The cactus will die …

At least that’s what I think…

It sits in its broken clay pot…

Out of place in the Midwestern United States….

Far from warmth and sun and sand…

It will be winter here soon…

“Are you going to throw it out?” I ask the owner and gardener…

“No!” he laughs …

“That cactus has been right there for years.”

“But you’ll move it inside…”

“Never have…”

“It turns brown in the winter… then it gets covered by the snow.”

“But in the spring, the green comes back…”

“Some years it even blooms.”

I see little hope for the cactus…

Little hope that it will survive the winter…

Less hope that it will ever bloom again…

But the gardener… the owner… knows better…

He has known the plant since he first put it in that pot…

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…Jeremiah 1:5

He has seen it turn brown…

And he has seen it turn to bloom…

He knows what it can become…

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Ever felt that some part of your life is as brown and dead as that winter cactus?

Where do you turn in those times?

Who do you trust when you see no way forward?

Who has the power to change your circumstances or your heart in an instant?

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17

When we believe that …

We will turn our focus away from our circumstances…

We will turn toward God…

With Job we will say…

“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Job 42:2