A Season of Shedding
In December, while waiting for my husband to come out of a store, right outside the truck window was a tree. The tree's outer layer of bark was splitting open on its entire surface, and I could see the fresh, expanding layer beneath. A lesson from the Lord came as I observed this: a season of shedding is necessary to accommodate the inner expansion and growth. And this doesn't just apply to trees.
While the shedding can be unsightly and messy, the dead layer must go. In nature, several kinds of birds and reptiles go through molting cycles as they grow and mature. Even as children we outgrow our shoes repeatedly through the years, often splitting and bursting the seams of our favorite pairs.
Prophetic significance: Do not be surprised when things get sorted and sifted out of your life. Expect some change, a time of leaving behind, a throwing off of things that no longer fit. The Kingdom within you is expanding, causing some necessary shedding. This is for individuals, specific congregations, and the Church as a whole.
However, people tend to be loss-averse, meaning the idea of losing or giving up something is painful. We try to avoid loss. We hold onto what seems familiar, normal, comfortable. Letting go of things can seem risky. We even hold on to familiar things that are no longer comfortable—like unforgiveness.
Psychology has discussed this issue, citing how the pain of loss or losing something affects us more deeply than gaining something. It's often talked about in regard to finances, but it affects us elsewhere in life. Our younger selves may have tried to hold onto our favorite sneakers or Mary Janes even though they no longer fit. To what end? Probably some discomfort, maybe a bit of teasing about the raggedy look of our beloved shoes. But they were comfortable for so long! We had grown attached to them. They were familiar.
How often do we also do this with other things in life like attitudes, material things we don't use, thought patterns, toxic friendships, loyalty to our old ideas that worked in a past season, or habits? There are things we must shed, and it's ultimately for our benefit.
Our souls and spirits are like the tree. The Church as a whole is like the tree. This nation is like the tree. The Apostle Peter had to shed a wrong way of thinking about the Gentiles as being "unclean," so God gave him a vision in a trance. God was doing a new thing. It was a New Covenant shift, where Jew and Gentile became one new man in Christ, with no separation.
In this time, the Kingdom of God is expanding us individually and corporately. There are things that no longer fit that must be shed. Without the shedding, there can be no expansion and growth. Do not find it strange if you find yourself in a season of shedding! Your maturity and the Kingdom's expansion within you requires it.
—Krista Dunk, FTPN founder, leader of the International Prophetic Writers Association, authorReturn to the word archive home page.
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