I'm Planted Not Buried

By Buhle Lindwa

The core theme of I'm Planted Not Buried leans strongly on Christian spiritual growth and the abundant life that Jesus Christ promises in John 10:10 because our only saving grace is cultivating a conscious relationship with God.

The kingdom of God is goodness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) and with help from God, we can regulate the emotional quality of our lives and break free from the pain and cycles we've picked up.

There’s always purpose to the pain and we can use proven eternal principles to resolve our contemporary life issues because biblical principles are the blueprint to living abundantly. In this book, Buhle Lindwa details the gospel truth on how to find your purpose and obtain wholesome wealth as you walk aligned to God’s will.

I’m Planted Not Buried details how to unlock faith and understand the Holy Spirit’s role in our journey of accessing God’s sovereign salvation. We don’t have to confine the Christian faith to a church building, Passover, or Easter Sunday. We can bring our faith into the practicality of our life experiences by celebrating Jesus' resurrection daily. We’ve been planted and not buried.

About the Author

Buhle Lindwa is a digital content strategist with two journalism qualifications and digital marketing accreditations. She is the CEO of Lindwa Communications - an award-wining digital marketing agency that helps brands and businesses establish an online presence with strategic digital marketing.

She started her career with a broadcast journalism internship at Tygerberg 104FM, a Christian radio station and Buhle had a tenure at Elle South Africa, various media publications & digital marketing agencies. The author plans to dissect societal realities, independently, as a Christian thought leader - identifying complexities and applying Biblical principles to find personal solutions.

Buhle is passionate about cultivating a relationship with God, emphasising its importance in maintaining mental strength - as this is the only solution to living the life of freedom Jesus Christ provides.

The Bible details God’s pertinent instructions for humanity, by explaining redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ. The wisdom found in scripture explains how we can live optimally by deriving principles, and with the help of the Holy Spirit appropriate for our life. Buhle believes that you can have it all when you partner with God, using the Bible as your blueprint to living a blessed life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Buhle Lindwa
• Release date: Aug 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005899929

Buhle Lindwa

Buhle Lindwa is a digital content strategist with two journalism qualifications and digital marketing accreditation. She is the CEO of Lindwa Communications - an award-winning digital marketing agency that helps brands and businesses establish an online presence with strategic digital marketing.She started her career with a broadcast journalism internship at Tygerberg 104FM, a Christian community radio station and Buhle had a tenure at Elle South Africa, various media publications & digital marketing agencies. The author plans to dissect societal realities, independently - as a Christian thought leader, identifying complexities and applying Biblical principles to find personal solutions.Buhle is passionate about cultivating a relationship with God, emphasising its importance in maintaining mental strength - as this is the only solution to living the life of freedom Jesus Christ provides.The Bible details God's pertinent instructions for humanity, by explaining redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ. In the Bible's entirety, there is wisdom that we can derive Biblical principles from, with the help of the Holy Spirit to appropriate for our life. Buhle believes that you can have it all when you partner with God, using the Bible as your blueprint to living a blessed life.

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I’m Planted not Buried by Buhle Lindwa

Published by Buhle Lindwa at Smashwords

www.buhlelindwa.com

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This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked amp are from the Amplified Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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Scripture quotations marked tlb are from The Living Bible. Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2022 by Buhle Lindwa

All rights reserved

Visit the author’s website at www.buhlelindwa.com.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to everyone healing from things they don’t discuss, young or old. Please know that there is a new dawn on the horizon.

To my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ:

Thank You for showing me consciousness and proving to me that pure life truly exists. I’m forever indebted to You, Jehovah Shammah.

Your grace is eternal and Your truth is everlasting. Yahweh Adonai, I honour You.

My words are not enough to thank You for the cross, Yeshua—the greatest sacrifice of all. I am grateful for Your love and mercy.

I love You, Daddy.

Introduction

Daily, we notice how people hide in social media for identity, in drugs for peace, in money for security, and toxic relationships for love. Others are hiding in the lives and accomplishments of their children for significance and in their education and careers for wisdom, but one can have more degrees than a thermometer and still lack wisdom.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Are you hiding your feelings of insignificance, unworthiness, disappointment, or even emotional pain behind a mask? All of these feelings can leave us overwhelmed and this is how we can feel buried. Most of the time, the life issues we struggle to resolve is what we feel buried by, and catching a break seems like a myth.

If social media platforms shut down, all the drugs ran out, your money disappeared, all your relationships failed, your children grew up and left home, or your education became irrelevant, who and what would you be?

It may be hard to say out loud, but if your thoughts are screaming that you’d be nothing, this book is for you. Let’s keep reading.

On the contrary, I know a fact that contradicts all that you might be feeling or thinking, and that fact is you are everything you desire to be because God says you are.

None of these shelters—your children, your education, or your money—provide any real protection. The wind can blow it all away. Your real identity, peace, security, significance, wisdom, and the purest of love is only found in Jesus Christ, and all He wants is you, simply as you are. 

You can’t overcome everything that has happened to you without deciding that what’s in front of you is much better than the past. This shift in perspective will prove that you’ve just been planted and knowing you have a future allows you to look at a way forward. And as everyone deals with trauma differently, how you choose to channel trauma marks your freedom and progress. God has charted a course for you to translate the bad into good and the pain into purpose so that your life will prove that you’ve been planted and not buried.

Some people do not make it out successfully from dealing with trauma and brokenness, because they are not present in their current moment and continue to live in their past. Living in the past makes them unavailable to the future.

Don’t Settle for a Temporary Fix

If we have been victims of abuse, rejection, abandonment, or any other hurt or pain, we may tend to use dysfunctional coping mechanisms to bring temporary comfort instead of dealing with the pain so that we heal, wholly and permanently. This may not be what we want for our lives, but because we have not learned the tools or have received the revelation that we can face our pain and heal, we do the best we can with what we know—even if it is destructive. What we may sense deep inside is that truly, those who cling to their pain rarely become successful—as clinging spreads the hurt. To be free, we will need to deal with situations head-on and get through them by healing holistically so that pain can’t have any hold on us. What we need is a strategy on how we can deal with pain so that it doesn’t hinder the course of our lives and have us stuck in dysfunction. Because, when we’re in pain, we’ll do anything to stop the bleeding. 

Having vices is so easy and, to some degree, they can anaesthetize your pain, but they won’t solve your pain or problems. These dysfunctional coping mechanisms provide temporary comfort and they’ll keep you occupied for a moment until they just don’t work anymore. Consider this: what you escape to will eventually be what you are enslaved by.

In truth, coping mechanisms don’t help you cope. They don’t last. For example, the more you drink to cope, the more alcohol you’ll need to intake to pacify the growing pain of brokenness. The more drugs you smoke, snort, or shoot up, the more dependent you will be on increasing dosages. Pursuing more relationships to pacify being lonely and your need for love won’t kill the pain of brokenness until you deal with those things at the root. These vices will not save you.

You could have it all, but because you have not dealt with the undercurrent of pain in your life, that pain will creep up on you at the height of your success and cause a crash, leading to more brokenness. Inevitably, the more you choose to use dysfunctional coping mechanisms, the more you should be careful not to overdose on any of your chosen concoctions. An overdose on anything can kill you in one way or another.

You Need a Plan

Coping mechanisms only numb out the pain for a while. When we come back from our escape, we will still have the pain to deal with, plus the shame or guilt we carry for depending on vices. For God’s purpose to be manifest in our lives, we’ll need to have a plan on how to deal with pain, even if it means being in an uncomfortable position for a season as we carry our crosses. (See Matthew 16:24–26).

For example, Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins and as He hung there in pain, He was given sour wine mixed with gall (a bitter substance) to ease the pain. After He tasted it, Jesus refused to drink it (Matthew 27:34). He understood this concoction was given to Him to ease the pain, but He chose to stay sober so that He can fully live out His purpose, at all costs. Jesus didn’t want to pacify His brokenness. He didn’t want to depend on any vice as He bled out on the cross for mankind’s sins. Instead, Jesus found a way to turn His pain into purpose by rising from the grave on the third day, which fulfilled God’s purpose for His life. Now He’s seated at the right hand of the Father (Colossians 3:1), His name is above every name (Philippians 2:9) because Christ is supreme (Colossians 1:15–21).

Now it’s the same with us. When we decide that there’s more available for us in God and the future He has in store for us, then we’ll fight to live in our purpose. Only this will enable us to turn our pain into purpose and unlock the power of God in our life. This is how we’ll bloom. There’s healing for every kind of brokenness at the cross, and we’ll also get the perfect theology about our life. There has always been a plan, even with all the turmoil that’s happened. If anything, the entire calamity ignited a thirst for God in us that might not have come in any other way. We’ll have to transform the bad into good and the pain into purpose, so we can unlock the strength attached to every weakness.

There’s real power available for us in God, but we can’t fulfil God’s purpose for our lives when we depend on dysfunctional coping mechanisms. We need to stay sober emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically even when surrounding circumstances urge us to succumb to intoxicating feelings and reactions.

You won’t be carrying your cross properly if you give in, and your goal has to be to stay on that cross, stretched out until you fulfil God’s plan for you just like Jesus did.

Staying sober emotionally and physically means you won’t be steered by your feelings or chase your tail by feeding every craving your body wants. Staying sober mentally means overthinking is cancelled because you will think correct thoughts about yourself and your life, and not drift off with compulsive thinking. And being spiritually sober means you’ll be rooted in sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3). You’ll be hungry for the truth and understand the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ. You will pray for God to establish His kingdom in you (Luke 17:21) because the kingdom of God is a mentality where His perfect will is manifest and you can live your life from this level of authority.

Another interesting part of Jesus crucifixion is that right before He gave up His spirit to the Father, He said, I thirst (John 19:28). But previously, He had refused to drink the concoction with gall given to Him. The difference this time around was that He knew His mission was finished and the reason He said, I thirst was to fulfil a prophecy (Psalm 69:21). His thirst was to complete His purpose. So He was given sour wine on a sponge to drink, with no gall and He bowed His head and said, It is finished (John 19:30). 

To fulfil the Scripture, Jesus said that He was thirsting for His purpose to be fulfilled. In seeing that He said this, we observe a perfect example of how every word God says will come to pass. This includes every word He has spoken about your life because you’re the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21). You’re a king, a priest (Revelation 1:6), and a masterpiece that is created anew in the union with Christ Jesus so you can walk out the good works God planned long ago. (See Ephesians 2:10).

It wasn’t convenient for Jesus to die for mankind’s sin. He was determined to carry out God’s plan for His life by enduring the cross (Hebrews 12:2) for the joy set before Him so that we can be free. Your purpose on earth is much bigger than you think because there are people attached to your purpose. Through your obedience, many lives will be touched and reunited with God. So whatever God is prompting you to do, do it. With every gift God has given you, hone it, build it, and perfect it. You have a purpose that could heal others and yourself in the process. Master it, share it, and heal through the process because there’s so much healing for others attached to you.

Drink in Fresh, Living Water

Daily, we thirst too. We thirst to live in God’s purpose for our lives and unwrap every gift He has given us. Until we decide to partner with God to do destiny, nothing else will quench this thirst, and some people die thirsty.

If you believe in the power and resurrection of Jesus Christ and want to tap into more and get fresh living water in you, look at the verse in John that says, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38).

He is also the bread of life, and anyone who believes in Jesus will never hunger or thirst again (John 6:35). If you’re committed to carrying purpose all the way through, you’ll have to decide on how you will do it and have a purpose plan in place. The only way to get back at all the pain and brokenness from your past is to promise yourself a beautiful future. You can be all-in to reinvent yourself and create a fruitful life. And as you walk in your purpose, you can give birth to something that will make up for everything you’ve been through. Genesis 41:51 says, Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh. ‘For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.’

So having a purpose plan will ensure you stick to the plan, especially when things around you get rough. This plan will also remind you of God’s promises to you because surely He will bless and multiply you (Hebrews 6:14). Your only task is to remember that His promises preserve your life (Psalm 119:50). And you know this because Jesus Christ said in this world, you will have many tribulations, but you can take heart because He overcame the world (John 16:33). You’ll be doing purpose with your Saviour, and everything born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). 

So whatever else life throws at you, just stick to the plan. In this book, we will learn how to customise a plan for our lives and we won’t allow the pain of the past to give us certain characteristics that are inconsistent with the identity Jesus Christ gives. Because mismanaged pain easily becomes a part of your personality. 

Think about that cynical person you know: they weren’t born cynical. They have been shaped by mismanaged pain. You don’t have to be like them. You don’t have to allow pain to shape your character. It doesn’t matter what happened. Life situations don’t have to change your heart’s disposition - as you walk out destiny allow only the Potter to mould you into whom He says you are. He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel’ (Jeremiah 18:6 NIV).

You Are More Than the Pain You See

What story have you told yourself and believed to build up enough evidence to talk yourself out of your dreams? What coping mechanisms or vices have you established to deal with your limitations or trauma? Who or what do you blame for the brokenness in your journey? Keep in mind that you can’t blame anyone if you don’t become everything you have the power to be. This is your journey. No one else has the power to stop you from becoming everything you can be. 

Whatever pain and hurt you experienced along the way is real and now it serves as a casualty of the game. What is in you will make everything else you’ve been through seem minuscule compared to the magnitude of glory that is to come. Romans 8:18 NLT says, Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

I’m here to tell you that the greatest solution to your life is you. The miracle will start inside of you before you experience anything else externally. Only God can perform this miracle that enables you to be a solution to your life. Your relationship with Him will unlock every paradigm. This is called being transformed through the renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2).

My prayer is that the words I write in this book will help you gain a real understanding of who you are at the core.

It will show you how a relationship with God is pivotal and needs to be practical as you will draw power from it. While peace and love from Him will continue to move you into a purposeful life of genuine fulfilment, that peace and love won’t be based on society, people, or things. Therefore, through this fulfilment, you can actively be a solution to the constant problems around you by shining your light, which is more infectious than any darkness (John 1:5). Most importantly, you will be content, whole and free.

There is a purpose to all the pain, and you can only unlock it with God because you are planted not buried.

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Broken Crayons Still Colour

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. —2 Corinthians 12:8–9 NIV

We’re going to need God’s grace to deal with cycles because cycles are different from seasons. Seasons change with time and can be entered into and exited out of. Cycles only change when we change. Sometimes we don’t grow out of cycles. Instead, we remain stuck in dysfunction and find ourselves on a hamster’s wheel, going nowhere fast.

Cycles can be painful, discouraging, and exhausting because the more we try to change, we’re still stuck. Many people choose to deflect the pain caused by cycles and opt for dysfunctional coping mechanisms, but the only way to kill the cycle is to expose them. God reveals these cycles to heal us. His grace will grant the survivor strength to manage this and yes, you, my friend, are a survivor. The odds have been stacked up against you, but here you are still breathing, standing, and fighting for a better life that you know exists.

What Is Pain?

I believe that pain is a perceived state of mind before it is felt in our body and it’s mostly shaped through our life experiences. We can feel pain from the