A Litte Ray of Hope

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been ill this year with a mystery illness affecting my liver. This went on for 4 months without any change in my blood results, with me glowing in the dark because of jaundice and feeling exhausted and lethargic all the time. The closest the doctors could get to a diagnosis was that I had had a severe reaction to some drugs I was on for arthritis in my hands. As you can imagine this was a very frustrating time for me and my family.

Let me take you back a few months. I attend and sometimes teach a Ladies Class at church and this past year we had been studying the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Each lesson dealt with one aspect and around the start of spring we studied "Patience". As an object lesson with this study we each planted a bulb in a pot, not knowing what kind of bulb it was (only the teacher knew), and we took them home to await the plant growing and to find out what kind of flower it would have. I don't know if it was a bad batch of bulbs or if we were a little late in planting them but only one of the seven or eight planted actually flowered. Mine grew a few pathetic little leaves and then sat there for months doing nothing. Several times I went to throw it in the bin but always something stopped me. This carried on all through my illness with only a few more leaves appearing. But no flowers! 

Just 4 weeks ago I again went to throw it out and again something stopped me. At the time I was going through a really difficult spell with 3 hospital admissions because of severe abdominal pain. So instead of things improving they were actually looking worse. My liver just seemed to have stopped functioning  properly and was determined to stay that way. The very next day after almost throwing it out, I checked my plant and there amidst the leaves was a tiny bud. I couldn't believe my eyes! What is really amazing though is that very same week the doctors decided that the only option left to try and get my liver functioning was to start me on steroids. Within days my blood results were improving and I was already looking less yellow. And that tiny bud has blossomed into a beautiful pink anemone.

I'm not sure what to think. Was God teaching me patience these last few months? It is certainly a lesson  I have had to learn. Was the plant my very own object lesson? I'm not sure if God works that way. What I do know is that Jesus used everyday things in nature to teach spiritual lessons. "Look at the sparrows", "Look at the lily". "Four kinds of seeds" And what I have learned in watching that little plant over all those months is that ...

"The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, 

they will walk and not be faint." Isa 40:28 - 31