Waiting for the blossoms takes faith and patience.

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; 

it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 New Living Translation

 I love being around ‘glass half-full’ people … who see through obstacles and the obvious to what isn’t presently available to our five senses. I love people who believe in God, themselves and others. They are a rare breed in today’s cynical environment.

 My good friend Brad is one of these optimists. He encouraged me to buy 9 sticks a year ago. Of course, to get someone to buy them they were labeled ‘fruit trees’ by the nursery. To this purchase we continued on … in faith … and invested in an underground watering system. Then came the three hundred feet of trenching through cement-like desert soil. Finally we added fencing around each stick so the rabbits wouldn’t eat the bark off of them.

 And then we waited … Brad with barely contained excitement; me with carefully concealed apprehension and a bit of suspicion over what to expect.

That was then. The picture above is now.

The sticks turned into trees whose blossoms promise a fruitful and delicious future. But I needed someone who had been there and done that to convince me that there really was life and fruit in those sticks.

For me, it’s been a lesson in faith and believing. Brad has proven to be trustworthy. I’d buy more sticks that turn into trees at his suggestion. My Heavenly Father is even more worthy of my trust and confidence. Daily I’m called upon to believe, not what is readily confirmed by what I see and hear and feel … but on a far more stable platform … the words of Almighty God.

This week I desire God to reveal his will, his intentions and his abilities to me through his Word. And then I want, more than anything else, the ability to agree with Him regardless of competing viewpoints.

There was fruit in those spindly sticks that I didn’t see. I want to be able to not only see the fruit, but enjoy the fruit of those ‘God-gifts’ that aren’t here yet … but are coming!

May you enjoy the fruit of your faith as you journey!

Paul Walterman

Fresh Heart Ministries