Fertilizer

Let me be honest here. I don’t always feel like praising God. (gasp!) My family and I have been through a number of trials and we’ve had more than our fair-share of hard times. So many times it would have been much easier to run away from our circumstances or simply give up. However, if I had elected to run, I would have never witnessed the beauty on the other side of the problem.

You see? I’m human, and because I’m human I am guaranteed to have problems. Here’s a freebie—every one has problems. Every difficulty or challenging time I face, I call it all fertilizer. It sure stinks while you’re going through it buried under it, but in due season the fertilizer nourishes and encourages growth and beauty.

Think about it for a minute. Fertilizer contains many of the necessary nutrients to encourage growth and beauty. The main ingredient in fertilizer is animal waste—(this just might be the first discovery of a renewable resource.) It stinks. It’s unpleasant, and honestly?? I don’t think anyone would purposely choose to be buried under it. Nonetheless, the end results of adding fertilizer to a garden or plant yields a more hardy and beautiful foliage. Many times the fruit is bigger, sweeter, and more bountiful when fertilizer has been a part of the growing process.

When we go through tough times and have hard circumstances with which to deal, we have a choice. We can choose to either allow the outcome to make us bitter or we can choose to allow the outcome to make us better. God will still be God no matter the outcome. When we delve deeper into a relationship with God, he will give us his strength, his wisdom, his joy, his love, his peace and whatever else he deems necessary in order for us to stand up in end.

Psalm 34:1-5 says, “I will bless the ”uc">Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!


4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed."

The point is this: bless the Lord at all times. Bless the Lord when fertilizer is piled on you. Bless the Lord when there is no end in sight. Bless the Lord when you face a diagnosis with a daunting and not very promising prognosis. Bless the Lord when things are going right. Bless the Lord when your foliage is healthy and beautiful and your roots are well-established. Bless the Lord. Magnify Him.

Blessings to you all,
the PTSD Widow