A few years ago, I was challenged by the Lord to focus on the fruit of the Spirit. As I began studying the passages found in Galatians 5, God spoke to me so clearly. I knew I needed to live a life full of the Spirit of God, and abide in Him daily. Once again, God has pressed on my heart to study this lesson, and to share these truths with you.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting a new blog post on each of the nine fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance). Together, we will study God’s Word and gain wisdom from Him concerning our Christian walk as single moms. God wants us to abide in His garden–to feast on His fruit, and produce godly fruit in our lives.

We will be looking at what it means to live a life full of love, joy, peace, and so forth, and how we can be challenged to have a closer walk with the Lord.

Abiding in God’s Garden: The Key to a Fruitful Life

A fruitful life first takes place when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts at salvation. This is a free gift that God has given us. However, once we are saved, we need to constantly seek the Lord each day through Bible reading and prayer. Abiding in God’s garden takes work (just like tending to an earthly garden). Sometimes we let weeds (sin, the cares of this world, etc.) invade our lives and cause the fruitfulness that we should have to become stagnated.

The key to a fruitful life yielded to God is to abide in Him. This is something that must be done in order to see victory in every area of your life. That’s why I’m so excited to study Galatians 5:22-26! Let’s take the time each week to study and meditate on the verses I will share in each blog post. The more we abide in God’s garden feasting on His Word, the more abundantly His fruit (through the Holy Spirit) will be manifested in our every day lives.

 Pray, Study, and Memorize These Text Verses

Here’s a jump start on the text verses we will be studying over the next nine weeks. If you are a new Christian mom and are unfamiliar with the Bible, the key verses will be coming from the book of Galatians which is in the New Testament (back of your Bible). Don’t be ashamed if you have to look in the table of contents for books you don’t know. In time, you will learn.😊

Here are the key verses:

Galatians 5:22-25

22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24) And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

We will also look at several other passages of scripture that support this lesson. Please keep in mind that I am not a Bible scholar–only a blogger. Also keep in mind that the things I share are as much for me (even more) as they are for you–my dear, precious readers! The whole purpose of this series (and anything else I write about or share) is to encourage you in your walk with the Lord, and in your parenting journey. I’m far from perfect. I don’t have all the answers. But I do serve a God that has ALL the answers to all life’s problems.

So…Let’s Get Going!

Here’s your homework assignment, ladies: Over this week, study the above verses. Also, please pray for me that God would give me clarity of thought as I write, and the courage to do a live video once a week (I hate doing videos!!).

If you follow my Facebook page, Hope In My Journey, I will attempt to post a video on each of the nine fruit (one each week). It will mainly be a discussion video on what God has shown me through studying these verses. I would like for it to be interactive, so I will be asking you all to chime in.

Because life is so unpredictable right now with quarantine, social distancing, and just real life, I can’t say what day the posts will be coming out. I also can’t pinpoint what days and times I will be posting the Facebook lives, so just be on the lookout. If you haven’t done so already, sign up to follow our community (this blog) to receive email updates for each new post, and also like our Facebook page. Invite friends (really any mom, single or otherwise) to join us. It will be so much fun!

So until next time, enjoy your week, and as always…Happy Parenting!❤️