“And the second son [Joseph] named Ephraim and said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of affliction.’” Gen 41:52

Fruitfulness. I grow more and more convinced this is the aim. This IS the blessing. This side of the veil in this land of thorn and thistle, this IS the point.

“My Father,” Jesus said, “is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.”

Increasingly through the years this has become my primary prayer for my kids, grandkids, my husband, for my extended family, loved ones, friends & for Living Proof:

“Lord, make us immensely fruitful for Your great glory.” You may be yawning. Nothing new to see here. But I ask you to appreciate with me what this kind of outlook toward the goal of our earthly lives does for us. Fruitfulness is not dependent on things going well.

Not dependent upon successes. It is not dependent upon us having a good track record. It is not dependent upon our health. Our wealth. Our gender. Our marital status. Our ability to procreate. Not dependent upon ethnicity, denomination, political affiliation, job. Not dependent

on certain gifts. Not dependent on any enneagram number. Not dependent on age. Our fruitfulness is simply dependent on Jesus. On abiding in Jesus. Appreciate the freedom of this & the beauty of this even in raising children if you are a parent. If you make morality the point for

your children, what happens if they make some pretty disastrous decisions in high school? Are they done? Have they already blown it in your eyes? Proved to be disappointments and it’s Plan B from there? But, if you see fruitfulness as what Jesus wants most for them, could He

not, by His great mercy, use and redeem that difficult season of disastrous decisions to bring forth much fruit? You see, Satan can steal so much from us. But when we run to Christ and abide in His love, Satan cannot rob the worst seasons of our lives of stunning fruitfulness.

Oh my word, brothers and sisters, 2020 has been a year of such affliction. Much has been lost that we cannot gain back. But make no mistake. God can produce tremendous fruit right here in this land of affliction. A harvest that would outlive us.

Oh, that we could look back and be able to rename this terrible year, this frightful season, this demoralizing era “Ephraim, for the Lord made [us] fruitful in the land of our affliction.”