June 3: After the Shaking

 Devotional Title: After the Shaking

By Sharon Campbell-Danvers

The day before, I stepped outside and was met with a disheartening sight — leaves scattered everywhere. The yard was littered with dried remnants, signs that the trees had begun shedding. It needed a serious clean-up, but the thought of raking or blowing all those leaves was simply too much. I was tired — emotionally and physically. I stood there, looking around, and quietly turned back inside.

I glanced up at the trees and noticed something interesting: many of the leaves were still hanging on, dried and lifeless. Even if I clean now, I thought, the rest will just fall tomorrow.
The task felt pointless. I didn’t have the strength for it that day.

That night, rain came — and not just a drizzle. It poured. The roof echoed with the sound of heavy drops, and the wind howled with authority. The kind of shaking that only God can orchestrate.

When I woke up before dawn, I walked around the yard again. The ground was covered in leaves, but something had changed. I looked up at the avocado tree, and to my surprise, the dried leaves were gone. The storm had done what I could not. The shaking had cleared the old away.

Beneath the trees lay the evidence of that shaking — a mess, yes — but also a clearing.

And God spoke.

“In life, My daughter, you too must endure the shaking. Not to destroy you, but to prepare you.”

We often resist the mess, the discomfort, the storm. But it is in the shaking that God loosens what no longer serves us — dead habits, old pain, dry relationships, expired seasons.

"Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
— Hebrews 12:26 (ESV)

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
— John 15:2 (NKJV)

God’s shaking is never without purpose. Don’t focus on the mess around your feet — focus on what’s been removed. What has been cleared makes space for what’s about to grow.

New life follows the storm.

Don’t fear the shaking. Embrace it. It’s the sign that transformation is underway.

Prayer:
Lord, thank You for loving me enough to shake away what no longer belongs in my life. Help me not to resist the storm but to trust You in the middle of it. I surrender the mess and open my heart to the new growth You are preparing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.