Bloom.
n. a flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty.
v. produce flowers; be in flower.
At the beginning of the race, I was given a necklace with a key that had a word engraved on it. I was asked to pray the word over myself and meditate on it until I felt I had fully grasped it’s meaning and felt its impact on my life.
The key I received said “bloom”. One thing I have felt for a long time is that God made flowers just for me. They are made to bring gorgeous beauty to this earth, a fragrance to the air, and sweet joy to my soul. What is wild about flowers is that even though they are some of the most delicate plants, they provide the pollen that bees use to grow my food, which sustains me, gives me life, and allows me to do crazy things for the kingdom of God. (What a creative God I serve?!) Wow.
After meditating on this concept, I have come to realize two life-changing truths:
First, I really believe that the Lord is cultivating beauty in me. The Lord has created me to bring Him glory and put His beauty on display.
Second, I am made to produce good fruit for the Lord. Without flowers, we can’t have more flowers. Without the church, there is no one to proclaim the name of the Lord. No one to roar His greatness. And that is the exact purpose He has placed on my life.
Part of this blooming process has been challenging. Just as a vine must be pruned to produce growth, I have been broken, challenged, and pushed in significant ways in the last month. Leaving family, giving up hot showers, living out of a backpack, and being put into a new community where everyone was just getting to know me was stretching. There were moments that I was overwhelmed, but the best part about my story is how faithful God is.
Every SINGLE time I took something to the Lord (loneliness, confusion, doubt, homesickness, irritation, frustration, fear, exhaustion) by the end of the day, I was standing in the middle of a situation that was so full of love and peace my heart was overflowing and overwhelmed. I have been absolutely, uncontrollably joyful. This is such a unique situation, and not all problems in life are taken away so fast, but the Lord is so kind to do that for me this month.
At training camp, a mentor told me that God gave her a picture for me. It was a picture of one little, white daisy. How fragile and delicate a flower is that? Its petals fall off if anything more than a breeze comes by. Its roots are microscopic and it can’t stand against any rain or cold.
This month the Lord has explained to me why He gave her this picture. I am the white daisy, my life circumstances are the soil and the Lord is holding both so gently in His hands. He is standing with His back to the wind and He is keeping me away from all danger. I experienced things that shook me this month, but nothing was strong enough to pluck me out of the Lord’s hands. He has my name etched into His palm and nothing will change the truth about who He says I am.
#keysforthejourney
