Well, the Shuff family is on a new adventure. No, not the normal adventures we partake in where it requires boats, planes, and automobiles to a different place for a short vacation. Nah, this adventure will require four-wheelers, a tractor, and a short car ride down the road from where we are now.
Tim and I have been praying and searching for either land or a beach home for quite a few years now. To make a long story short, we are now the ecstatic owners of ten acres which is surround by about 14,000 acres that will never be built upon. Did I say we were ecstatic? Yippee!! (I’ll save some details for another time. It has definitely been, and still continues to be, a series of “God lessons” along the way. Dealing with a short sale is NOT a “short” process.)
God lesson “Bloom where you are planted.”
Holly has been the one member of our family that is NOT ecstatic about this move. You would have thought we were moving her to Iceland instead of only ten minutes up the road. We recently had a “come to Jesus” meeting with her. The home deal was finally done and Miss Holly was still having a negative attitude about this whole experience. We bluntly said, “Holly, we have prayed about this home and land, and God has provided. It’s a done deal. Sometimes in life you must just bloom where you are planted.” We continued the conversation with examples of our own lives. For example, leaving my childhood home that I loved in the country to moving a small home “up town”; moving to a different city at the beginning of our marriage; moving to the “burbs” against our original thoughts; and soon to be moving away from our home now that is the home where my husband grew up in, we began dating in this home when we were sixteen, and raising our own three children. This list could continue with life experiences.
After the purchase of our new home, I went out to visit with the previous owners. I’ve grown to appreciate my new friend that God has sent my way through it all. Susan is a precious Christian lady with an ashes to beauty story to tell. This process has been difficult for her as well. Much like our “city/current” home, Susan has raised her babies on this land. Much like our neighborhood is like family to us, neighbors are like family to her family. Much like Holly, Susan had to be reminded that we much bloom where you are planted. (BTW, the reminder was from God, not me.)
On our visit, I mentioned the conversation we had with Holly. Susan grinned and said, “Funny you said that. Do you see those flowers out there? (She was pointing to the old fire pit area.) I had planted them by the front door and they just would grow. So I dug them up and threw them in the back. Now look at them, they are blooming.” She said that she needed that reminder that we do need to bloom where you are planted.
Dear friends, we go through changes, experiences, and moves in our lives that we may not be particularly crazy about. Maybe it’s a change in school or job, or a circumstance within the home. Maybe it is a change in location. The change may be for a short season or a lifetime. But no matter where you are, if you are seeking God’s will for your life, just know that He has you right where you need to be. You are right where He needs you to be. It may not be where you want to be at that moment, but just as I’ve said many times, “This too shall pass”. The thing is, “this too shall pass” and we will all learn to appreciate the garden that God has placed us in for this time in our lives.
“Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you” 1 Corinthians 7:17a
I pray many blessings and much joy for you! Have a wonderful day. – Stephanie
The story I can’t wait to write about is when Holly has bloomed where God is planting her. She’s my little “wild flower” child.