Flourish: Grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment. Develop rapidly and successfully.
It’s hard to flourish when we feel exhausted, overworked, overwhelmed and needy. How can we flourish when we can’t even finish a task without getting distracted and moving on to the next item on our agenda? How can we flourish when our hearts are heavy and our community is lacking and our relationships are splintered? How can we flourish when there’s barely any fruit, life or growth happening in our hearts?
That’s where the power of the Holy Spirit comes in, friend. Flourishing doesn’t look like having it all together. Flourishing doesn’t look like being Superwoman, the perfect Pinterest mom, or the greatest wife who never forgets anything and has dinner on the table every night when her husband walks through the door.
Flourishing looks a lot less glamorous most of the time – because flourishing looks like Jesus. Flourishing looks like the Fruit of the Spirit growing in our hearts as a result of daily coming to the well of God’s word and holding up our life to His light. Receiving the daily nourishment we talked about yesterday alongside the power of the Holy Spirit is what produces the fruit in the first place – so if you’re feeling like you can’t do anything to make the fruit pop up in your life, you’re right!
Before we can flourish, we have to fail.
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. Psalm 92:12-13
That may sound backwards, but here’s what I mean: We have to “fail” according to the world’s standard. When the world is saying more is more, do all and be all, look great and be successful – we can get caught in the comparison trap, always wishing for a better body, bigger house, new job or more money. We can start believing that our neighbor’s life is better and that we just don’t have enough to be satisfied. Our neighbor’s circumstance may be easier, but the truth is, you have everything you need in Jesus.
When we finally let go of the world’s mentality and start to grasp the kingdom vision of the gospel, we may “fail” in the eyes of the world. We may fail to have the success that we see others having and we may not have all the same accolades and accomplishments. But by failing to worry about the things culture is shouting about, we can get quiet and still enough to be fully satisfied in Jesus. This is when we begin to flourish!
Before we can flourish, we have to fill up on the Word.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
The Holy Spirit came that we could know Christ and follow His will for our life. And what is God’s will for us? To glorify God and make Him known (Matthew 28:18-20). To rejoice always, to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). But if we never spend time getting to know God, we won’t be able to share Him with the world. We can’t make disciples if we don’t know the one who is discipling. We can’t please God if we don’t know what pleases Him.
The Bible is our source of knowing God because it is His actual Word – His living and active, perfect word! So in order to flourish, we have to fill up on the Lord and we can do this through prayer, bible study, meditation – being in His presence! When we fill up on the Word, we gain a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and how He wants us to live in obedience to Him. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to help us understand and apply these truths and we can begin to see His fruit in our lives! This is part of flourishing – overflowing as a result of being filled by Christ.
Well-watered women flourish when they come to the well of God’s word and find their hope and life in Christ.
Every tool we make, every resource you can find in the Well-Watered Women Shop, it’s all geared toward this one goal: to know and love Jesus more. We want to equip you to dig into Scripture with tools and studies that value the powerful word of God and push you deeper in relationship with the Lord. We want to help you abide in Christ and flourish in His love.
How are you flourishing, friends? We want to rejoice with you in the ways Christ is at work in your life!
This hit me. Hard. Thank you for sharing