Spring has been beautiful. I especially love the lilacs. There’s something about the fragrance that touches my heart. I just love to bury my face in their blooms and breathe. Lilacs make me smile. They do my heart good!

 

Burying myself into God does the same thing, especially when I am waiting for the lilacs to bloom in my world – my heart and my situations. There are places on the inside of me that long for Spring - long for the season to change and for new things to spring forth. Right now it’s all twigs and promise. No blooms. Not yet. And here is where I can become frustrated, angry, & disheartened. I’ve been waiting and waiting for change, for metamorphous, and still…bare branches. It’s hard to be in this place where no change comes and your lilacs don’t bloom. The landscape of your heart becomes discouraged. It becomes even harder should we pull away from Him – cut the lines of communication. We want to give up…but don’t. You have too much ahead to let go now!

 

This is when we need to remind ourselves that we cannot draw strength from the situation itself. We cannot keep our eyes and hope on the barren bush. We have to reposition our focus. Our focus has to be elsewhere. The hope and help we wait for has it source beyond this piece of ground. Our strength to wait for the season to turn and the blooms to come is found drawing near God.

 

 How do we do that? Here’s three great ways:

1.      We stay planted in the soil of His Word – nourishing our roots

2.      We keep connected to Him through prayer – honest communication

3.      We reach out to the other plants in the garden who have ‘been there’ and know that you will make it through – you will bloom!

 

And when you do that, it is like breathing in the fragrance of the lilacs. It touches your heart and soul. It refreshes you. It makes you smile. It does your heart good.

 

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might  provides].

Ephesians 6: 10 Amplified

 

Today, let’s soak our hearts in the rain of His Word and allow His truth to bring us through this season:

 

Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord!

Psalm 31:24

 

Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, My Help and my God.

Psalm 42:5

 

 

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word

Psalm 119:114

 

Most blessed is the woman who believes in, trusts in, relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.

For she shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and she shall not see and fear when heat comes; but her leaf shall be green. She shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall she cease yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17: 7, 8

Thinking of  you wonderful woman of God,