Perfect Purple Flowers

I love purple flowers.  I love them so much, my husband has given up on buying me roses and just finds purple flowers to give me.  About 3 years ago he decided to do a major makeover in our back yard.  He created garden areas, planted flowers, ivy and even Japanese maple trees.  I had to wait though to find out what types of flowers came up.  I was pleasantly surprised to see different varieties of flowers start blooming in the spring and summer.  Irises, crocuses, tulips, flags, and gladioli all came up that year.  The best part?  They were all purple.  I have loved seeing my yard come to life in a beautiful display of purple flowers all spring and summer for the last few years.

Last year though, something happened.  My tulips spread (which I know they do) and came up pink.  Pink?  That's not part of my color scheme.  I don't know what happened, but I know my husband didn't plant pink tulips in my garden.  Don't get me wrong, they were very pretty, but they just weren't what I wanted.

This year about half of my tulips bloomed Easter morning.  They came up a beautiful purple and I adore them.  I quickly cut two stems, one for me and one for my mom since we were going to her house for Easter dinner.  I checked the next day and saw from my kitchen window that the pink ones had bloomed again.  *sigh*  I went out for a closer look and was rather surprised to see these:

Umm, they aren't pink or purple.  They are purple and white striped!  I have to say, they are amazingly beautiful!  They aren't part of my husband's planned flowers, but they are lovely.

These tulips got me thinking about how I try to make my life exactly what I want it to be.  The Bible shows us some people who were called to do things that weren't part of their plan for their life. But the things they did for the Lord had amazing results.


Jonah - Jonah was called to go to Nineveh.  He didn't want to go and in fact he, "...rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD." Jonah 1:3.  Jonah ran from God's will, but he eventually went to Nineveh and spread the word of the Lord.  Because of his eventual obedience to God, the entire city repented and was saved.

Esther - Esther was a young Jewish maiden who became Queen.  A little speculation here - but I'm not sure that I would have wanted to be herded with lots of other young ladies and forced into a form of "The Bachelor" with someone who didn't share my same religion.  Esther had to marry a man who didn't share her faith in God, not an ideal situation for a young Jewish girl.  However, God used Esther in the role He placed her in to save the entire Jewish nation.  Esther Chapter 8.

Unnamed Woman - In Luke 13:10-17 we read about an unnamed woman who had a crippling spirit for 18 years.  For 18 years, she could not even stand straight.  This isn't what she wanted for her life.  No one wants to have a disability of any kind plague them.  In verses 16-17 Jesus said, " 'And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?' As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him."  The crippling spirit that this woman had allowed Jesus to show His deity by healing her in front of everyone.  Not only that, but the simple act of healing her was in fact praising God on the Sabbath showing that He did not break any laws.

In our lives we will face things that will not fit into our perfect purple garden of life.  Things that may challenge us, things that may hurt us, but in the end, we need to remember who it is that we serve.

Romans 8:28  "And we know that in all things God 

works for the good of those who love him, who 

have been called according to his purpose."

 

 Elizabeth is an Army National Guard wife to Seth and a cyber-schooling mom.  She loves volunteering at her church and also volunteers with the families of her husband's Army N.G. Troop.  Elizabeth loves spending time with a cup of hot tea, a good book and her family.

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