The brown began with just a few leaves at the bottom of the plants. Each day death advanced up the plant, changing verdant life into lifeless dried leaves. A fungus relentlessly attacked our tomato field and plants were dying at a rapid pace.

How do you lean into God when reaping a harvest looks unpromising? #trustingGod Share on X

This wasn’t just a plant or two, we grew tomatoes to sell—there were hundreds of plants.

 

Regular fungicide treatments had no effect. Agricultural experts we consulted offered no solutions or hope. The harvest looked bleak.

 

But my husband refused to give up without a fight.

 

Our Father’s Plan 

Our Father has a plan for each of us. We can look at each step on our life journey, each season of growth, as our ongoing harvest. We grow and mature, accomplish goals, make new ones, and continue the process. Each milestone in life, both small and large, are like the harvest. The farmer plants the seed, cares for the crop, nurtures it through various trials, reaps the harvest, and shares the bounty with others. We do the same in our daily lives.

But sometimes the harvest looks unpromising

As we set goals, develop plans and strategies to achieve harvest on our journey through life, trials interfere. How do we meet these trials so that our harvest doesn’t fail?

First—we pray. Whenever challenges, uncertainty, and hardship threaten to pull us away from God’s plan, our first action should be to consult our Father, the Master planner. When roadblocks arise on our journey, our Father placed them for a reason. Does He mean for us to take another route? A change of direction? Does He want us to seek additional help? Do we adjust our plans? Make adaptations? Prayer enables us to find answers to these questions.

Whenever challenges, uncertainty, and hardship threaten to pull us away from God’s plan, our first action should be to consult our Father, the Master planner. -Katherine Pasour #trustinggod Share on X

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. (Psalm 17:6-7, NIV*)

Persevere—If God is guiding us to continue with the plan—not change direction—not give in to the trial—then He will show us the pathway and give us strength and endurance to continue.

If God is guiding us to continue with the plan—not change direction—not give in to the trial—then He will show us the pathway and give us strength and endurance to continue. -Katherine Pasour #trustinggod Share on X

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love them. (James 1:12)

We may need to adapt—At times, a change of direction is required for us to achieve our harvest. God may halt us in our tracks and provide a different pathway. At this point, we seek His guidance through prayer, Bible study, and thoughtful reflection, asking ourselves, “What is my Father guiding me to do differently?”

A worker noted many weeds in his master’s field and asked if the weeds should be pulled:

“No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn’.” (Matthew 13:29-30)

Look for the positive, rather than dwelling on the negative—When a crisis smites us, we often only see hardship and feel pain. Perhaps our Lord is revealing a more positive direction, a new and fulfilling harvest to seek. Often this different pathway may involve letting go of past pain, anger, and unforgiveness.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Remember, we are the Lord’s workers—Often, in the midst of working toward our goals, we overlook our calling to reach out to others. We are the harvest workers to spread the Good News of Jesus to others.

Often, in the midst of working toward our goals, we overlook our calling to reach out to others. We are the harvest workers to spread the Good News of Jesus to others -Katherine Pasour #trustinggod Share on X

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send the workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Reaping the Harvest

My husband persevered in his fight to save our tomato harvest. He prayed. He asked questions. He studied. He adapted remedies. He developed his own formulas in an effort to stop the onslaught of the deadly disease. He provided extra water and fertilizer to help the plants fight the fungus.

The yield was lower than normal, but his persistence saved part of the harvest.

Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

How can we give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord? When the harvest looks unpromising, how can we persevere and do our Father’s work?

Katherine Pasour is an author, teacher, farmer, and speaker with a passion for service. She blogs regularly at www.katherinepasour.com with a focus on faith, wellness, and the lessons nature teaches. Psalm 139 reminds us that we are God’s special creation, “fearfully and wonderfully made”, thus Katherine believes we should nurture all aspects of wellness in service to our Lord.

She is a regular contributor to Refresh Bible Study Magazine, published by Lighthouse Bible Studies. Katherine has articles in several Bible Study compilations, Heart Renovation: A Construction Guide to Godly Character (2018); Feed Your Soul with the Word of God (2019), and The Power to Make a Difference (2019). Katherine’s wellness Bible study, Honoring God with My Body: Journey to Wellness and a Healthy Lifestyle, published by Morgan James, releases October 4, 2022.

You can connect with Katherine on Facebook and Instagram at KatherinePasourAuthor and Twitter @KatherinePasour.

 

For more on an abundant harvest, hop over to this article by Dr. David Jeremiah.

Peace and grace,

Tammy

I sometimes link up with the following wonderful bloggers:

Mondays   Mandy and Michele/ Inspire Me Monday/Anita Ojeda Tuesdays InstaEncouragements Wednesdays  Recharge Wednesday / Tell His Story//Let’s Have Coffee Thursdays ImpartingGrace/Heart Encouragement  /Salt and Light Friday FriendshipFriday/Blogger Voices Network /Faith on Fire

 

Tammy Kennington

• Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory but appreciated!
• Leave 1-2 of your most recent Christian Living posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.
• Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!
• We sort all links randomly—feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

Featured Post Requirements

• Please grab a button and link it back to one of our hosts to encourage new linkers. It is not mandatory to participate but is required to be featured.
• Tammy will choose one blog post every other week to emphasize and promote via her website and social media channels. Be sure to visit our other hosts weekly to see what they have chosen.

Thank you so much for linking up! It means more to me than you know.

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus. We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. For a weekly reminder and access to the resource library, subscribe to [email protected].

Join us for the Grace & Truth Christian Link-Up. #graceandtruth #bloglinkup #christianbloggers Share on X