Why God is Cutting Things Off Your Life

Have you ever experienced seasons in life where you faced test after test and trial after trial? These are what I call pruning seasons, times when God is cutting things out of our life that prevents us from growing. As exhausting as these seasons are, they are necessary for our spiritual growth. So in today’s video, learn how to trust God when He calls you to a season of pruning.

During my freshman year in college, I was in prayer one evening, and I distinctly remember feeling God pressing on my spirit to break up with my boyfriend at the time. I originally thought; no, this can't be from God, because that was the last thing that I wanted to do. However, I did know that I needed to break up with him because I knew that this relationship was not God-honoring. After a sequence of events that continue to show me that I needed to obey God and break up with this person, I finally did. It was a Saturday night, and I was staying the night at my friend's dorm when I finally cut things off. Now, you have to understand I didn't want to do it, but the relationship had got so toxic and crazy it was clear to me that I needed to let go. 

I woke up the next day on Sunday feeling heartbroken, but I walked to church with my friend, and as I was walking, I saw a tree that started to blossom these beautiful flowers. I pointed out the tree to my friend and said, “Look at these beautiful flowers I want to pick one.” My friend told me not to pick the flower, but I didn't listen to her, and I went, and I picked one of the flowers off of the tree. We continued to church, but by the end of service, the beautiful flower had started to wither, and its petals were wrinkling and discoloring. It was no longer the beautiful flower that it originally was before I picked it off the tree. God used that experience to speak to me in that moment and teach me that sometimes when we try to hold on to things, we end up killing them and that in order for things to grow and flourish, we need to let certain things go in our lives. God reminded me after breaking up with my boyfriend that I needed to let It go because it was not going to lead to the abundant life that He had for me and that if I tried to hold on to it, it would just continue to die and probably take me along with it. This is true for much of our spiritual lives. There will come times when God will need to cut certain things and people out of our lives to sustain our growth. It’s then that God will allow us to experience a season of pruning.

In a pruning season, God is allowing test after test in your life because He is preparing you for something greater. He’s allowing things to be cut off and people to leave because although it may seem to come out of left field for you, God knows that there are some attitudes, beliefs, and even people you need to let go of before you can enter your next season. After I broke up with my boyfriend, I soon met my now husband. God needed me to be single and available for what He was trying to bless me with. Had I not eventually obeyed God (because it did take me a minute) I would have missed out on one of the greatest blessings of my life. 

A pruning season may feel difficult and uncomfortable, but allow it to complete its work in you. Like fire is used to mold gold, God is using these tests and trials to strip you of your old ways and shape you into the believer that He's calling you to be. In John 15:1-2, Jesus tells us:

Once a seed is planted, and its roots are established, a shoot starts to grow up. This vine, as Jesus calls Himself, produces branches, which are believers, you and me. These branches are then pruned. 

Pruning in gardening is the process where the gardener removes parts of a plant, like buds or leaves. Usually, these parts are removed because they cause more harm than good to the overall plant. A plant will continue to send water and nutrients to its dead parts depriving the living and growing parts of what it needs. So a gardener must frequently go out and take off any dead leaves from it’s plants because they are taking nutrients that could be going to produce more fruit. So pruning is simply where useless shoots from a plant are removed. As we grow and mature in Christ, we have to realize there are things that can stifle that continued growth in Him. These are the things that God removes from our lives so that we might grow more to look like Jesus.

I want to propose to you that some of the challenges you are facing today are not because God is mad at you, but that He is pruning you. Not that He caused these challenges but that He’s using them for you to look more like His Son, which is our ultimate goal of spiritual maturity. Think of it this way. God is only pruning those who are abiding in Christ and growing in Him. Your season of pruning is evidence that you are in Christ in the first place. I want this to be encouragement to you as you face tests and trials, not to despise them but to look at them as opportunities to press more into Jesus and to continue to taste and see that He is good. There have been a lot of things God has pruned from my life, and at the time, it was very painful and uncomfortable, but He had more for me. Looking back, I can say boldly that it was worth it.

I also want to note that sometimes the things God prunes from your life may not even be something that is explicitly sinful. It might be an ambition or relationship or habit that just does not line up with God’s plan for your life right now.

Just a few years ago, God placed it on my heart to stop watching a particular television show that I was really into. I was not sure why, and I really didn’t want to stop because I really liked this show. I finally decided to stop watching the show and it was in that season that God placed my book “Daughters of Fire” heavy on my heart. So instead of watching the show, I started writing that book. Was watching the show a sin? I don’t think it was, but it was not fruitful for what God wanted me to do in that season.

You’d think that if your goal is to grow, cutting back or pruning would be counterproductive, but it’s not. Pruning sets a plant up to flourish more by ensuring it receives as many nutrients as it can get without having to share with a part of itself that cannot grow.

Like a gardener prunes branches, God prunes our lives. Through trial or heartache or both, God removes the things in our lives that stop us from growing, and I understand,  it’s painful. We don’t like this part of spiritual growth. We want our growth in Christ to be all fruits and flowers, but we can’t get to the fruit and flowers without some pruning, and some cutting back so we can grow up. 1 Peter 1:6-7 tells us:

When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory, and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. So how do we pass these tests and make it through these trials in our pruning season? Endure, keep the faith, let go of what needs to be released but never give up on God. 

Today’s video is part of a series called “Growing Closer to God in Any Season,” where we’re learning about how to trust God in a wilderness, pruning, growing, or harvest seasons. Take my “Spiritual Seasons” quiz to learn which of the 4 spiritual seasons you are in, and be sure to comment on this video and let me know your results. 

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As always, thank you so much for watching, and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.