Set Apart to Take Root

John 15:1–2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener… every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

I’ve always been told, “You can’t kill a Pothos plant.” But I can confidently tell you, yes, you can!

After traveling quite a bit last July, I came home to find one of my Pothos plants with yellowing leaves and long, bare vines. Instead of throwing it away, I brought it closer, placing it on my kitchen counter where I could see it, water it, and care for it.

I trimmed away the dead parts and replanted some of the vines so they could grow new roots. One day, a stem was accidentally pulled from the soil, and I noticed a tiny new root growing.

Immediately, I felt the Lord say, “This is what I’ve been doing with you.”

I’ve struggled with identity for much of my life. I grew up in a dysfunctional home marked by physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. I experienced rejection, abandonment, and comparison. I remember wondering, “Why can’t I be more like my sister?”

Over time, those experiences became roots. When I felt set apart, I often interpreted it as rejection, loneliness, or not belonging.

But God showed me that my Pothos wasn’t separate because I didn’t want it. I brought it closer because it needed more care.

In the same way, there have been seasons when I thought God was isolating me, but He was actually drawing me closer. I thought I was being overlooked, but He was tending to me. I thought things were being taken away, but He was pruning what could not remain if I was going to grow.

God has been cutting away old beliefs: rejection, abandonment, comparison, the need for approval, and the belief that I must become someone else to be enough. He has been rerooting my identity in Him.

When I replanted those stems, I couldn’t see anything happening above the soil. But underneath, roots were growing. Now, my Pothos is beginning to sprout new leaves, visible evidence of growth that began where I could not see it.

Maybe that’s where you are today. Maybe you feel set apart, cut back, or hidden. Don’t mistake being set apart for being abandoned. Sometimes God brings us closer because He is nurturing places in us that only He can reach.

Don’t judge your growth only by what you can see. God may be uprooting what rejection taught you and replacing it with what He says about you. He may be teaching you to release comparison, depend less on people’s approval, and trust Him more fully.

Eventually, those new roots will produce new fruit: confidence, trust, obedience, and freedom, not for our glory, but for His.

So if you feel buried, remember:

Maybe you haven’t been buried.

Maybe you’ve been planted.

And the Gardener knows exactly what He’s doing.

Prayer

Father, thank You for tending to the places in us that others cannot see. Uproot every lie planted by rejection, abandonment, comparison, or our past, and teach us to find our identity completely in You.

When we feel set apart, remind us that we have not been abandoned. When we cannot see growth, help us trust that You are working beneath the surface.

Grow new roots in us, Lord. May everything that grows from our lives point back to You and bring You glory.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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 Yara Cortes Castañon

Yara is a wife, a mother of four, and a follower of Jesus with a heart for encouraging others to see God in the everyday moments of life. She lives in San Diego, California, where she and her family attend Family Revival Church. Through her writing, Yara hopes to inspire women to deepen their faith, trust God's leading, and recognize His presence in both the ordinary and extraordinary moments of their journey.