Finding Your "Divine Design" After Life's Little Storms

A few years ago, I was awakened from my sleep by flood sirens and a stream of water running through my bedroom. It had been a tough couple of years for me and this was just one more test I had to face. Later that day I sat by our family room window and looked out into our water logged garden to see the aftermath of the storm. As I sat there contemplating my life and each disappointment I had faced in the past few years and where I had hoped to be, my eyes fell upon our little apricot tree. My mother had just pruned it and it looked very bare with it's pruned branches scattered on the ground around it. It looked so frail and sad. I guess kind of like how I was feeling myself.  I remembered what my mother had pruned it the way she did to help it grow strong without the extra burden of branches and fruit that it wouldn't be able to hold.

 

My mind reflected upon the Lord and how he took upon our sins and burdens so that we could handle our load in life. I then realized that I was being pruned too with each test and trial, to prepare myself for what lay ahead of me and that the Lord had along the way relieved me of some of my burdens. As I looked at those branches on the ground a familiar childhood Primary song popped into my head. "Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree"! As the words played in my head, my mind began imagining those branches  filling with beautiful blossoms like popcorn as they looked in springtime. I then began imaging a new life for myself and also a new bedroom filled with beautiful flowers and apricot blossoms to remind me of this little lesson I had just learned.  I took those apricot branches after they were dry and glued white silk blossoms on them and put together my dream bedroom. I even made 5 of the pillows in the picture myself which was so much fun to design. The years that have followed after this event have been so wonderful and everything has worked out better than I had planned for.

Each of us has our fair share of storms in life. With the way our economy is right now, a lot of us are living through these storms right now. Sometimes it is hard to see what lies ahead for us when our dreams are being thrashed round about us. But I know if we keep the faith and trust in the Lord, these hard times will blossom into something much more beautiful for us. I hope that we can each remember to find joy in our trials and remember the Lord's "Divine Design" for each of us. I also hope that you will create something of beauty from these trials that can remind you how much the Lord loves you and that you need to remember to love yourself as well.