink into the nutrient-rich, water-abundant soil and absorb all that Jesus’ love has for us.

What is endurance?

Endurance (Hypomone: hopeful constancy, patient continuance)

*Greek word in parentheses

Endurance is the constant and continual stretching and unfurling, which is fueled by the constant, continual love of Jesus. Endurance is patience that is fed by hope, not in the change of circumstances, but in the Transformer of hearts.

The Bible talks a lot about endurance, but we live in a culture that says we need to be happy. If something is difficult and doesn’t make us happy, then cut it out of your life, say goodbye, move on.

As fallen beings, we want what feels good. We naturally want to avoid suffering. We naturally want to avoid the hard, long, painful work of growth and renewal. We naturally reach for things that temporarily satisfy us and make us feel good.

But there is beauty on the other side of suffering.

There is beauty to be discovered and experienced IN the suffering as we trust Jesus and endure suffering in and through His strength.

Paul describes the beautiful growth and transformation that takes place-

A. Jesus makes his home in our hearts

This was one of the first truths that helped to transform my painful, lifeless, deep-seated roots.

Jesus was with me to stay, and He wanted to settle right in. He was close enough to listen to every thought and whispered word that formed inside of me and fell from my lips. He promised to watch over me while I slept and to greet me every morning with fresh mercy. He wouldn’t leave me or give up on me when I failed. My ugly, knarled roots didn’t scare Him. He wouldn’t draw away and withhold His love from me. I belonged to Him, and He gently showed me that He wanted me to trust Him with every single part of me.

B. Roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong

When Jesus moves in to stay and we begin to develop an intimate relationship with Him, His perfect love changes us. New life courses through our roots and our lifeless, painful roots begin to bud with hope, spread out, and grow in strength and stability.

THIS is ultimately how God began to change me. I grew in my understanding of Jesus' love. His love was a secure place for me to grow. His love was the healthy soil my roots needed to be transformed. His love was palpable and present.

His love taught me a better way to love. His love gave me strength. His love gave me the courage to be vulnerable. His love compelled me to love my husband the way he needed to be loved, and in return, accept the love my husband showed me.

Why is Jesus’ love so transforming?

Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus.

"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

Jesus endured. He endured the cross AND He endured hostility.

He willingly experienced the suffering that came from obeying His Father’s will and He experienced suffering from the sinful actions of others. He did this because He loves us.

I had to let every part of me sink into that understanding.

He died because He loves me!

He died because He loves you!

And he died because of the joy that awaited Him on the other side of His suffering.

What was the joy that awaited Him on the other side of suffering? He would be crowned Victor over sin and death, completing God's rescue plan for humanity, and He would be reunited with His Father in heaven.

We are held, nourished, and strengthened by a love that willingly endured our greatest suffering so we don’t have to. We can’t see to the other side of our suffering, but Jesus can, and we can trust His nail-scarred hands to take us by the hand and lead us, strengthen us, and transform us through our suffering! We can trust His love to be the soil that has all we need to grow, bloom, and blossom into something beautiful.

C. The power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is

The word understand means to perceive and possess. God gives us the power to recognize and be aware of, and to own what truly satisfies, heals, and produces growth versus what will temporarily satisfy us.

Jesus’ love far surpasses the extent of our suffering and far surpasses the invasive and long-lasting effects of our experiences.

As we endure through the power of the Holy Spirit, we get to experience just how wide, long, high, and deep Jesus’ love is; how transforming it is. As our roots sink into Jesus’ love and we taste and see how good He is, we won’t want anything else.

But when we give up, when we try to avoid our suffering by turning to other things for happiness, we can cut short or prolong the work of growth and renewal that God desires to do in our lives.

As I said, there were many times I just wanted to give up, but God always had more strength to give me. His love gently and powerfully held me. He drew me close and said, I know you live closed off and guarded because you’ve been hurt. He understood me & was patient with me, BUT His love also convicted, corrected, and compelled me, Amy, this isn’t the right way to live. My love is vulnerable, self-sacrificing, and unconditional. You can love because I love you. By my wounds, you are made whole!!

In other words, because He loves us, He prunes us. Because He loves us, He transforms us.

He didn’t allow those deep-seated roots to be an excuse for me to not love my husband or others the way He loves me. My past and present suffering weren’t what would define the life I lived.

In Christ, our life has the potential to resemble the tree in Jeremiah 17:7-8 (scripture above).

In times of drought and heat, the tree flourished due to the soil its roots were growing in. The surrounding circumstances didn't dictate whether or not the tree would grow and produce fruit, and in Christ, our past and present suffering doesn't either.

D. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

It is God’s work. He works to transform us from the deepest roots to the highest branch. He is the source of life that causes our roots to bud with fullness of life; life that repurposes our painful past. He works constantly, bringing healing, soundness, and wholeness to every part of us.

All we need to do is endure and trust Him, His Word, His ways, and His commands because they are all for our good.

I want to leave you with a story.

Over more than 30 years in west Africa, Tony Rinaudo has regenerated more than 6m hectares – an area nearly as large as Tasmania. His farmer-managed natural regeneration technique is responsible for 240m of trees regrowing across that parched continent. But it very nearly never happened.

Having grown up in Myrtleford, in the country Victoria, Rinaudo moved to Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, in 1981, inspired by his Christian faith and a desire “somewhere, somehow to make a difference”. But after two years of intense tree-planting and trying to coax some life from the arid landscape regularly devastated by severe drought, he despaired. “I was in charge of a reforestation project that was failing miserably, it wasn’t that I was particularly dumb, it was the same story all over west Africa. And I remember the frustration that just hit me: north, south, east, west, was a barren landscape, and I knew perfectly well that 80 or 90% of the trees I was carrying [in my car] for planting would die.”But this day, crouching in the sand to reduce his tires’ air pressure, he looked more closely at the few low desert bushes scattered around the landscape, the only thing that would grow there. Rinaudo knew they were not small bushes, but trees that had been hacked down. Looking more closely, he realized that, if pruned and allowed to grow, they stood a chance of flourishing.

“In that moment, everything changed. We didn’t need to plant trees, it wasn’t a question of having a multi-million dollar budget and years to do it, everything you needed was in the ground.”

The root system of the chopped-down trees remained alive under the ground – Rinaudo describes it as an “underground forest” – it just needed to be pruned and allowed to grow.

Just like this underground forest in West Africa that had everything it needed to grow, we have everything we need in Jesus. Nothing is wasted in Him. His love tends to and does the transforming work of making every one of our roots into a contributing part of a flourishing tree.

Sincerely,

Amy