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The last quarter of my year took a sharp turn toward rest a few weeks ago when God dropped two distinct words heavily into the core of my spirit: fallow ground.
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As soon as He did, I went digging to see what the Bible had to say about them. I was shocked to find it tucked in with the law of Sabbaths in Exodus 23, and not for any other reason besides the fact that I had never paid attention to the fact that God commanded TWO types of Sabbaths. Turns out, the weekly Sabbath that we are all familiar with? It’s the second. The first? The one that sets the precedent and lays the groundwork? It’s the seventh-YEAR Sabbath.
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“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,” God said in Exodus 23:10-11, “but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat.”
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The short version of the fallow ground story? It’s not a barren, bare, or otherwise unplanted field that’s sitting out there in its bare dirt clumps.
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It’s fertile ground left uncultivated.
It’s letting something lay that’s working well, producing well, growing well, and flourishing.
It’s releasing all ownership to any of its produce and letting anyone come and take of it freely.
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It’s something you and I are entirely control of. God commands it, yes. And, like anything else, it’s up to us to do it.
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And the long version of the story (including how I came to take all of this VERY literally)? That’s too much to fit here. You can read the full-length post on my blog:
JaneJohnson.com
Went sent our baby girl off to kindergarten this morning, alongside her big 1st and 3rd-grade brothers. But, as many of you know with this youngest baby milestone, it’s not just sending her off. It’s tying up the bow on toddlerhood and the years of baby-raising and little ones and three hours of sleep and fighting for every nap.
We’ve potty-trained, paci-weaned, ditched car seats for boosters, and learned to swim. It’s been nearly nine years of not knowing what the heck I’m doing alongside middle-of-the-night research, gut instinct following, endless desperate prayer for wisdom, and peeling clinging arms off of my neck because I know they are braver than they think they are.
That baby girl? She was the clingiest of all. All of preschool was marked by tearful drop-offs and swift exits. And this morning, in a brand new school with no one she knew, she showed me just how much she grew in the last year. She walked right into her classroom, sat in her chair, gave me a smile, and began to color.
I, as you might expect, cried the moment I climbed into my empty car. I expected that. I didn’t expect to see my tiny little fluff of a bird fly today. To see her so big. So confident. So fearless. So beautiful. But she puffed her chest and spread her wings the way that I always knew she could, and in her own little perfect, kindergartener timing.
If you need me, I’ll be basking in the silence of my clean home until further notice (or, at least, until 2:45 pickup).
This has been sitting as a draft for months. Today, it needed to be shared.
Battle cries for waiting women: take what you need, share with the person you immediately think of. That’s usually God telling you they need to read it, too.
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1. Did you know that one of the primary Hebrew words for “mercy” in the Bible means, simply, “womb”? You can see it for yourself in action in Nehemiah 9:19’s “mercies” and Isaiah 46:3’s “womb.” Both are the same Hebrew word, raham, which describes a deep love that is rooted in a natural bond. So, if you are a woman who is waiting for God to fill your womb? Know, as you wait, that He carries you in His.
2. If you’ve already been waiting for what feels like forever and you aren’t quite sure your faith can handle much more, good news: it doesn’t have to. Just hang onto hope for today. His womb-mercies are brand new to (literally) carry you afresh tomorrow.
3. If nothing else, you can rejoice in this: Today, you are one day closer to your miracle.
4. But, if not? He is still good.
5. This is hard. The waiting is crushing. It might not be well with you now, but it will be, eventually (because, Romans 8:28).
6/7/8. Psalm 90 is directly from Moses’ mouth, and the oldest of the Psalms. The man (and the people he led) knew affliction and suffering in a way we can’t even begin to imagine. Psalm 90:15 has long been a beacon for me, a proportionate prayer of faith that God would balance the weight of my waiting scales with the same amount of gladness after.
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“Make us glad in proportion to the days in which You have afflicted us,” Moses prayed in Psalm 90:15-16 AMPC, “and to the years in which we have suffered evil.” And then, as one last tacked-on faith cry, when those glad days come? “Let Your glorious majesty be revealed to my children.”
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Yes, God. We believe for it.
If Ezra 4 tells us anything, it’s that it’s ALWAYS when you get to the most critical work of your God-spoken, Spirit-stirred calling that trouble comes calling. And Satan won’t quit until he tears it all back down to rubble.
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Keep your wings up. Satan can try to convince you it’s all useless, but remember Isaiah 55:10-11. God’s purpose will always be accomplished.
Wings up, buttercup.
