Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

Spring has sprung and it is gorgeous. We've been in our current neighborhood for seven years.  There are two trees down the street that bloomed with gorgeous white flowering blooms the year we moved in. Since then, when I go for a walk around the neighborhood, I have looked for the same trees to bloom every spring. They haven't.  Until this year. And they are as beautiful as the first time I saw them bloom seven years ago. But I waited seven years to see them bloom again!  The other similar trees bloom faithfully every spring.  But for some reason, these two side-by-side trees only bloom every seven years. It got me thinking.  There are dormant stages in our spiritual life, too.  We don't always see the "bloom" in our own lives.  We give our all, obey the Lord best we can, wait on Him, step out in faith, and still no "flowers." What is happening during those dormant years?  I have no idea, really.  But I do know that God makes every tree for ...

  You can find anything online!  Here's a manure chart!  What kind to use, on what garden, and in what season(s). God is the Master Gardener.  He knows exactly what it takes for each of His "flowers" need to grow into His likeness. Would Paul have written his letters to the churches if he weren't in a feces-ridden prison cell?  Not sure.  But we have the majority of the New Testament thanks to Paul allowing God to use him in the crappiest (literally) of circumstances. What about us?  We are most likely not in a literal prison cell.  But what parameters is Jesus using in your life to grow you?  Do you want to mature and grow? Paul wasn't being chastised or punished by God!  Paul was not "in sin."  Quite the contraty!  He was imprisoned for  working for God!  For preaching the gospel.   So when our "stinking" situations are not changing, will we let God use it to grow us up?  Will we let ourselves be used...