Bloom Where You’re Planted

You've been perfectly planted. Do you believe that?

“Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘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.’””

God has placed you wherever you are, among the people you're with for a very specific reason. Maybe He's perfectly placed you on swim team, among the "popular" kids, in a specific club, at a law firm, or in a sorority. Whoever your people are, I know He created every scenario perfectly unique for each of us.

God creates beauty in every situation. Just take a look at flowers' beauty, fruits' sweetness, relationships' richness - each detail intricately designed around you. We live in a wonderful world created by a detail-oriented Father.

I can find myself asking Him, why me? Why did You put me among these people? Sometimes I wonder if it's even His will for me to even be in the situations I'm in. And He just responds with pause.

space.

Time for me to embrace Him and know His plans are perfect. I am right where I am supposed to be, and you are right where you're supposed to be.

I have heard many a time to grow in the Lord. Love it! Why not take it a vine deeper, and bloom!?

Growing is solid, but I want to bloom. To bloom, you must build deep roots, confident in the ground you're planted on.

I want to produce fruit in His timing. He desires to fill everyone with the Holy Spirit when we ask Him into our hearts so His fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - can overflow in us. Fruit is one of my favorite creations, and how cool is it that we get to create it ourselves!?

Flowers reproduce by sharing their pollen, open and willing to let the wind take it wherever it may blow. God asks us to do the same. He just wants us to be available and willing. However you have been called, God wants us to remain rooted in Him, sharing with others (1 Cor. 7:21-24)

With pollen, sometimes the bees carry it, sometimes the wind carries it. That part is not up to the flower, but something much larger and unseen. By blooming with the Lord, being available and willing, God can use us to spread His good news with others. Once we're available and willing, it's no longer up to us. We can just do our best at following Him. He takes all burdens off so we can dance in the fields full of peace and joy.

Nourished by Him, we get to live in color, reflecting His light, rooted in Him.

Wherever you are, you have been planted for a specific reason, and we are all called to bloom where we're planted. He desires the absolute best for us. And something else really beautiful about flowers is how they bloom depending on their nourishment and roots. We must be firmly planted in Him to bloom, and when we produce fruit, nothing could be sweeter than knowing it's from our Creator who planted us in love.

So bloom where you are planted.

““Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.” (Hosea 10:12)”

Take advantage of the environment He's put you in. For me, He's placed me at TCU in the business school and in my dorm and sorority to encourage others as well as in my other daily encounters. Where have you been planted?

Let's encourage one another to take the next step, today, right now, and bloom. Appreciate everything around us, dig into the soil for nourishment, stay available and willing. The blooms will come, and how sweet it will be when they do!

With love,

Lauren