Hello Friends,

I realize I’ve been sharing a new blog post each week, but I still feel like my writing routine  and style is very different. Maybe it’s because my own routine is often up in the air and changing. My husband is still working in construction so that means his work schedule is largely determined by the weather. I love the spontaneity this brings – it’s fun to wake up in the morning and find out that Adam is staying home for the day. But I am also learning to enjoy the early mornings…. waking up before 6 am, cooking eggs and making toast way before the sun is shining through my kitchen windows. Kissing hubby goodbye, washing up breakfast dishes, doing my devotions in the early morning quiet….

Even though it’s fun and exciting to have such an unpredictable schedule, it does make things a bit difficult to plan. And that includes my writing!

I’ve gotten it into my mind that I want to begin blogging more often… maybe going back to twice a week instead of just once. However, I have more blogging obstacles now – including no internet most of the time – which is a doozy of a problem for a blogger. But I’ve been finding ways to work around that.

In my mind I have a lot of ideas for blog posts. But when I sit to write, things just don’t come together like I want them to.  My mind rambles… I have so many thoughts and ideas and things I want to write about, things I want to share… but where to start? and how to say it?

There are photos I want to take and share. There is so much newness in my life that I wish I could fully describe and show to you through this little blog. But it’s hard to know what others want to read, what they want to see…. when all I really want to do is share my heart, my life, the things that God is teaching me… and He is teaching me SO MUCH in this new season of my life.

My blogging style is changing… I want to share new things. I want to write more. The things that I want to write and share seem different now, at least it feels different. Maybe that’s because I’m different now. I’m changing and growing. I’m a new wife, in a new house, in a new town, in a new county, at a new church, meeting new people…. and absolutely loving my new role as a wife.

However, just the other week I found myself struggling with something that caught me totally off guard – homesickness. Before we got married I expected to feel a little bit homesick in a new place. But all during the first month I was absolutely fine. And then all of a sudden something snapped and for a few days I felt overwhelmed with all the newness and change taking place. Thank goodness I married an extremely patient and loving man. ♥ During those few days I felt a bit bewildered by everything I was feeling…. I remember thinking , “God I can’t blossom here.” 

I always want to be growing, improving…. “living life to the fullest” I guess you could say… during those few days of struggling with homesick feelings, I got that hopeless feeling that I wasn’t going to bloom and blossom in this new place. I didn’t want to feel stuck.

But God is changing those thoughts, those feelings… And you know what? Now I can see without a doubt, that I am indeed growing.

God did not put me here to let me flounder… nor does he intend to keep me from blossoming in a new and different place… quite the opposite actually. He is teaching me so much more about Himself. He wants me to live a full and abundant life (John 10:10). He is showing me that He is the One who brings the change, cultivates growth, and fully intends to bring me to the place where I will blossom and bloom.

“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11

A few days ago I wrote up a small list of goals I have for myself in this new stage and season of my life. (I will be sharing that list in the near future).  Because of the thoughts and feelings I was experiencing…  I knew that one of my goals must be to “bloom where I’m planted.”

God wants me to change and He wants me to grow. If I willingly submit to the changes and new circumstances… if I willingly embrace with open arms, the plans, the people, and the places He brings into my life, then He will also allow me to fully blossom and bloom.

Right here. Right now. For every one of us, God is bringing about the changes, He is cultivating the growth… and by God’s grace we will bloom. 

It truly is a beautiful process… even if it is uncomfortable, awkward, and even a bit painful at times. But in the midst of the uncomfortable stages of the changes and the growth He is there for us. He has a beautiful plan in mind. He does not plan to leave us in a place of drought where we will flounder. He will continually water, He will cultivate, He will satisfy our thirsting souls… and one day we will come to the place where we can look back, and see how much the change has caused us to grow… and hopefully we can without regrets say that we fully embraced the changes and circumstances, and as a result… we grew and blossomed.

So, the next time you feel afraid, bewildered, or stuck… remember that the discomfort you feel now is not in vain. It’s all part of a beautiful plan to help you change, grow, and best of all…. bloom.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

I Would Love To Know

• How do you feel about changes in your life?
• What changes in the past have helped you grow and bloom?

I would love to hear read your answers in the comments!