Roots

“His passion is to remain true to the Word of “I AM,” meditating day and night on the true revelation of light. He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:2-3‬ ‭TPT‬‬

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Don’t you just love when a song takes you back, way back to a moment, time, place, person, and you just can’t help but feel the welcoming wave of nostalgia? Yea, me too. I smile just thinking about it. I had one of those moments yesterday. I was listening to Stephanie Gretzinger’s new album, “Faith of my Father”, and wow let me just tell you it got me straight in the core of my feels. She brought back a series of songs of old that I grew up listening too and singing as a child, and boy did it bring me to tears. It was a beautiful, powerful moment for me because it brought me back to my roots. And I don’t believe that there's any coincidence that the title is what it is, because not only are they songs about our Heavenly Father, but they instantly brought me back to my childhood. Picture little Ariana, getting tucked in for the night, and her daddy sitting on the side of her bed, and he then starts singing over her until she drifts off to peaceful sleep. Oh, the memories, those old church songs that have held such a special place in my heart, those songs that were sung over me as I would drift off to sleep. I can still hear his soft melody now, “I love you Lord, and I lift my voice, to worship you, oh my soul rejoice. Take joy my king, in what you hear, let it be a sweet, sweet sound, in your ear.” Roots began to grow in my little heart, my Heavenly Father placed my earthly daddy to instill and ignite the worshipper inside of me as he would sing those worship songs over me at night. As a child, I had no idea that this was happening, but the realization hit me yesterday when I was listening to this album, the Lord revealed exactly what He had been doing all along and it pierced me to the core in the most intimate of ways. Through the heart and passion of my daddy for the Heavenly Father, that very heart and passion were then instilled and now burns deeply within me.

Over the years the enemy has worked overtime to bury that fire in me, to lead me away from the brooks of bliss, forgetting my roots, worth, and who the Lord created me to be. In doing my research on roots and how they work and what makes them strong I came upon this little snippet that stood out to me. “Trees need wind to blow against them because it causes their root systems to grow deeper, which supports the tree as it grows taller. ... The tree accepts the strong wind as a blessing that helps it grow. Such experiences develop our character and deepen our spiritual roots. When we grow deep, we too, stand tall”

WOW! Can you see that from a spiritual standpoint? We should welcome the wind, we will bend but we will not break, but instead, we will grow stronger in our roots. I can say without a doubt that my character has been tested, been through many a hurricane, even been through the fire, but my roots have remained strong. Has the fire inside of me raged continually? No. It's gone through seasons of being very weak, practically an ember, but the beauty of that ember is that all it needs is a small breath to cause that fire to grow again. And that's exactly what our Heavenly Father does for us, when we feel like we are about to go out, we reach out to blow through the embers of our heart and reignite that flame. And I'm so thankful to have an earthly daddy who has always been an example of a bright fire of passion for the Lord in his worship. This is a legacy that I will carry, a legacy that I will one day be able to help instill and ignite into my children. Roots from my Heavenly Father, through my daddy, and forever in my being.

Don't forget your roots, my friends.