Bloom where you are planted.

 I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying, bloom where you're planted. This saying seems to be what the Lord uses to remind me to stay put. I don’t know if you’re like me and get discontented when challenges arise. Surely if I’m discontented then it is time for change…well, not exactly. It is in these very moments I have found the Lord whispering, you are discontent because you are disconnected from me, the source of contentment. It has been true that in these very moments He is asking of me to trust him right where I am. In doing so, he has revealed once again his nature. He is sovereign, and he is faithful. Sovereign over my future and faithful to keep me on the path that he knows is for me and for his glory. What it has taught me is that the very challenges, the very trials are strengthening my faith. Purifying it, making it of greater worth than anything else on this earth, like money, possessions or achievements. In that, He restores my soul. It says in Psalm 23:2-3, “he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. So what is my soul? It is where my mind, will and emotions are. It is what I think, feel and desire. So if I’m discontent it is coming from one of these 3 things. What is the remedy? To let my Shepherd lead me beside these quiet waters and green pastures that he has for me. It is his Spirit that draws me closer to his heart and helps me lean on the very One who can satisfy that deep longing for something new, something different. Something that feels like I was always meant to do. It is what helps me put my trust in his protection, his guidance and  his provision over my life. It is in this very relationship my heart learns to be content.  

 What I have come to know is that joy and peace, or even my purpose are not found in surroundings, a specific job, or even relationships with other people. They are found from within me and spill out in our surroundings and with other people. So with that come these questions. To what am I, to what are you, running towards when life makes you feel unsettled, insecure or unhappy? What am I, what are you running from? Or maybe, instead of asking myself, “what do I need to do?” Maybe the real question is, “what is God already doing and how can I be a part of it?”

So maybe the new thing, maybe the something different is actually found in the work he is doing inside of me. The building he is doing on the inside. Hebrews 3:4, I  encourage you to read this chapter. It says, “for every house is built by someone but God is the builder of everything.” Maybe I, maybe you are being built, made into the exact creation you were meant to be. The closer I am to Christ, as I abide in him, he is made alive in me. And that my friend is the most beautiful, amazing work of all. Maybe all this time the new thing, the different thing is being found IN me and IN you. So wherever I go and whatever I do I bring with me newness of life and that life touches others lives. It spills out, it overflows not because of me but because of the One living inside of me and making everything new. 

With you and love you dear friends. 

Be blessed, 

Tracey Hanko 

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