When It Looks Like Nothing Is Happening
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photo by fabrice villard on unsplash
As I lay in bed on a cold November morning, cocooned in my downy white comforter, I contemplated the impending end of another year. Ten months prior, I’d felt God speak the word “blossom” as my word for the year, but I struggled to see how that word had been fulfilled. This had not been a year of blossoming—at least not in the ways I’d most hoped for.
In the middle of my moody mulling, a text notification interrupted my thoughts. “Good morning, Carina!” the text said. “Rearranged my plants for better lighting and look what I found!” Above the text bubble was a picture of a cactus shoot with a big, pink bud on it.
My friend’s message continued: “Somehow a segment of my Christmas cactus got into the soil of the spider plant and then when I turned it I saw it was about to bloom!” She went on to explain how she’d been working hard to get the parent plant, from which this stray segment had grown, to bloom to no avail. Yet while nothing seemed to be happening with the parent plant, something was happening behind the scenes, and, in a hidden place, the desired blossom was in progress.
In the midst of my dispirited, end-of-year thoughts, I felt clear encouragement from God: “Don’t let go! Hold on to hope! Something is happening!”
Even when it looks like nothing is happening, God is at work. While we see just a portion, God sees the big picture. In Isaiah 35:1, we’re promised that “the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus” (ESV).
Things that look empty and lifeless one minute may be blossoming before our eyes the next. If you’re struggling to see the results you desire in your life, hold on to the hope that God is at work behind the scenes. Nothing is impossible with Him!
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Do you feel like God gave you a word for 2020? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below! My word for this year is persistence!
In purpose and faith,
This devotion was originally published @joyfullifemagazine.
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