Has God placed you in a difficult situation such as the flower in the picture below? This is an awesome word picture of something that gives off much beauty as it stands all alone in a harsh environment.
All my life I have heard the phrase, “bloom where you are planted.” But this is much easier said than done.
When you feel vulnerable and alone, it’s easy to allow fear and anxiety to control your words, thoughts, and actions.
This is an amazing photo! A beautiful flower in the midst of hard concrete, gas fumes, and heavy traffic. How could such a thing of beauty be so green and healthy growing in such harsh circumstances?
So has God has placed you in a difficult situation? It’s so He can have the pleasure of seeing you grow and bloom there. He looks at things from a much different perspective than you.
This flower did all the natural things a flower would do, no matter what the situation was around it. God wants you to do the same – learn to follow and obey Him no matter the situations and circumstances that surround you.
If you keep your eyes on God, the circumstances around you won’t be able to overwhelm you.
Long ago, the Holy Spirit showed me a word picture of what it means to have tunnel vision as far as seeking and serving God.
A large, clean tunnel stood before me as far as I could see. The inside of the tunnel was clean and swept. But on the outside, it was almost totally covered over with dirt and garbage.
The Holy Spirit showed me that as long as I stayed inside the tunnel I wouldn’t have to walk through all the garbage on the outside.
The garbage represents all the situations and circumstances that try to overwhelm and distract you from obeying God and having a close relationship with Him.
In a short time I was reminding myself, “Stay in the tunnel. The garbage is way too high outside the tunnel.”
I’m pretty sure this won’t be an easy thing to do. It hasn’t been easy for me.
But you will have much more peace, joy, and contentment in your daily life as you choose to put God first.
You don’t grow and mature in the good times. It is in the times of testing where you put to use what you have learned. Then, as you pass each test you can see growth and maturity that you never had before.
There must be a time of testing, or you could never look back and see how much you have grown.
And besides, if life were always easy, wouldn’t it be kinda boring?
