If you’re struggling with loss or discouragement during this cold and dark season, I pray my short story, “Flowers in February” reminds you of the unending hope you have in the Lord. 
Be blessed, and thank you for watching!
(If you’d rather read the story instead of watching this video, click here.
“What am I supposed to do with my life? What is God calling me to do?”
I’ve heard others ask those questions, even asked them myself a zillion times or so. It all reminds me of picking blackberries.
Let me explain.
When I was a little girl, my brother and I would follow the trail behind our house and into the woods as we searched for blackberries. Not the green or red ones, of course, but the dark, fat ones.
Usually, I could stay on the path and pick enough to contribute to Mom’s cobbler. But sometimes I’d spot a ginormous berry in the middle of the blackberry bush, so I’d work my way through those pesky briars as they tugged at my clothing and scratched my skin.
When I’d finally reach for the prize, that one blackberry I knew would be worth the bloody scratches on my arms and legs, my slightest touch to a nearby branch would send the thing plummeting to the ground.
Sigh.
So without my top berry, I would maneuver my way out, carefully backing up as I tried to avoid more snags and cuts. After feeling defeated and a little beaten up, I’d realize there was a whole mess of blackberries on the outside of the bush hiding under the canopy of leaves. I’d missed them because I’d had my eyes fixed on that berry in the middle. The one that looked the best. The one that would be the most difficult to pick.
What looked the best and what I knew would be the hardest to reach seemed to be the one I needed. Or so I thought.
And isn’t that what we do sometimes when we’re searching for our purpose, God’s will for our lives?
We use our eyes or our logic and we dive into something we have no business diving into—all because we think it’s the real “prize.” It makes sense to us. We know it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but we rush right in there after it, believing it to be “God’s best” for our lives without stopping first to check with Him.
We get banged up, scratched up, left feeling defeated because when we finally reach “it,” the thing falls away and we’re left standing there looking at the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. We wonder if it’s too late to turn around and ask God to show us His plan. (Hint: As long as you’re still walking around on planet earth, it’s not too late.)
If we would just stay on the trail God has us on, He will show us. If we stay close to Him and keep talking to Him even when we don’t feel like it, even when the answers are SO slow in coming, even when we don’t feel Him, and even in the midst of a pandemic when things seem to be out of control, God will show up and teach us through His Holy Spirit what we’re supposed to do with our lives.
My friend, your life’s purpose may be closer than you think, easier to recognize than you realize, and simply not at all what others believe you should do with your life.
Go to God. He’s the One growing the berries, after all. And He’s the One who has the best recipe for your life.
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.” (Psalm 57:2. ESV.)
“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” (Proverbs 19:21 NLT.)
Photo from pexels.com.
I was lying on a gurney in the ER, listening to the doctor explain how bad I was hemorrhaging. I’d had a C-section just six days earlier and wanted to be at home with our baby girl, not back in the hospital.
But I was admitted, had needles poked in both arms and hands, and remember the strange weight, the bags of blood lying by my leg as the nurse began the transfusion.
I was so thankful. I stared at those bags and thought, “Where would I be if those people hadn’t donated their own blood?” I knew the answer. I thanked the nurse as I leaned my head back on the pillow.
I fell asleep under a pile of heated blankets and when I woke up, I was in a different room with only a small light shining from behind me. There was an IV in my arm, and I was still lying in a hospital bed. The TV on the wall was quiet and there were no sounds coming from beyond my closed door.
Everything was still except the excruciating pain in my body. I’d been given a medication to induce labor; these were the same labor pains I’d had hours leading up to the emergency C-section six days earlier. Only now, I was alone with no cheering section and there would be no child to come from these pains, dulling my memory of the intense cramping.
I sobbed alone in the dark. I called the nurse and begged her to help me, to please give me something for the pain. It seemed I would have to wait.
As I remember that dimly lit room, it was there I needed God the most. I have no doubt that He was there, sitting in the shadowed corner, just waiting for me to call on Him.
But I didn’t call on Him. Why? Well, I’d been to church as a little girl, but I thought God was just this bigger-than-big Person who wanted nothing to do with me. Unless I messed up. Then I knew He’d show up on the scene to punish me with some ginormous lightning bolt.
Besides, I didn’t really need God. I was a good person and that was enough. I’d never intentionally hurt anyone or done some catastrophic wrong. So I thought I was good. If someone had asked me about heaven, I just assumed I’d end up there because I was, well, a good person. Oh, I’d found out about Jesus when I was little, even spent time with God in the woods behind our house (for that story, click here). But somewhere in my grownup mind, I moved away from Him. Maybe I thought He was going to ask me to give up everything fun, and I’d have no life whatsoever. (That, my friend, is what Satan wants us to believe, and it’s a big fat lie.)
But I can tell you how deathly alone I felt in that hospital room that night. The heaviness, the pain, the loneliness – it was unbearable. If only I would have known the truth about God, I would have called out to Him.
Perhaps He would have stepped from the shadows, His eyes so powerful and radiant and yet gentle as He smiled at me, bringing me comfort. Or maybe He would have remained unseen as He rested His hand on my head, singing over me, and bringing me such a peace I would have fallen asleep as the sound of His voice washed over me.
But we all have to face that “dimly lit room” where death is as real as the skin on our hand. Maybe you’ll survive like I did.
But what if you don’t?
Are you ready for that moment? Will you call out to a nurse, a family member, or will you call out to Jesus Christ Who is waiting; the One who has always been waiting for you to call on Him?
There is no detour around the only way to heaven. You can’t take a back road marked “Good Person Way” or “Church Goer Alley” or “Volunteers Enter Here.”
The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.
Just like the night I nearly bled to death but received a blood transfusion that saved my life, Jesus Christ gave all of His blood on the cross to save you and me.
That night I had to sign a paper agreeing to the blood transfusion. That was my part. The nurse did the rest.
Today you can agree, you can accept and claim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior out loud, right now. You can claim His blood over you. That’s your part. Jesus has already done the rest.
The night I almost died, the doctor told me if I had waited until morning to go to the ER, I would not have survived. I’m so thankful I didn’t wait. Not only do I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior now, but I’ve had fourteen amazing years with my husband and our “baby” girl.
Please don’t wait to call on Jesus Christ:
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV.)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17 NIV.)
I know you’re busy. Life can be frantic and chaotic, messy and wonderful all in the span of about five minutes.
Maybe you just need a little spark of encouragement or inspiration to warm your day and draw you closer to God.
I hope these Sparks do just that.
Blessings to you!!
I’m starting something new on this site because I believe God likes to change things up a bit when we get too comfortable. Change can be scary, but experiencing change with God is like singing off-key (or is that just me?) while we’re in our socks sliding around on the kitchen floor with chocolate smeared on our lips and some good tunes in the background.
Yes. Change with God really is that good. 🙂 And exciting!
So I’m going to continue blogging. But there will be times when I look back and share something God has done in my life; some of my favorite memories with Him.
And I’m going to ask you to look back at your life too.
This isn’t so you feel obligated to share your story. (But you can share if you’d like! You may never know how deeply your story may touch someone.) I’m simply going to ask you to look. Look back and look for God.
Why?
So you can see God in a new and exciting way (see I told you!).
Let’s do this together. Let’s do this to remember God and relive His faithfulness. And let’s do this to encourage and remind each other that the same God who did those things yesterday will continue to be faithful today and tomorrow.
And who knows? He may just surprise us when He opens our eyes to all He has done to bring us this far.
“Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.” (Psalm 34:3 NLT.)
If you think about it, your life is like a puzzle. You gather pieces as you grow, as you move forward in life, and learn about who you are. You begin collecting them from the first, “Why am I here?” to the last breath you take.
But you don’t know what the end picture is going to look like. Not really. You can dream of course, even take all the pieces you can find and try to force them to make the picture you want.
Take it from me. That doesn’t work.
I wanted to be a nurse until microbiology came into my life. I drove to Nashville to be a songwriter until reality smacked me in the face and asked, “Do you really want to do this?” I decided not to accept the flight attendant position when I learned I would need to drop my life the instant I was called for a flight. This list is enormous, so I’ll spare you the rest.
The point is I tried so many things to find out who I’m supposed to be. I tried to force myself into places and jobs I thought I would like only to realize I wasn’t qualified or gifted and when push came to shove, I didn’t even want it. I just wanted the label; to be someone with a purpose.
So I stopped trying to force the picture I wanted. I knew I had this small pile of puzzle pieces waiting for me, those I had gathered since I was a little girl, but without the box, I didn’t know what the end picture was going to be. I suppose not knowing really scared me. What if it’s something I don’t like? What if it’s something so boring I wind up chewing on my own foot just to pass the time to keep my sanity? Umm, I guess if I’m chewing on my own foot my sanity would be long gone.
That’s when I started asking other people what they thought about my life; what they thought my final picture would look like. They brought all these other puzzle pieces and dumped them on my little pile. I asked for it. No one did anything wrong. No one but me. Instead of going to the only One who really knows the big picture, that final picture of what my life is all about, I tried my own way. And when that didn’t work, I checked around to see what everyone else thought.
Now my little pile of puzzle pieces had grown into an enormous mound of confusion.
The good news, God is not only the artist Who meticulously painted each and every piece just for me, He knows which pieces are mine and which ones are not. And He can help me find those important corner pieces, those four pieces that hem me in and stop me from going too far in any one direction.
So let me ask you: How big is the pile you’re working on? Are you working on the little pile you’ve been gathering or are you grabbing those “good” pieces and trying to force them? Or are you frustrated, sorting through the mound that others have loaded on you?
Feeling lost? Overwhelmed?
I understand.
Let me tell you: You really can ask God to help you. He’s the One who sketched that beautiful, final picture of you smiling. He’s also the One who gave you the most beautiful piece, Jesus Christ; the One who adds all the light to your picture.
Once you’ve asked Him for help, He will help you sort through the mess. He will even point out the pieces you should pick up and those you should leave behind as you walk together.
And when the day comes and you find you’re holding the last piece, a piece that resembles a tiny droplet of water, you’ll notice the only place left for the piece to fit is on the very face of Jesus Christ. As you take your last breath and the final piece of your puzzle slips into place, you’ll realize the water droplet is a tear belonging to Jesus.
You see, He is so pleased, so deeply moved that you believed in Him, you asked Him for help, and now you’re finally home.
What a glorious picture that will be.
“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23 NIV.)
Training for Eternity 