If you have been following my blog for any amount of time you will surely have noticed that this past year or so has been difficult to say the least. We have experienced loss like I have not experienced in my entire life combined. As I was beginning to feel like God was beating up on me, or that He was just too busy to notice, I had an encounter with Him that reminded me that His character is true and sufficient. I had been hanging on by a thread. Standing on the ledge. Feeling like I looked just like this plant. Withered, beaten, neglected, and barely surviving. Then my sweet Lord came to me... He met me on a church pew with other sisters who looked just a tired and ragged as I was feeling. (Funny isn't it, that when we are feeling so neglected we forget that we are not alone?) He reminded me in His Word to "understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty." ( 2 Timothy 3:1) So what then? When life beats you down, circumstances feel as though they will overtake you, and you feel as though you are barely hanging on? What do we do then? That was the question I was coming to the Lord with on this particular day. And God oh so sweetly reminded me that I have hope. Hope that He can take any circumstance and make something so beautiful out of it. Beauty that I couldn't begin to even imagine, much less create. He can take a person, barely surviving, but willing to be poured into and cause them not just to "make it", but to thrive! This truly is His desire for my life. When the storms come, that I wouldn't just "hang in there" or wait for the phrase "this too shall pass" to become true, but in the midst of the storm to THRIVE. So, how do I do this... as I was reading a book given to me by a sweet friend, the author said something that really struck a cord in me. She said "Yes, you can throw pieces at God in anger and say "I do not like the life You have given me, and I refuse to life within these limitations with a humble heart."... However, if you choose to bow your knee and submit to the varied circumstances of your life, God will do miracles... you must accept any limitations by faith, trust in His faithfulness each step of the way, and wait for His grace so you can live a faithful story right in the place you find yourself." (Sally Clarkson) So that is the secret to thriving in the midst of the storm. Submission, faith, and trust in God. That He has a greater plan then you can imagine in this moment. That He is orchestrating all things, not just when things are good and the sun is shining, but on those nights when the storm rages outside the window and your heart feels shattered. The only difference in the first picture of the wilting plants, and this one is the second picture has been watered, tended to by The Gardener. I'm sure this entailed some painful pruning, but the plant trusted and submitted to The Gardeners plan to create something beautiful! Something that is not merely surviving... but thriving! 
But there was also another picture that God revealed to me. And this one was harder on my heart than the first two. Take a look at this plant. It looks beautiful, like it is flourishing and thriving in that beautiful stone pot. But the reality is that this plant is neither surviving nor thriving, in fact it has never experienced either, it is artificial. Fake. A fraud. It requires no pruning or watering, no tending, no painful grooming. No attention from The Gardener. It is safe from the painful process that The Gardener has in mind for the living plants. It is plastic. And as I was thinking about all of the seasons of my life that I have been "plastic", unliving, fake, and safe, it came to me just how much bravery it takes to be real. To be vulnerable to the process and plan that The Gardener has for our lives. It is much easier to be fake. It is much easier to be safe from the storms, in fact they don't matter when you are fake, nothing can hurt you. But you will never experience the fullness and joy of being cared for and protected by The Gardener. Being real is worth the pain. It's worth the vulnerability when you have The Gardener tending to your heart. 
God, please continue to prune me, to tend to my heart, to water my soul with Your Word, the Living Water. Help me to be vulnerable enough to be real and not artificial, even if I do look like the plant that is barely surviving. Thank You for Your kindness, mercy, patience, and tenderness. I submit my life to You. In Jesus sweet, precious name I pray. Amen
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