The Prairie

       My Grandpa is a prairie man. What I mean by this is that he has literally planted several prairies around on his property. He spends hours out collecting wild seeds that he finds on his country drives. Now technically it takes about a 100 years for a prairie to truly be considered a prairie. But that is besides the point. I was thinking about these prairies the other day. They are so beautiful, offering up a blaze of colors every summer. They are wild and untamed and free.
        But sometimes, prairie fires happen. They rip their way through the tall grasses, bringing the once beautiful landscape to a chard mess. At first, this seems devastating, the beauty is gone and everything seems dead. But guess what, that fire is actually a good thing. It makes way for the prairie to grow back even stronger.
       It occurred to me that life is sometimes like this, we go along and everything seems beautiful and perfect and then suddenly, out of the blue, trouble strikes. These experiences often leave us feeling hopeless and abandoned. Why did it happen? why is the beauty gone? why am I left in a pile of burning ashes? And that is when the One who desires for use to be all that we can be gently whispers in our ear, "just wait, allow Me to grow you back, stronger than ever."
       Bad things do happen in life, but if we can't allow them to destroy us. Trust in the One who gave you life, lean on Him, and with His help, know that you will grow back. Be it depression, fear, financial troubles, lost loved ones etc. I encourage you to just hold on. There is beauty ahead. Even if it would seem as though all hope is lost, it's not. There is always hope for tomorrow. Allow yourself to come back stronger than ever and be ready for a new adventure.

"Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God." ~Ram Dass