Renewal

I posted pictures of my flowers in the last post. The roses and the amaryllises (said with a lisp, because that is the only way to say that word!) :) have just blossomed this year. Last year, there were a few roses and about 3 amaryllis blossoms. This year they have just gone wild with blooms. I love them. It made me reflect a little on my life. At the risk of sounding very mushy and gushy, here goes.

After the flowers bloomed last year they then died on the surface, but the blubs were still buried in the ground, ready for the growth in the next season. I bloomed for a little while last spring after I got married. Then I felt like I died, but deep down there was still life. This spring the flowers came back with more blossoms, more beautiful, more vibrant. I couldn't help but think that that is the way I somewhat feel too. Part of me died, but that didn't mean that I had to shrivel up and completely die. I think of my trials as part of the pruning process. You have to trim back plants in order for them to keep producing fruit. I know that is what God does for us also. It would have taken me so long to learn what God is teaching me, if I hadn't had to go through this past year. Instead of going through that long process, God chose to cut me down and is slowly allowing me grow again. Not the path that I would have chosen, but I know that He knows what is best for me and I am extremely grateful that I have the master "Gardener" in control of the pruning! I hope I can be like the flowers in my yard, growing in amazing ways, bearing much fruit, all for the glory of God!

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1-2

But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou art our Potter, and all of us are the work of Thy hand. Issaiah 64:8

Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. Psalm 66:8-12

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10