Surprise! God's Gifts are Yours!

I have been given a bag of fall blooming bulbs. I am so excited to plant them. We got them in the ground quickly so they might bloom in a few weeks.  With this change in the weather they might just make it. If not, they will definitely bloom next fall.

They’re known as surprise lilies.  I think because they just multiply and come up anywhere in the grass. You don’t see a thing, no leaves first. Suddenly they’re blooming on a long stem. Old home places can be found by seeing them suddenly appear in deserted property. Even if the old house itself is gone, the surprises still bloom each and every year.  They multiply and multiply and what a showy sight.

The person who gifted these to me had no idea that they are my absolute most favorite ever flowers! I had no idea that someone was going to gift me with such a prized gift! And yet there, right in the middle of an ordinary day, comes the gift! I relish the idea of planting each and every one. I relish the thought that next fall for sure they’ll surprise me with their beautiful show.

God speaks to my heart: God’s precious gifts are all for me, all for you, all for us. Many times though we don’t even know that they are available. We catch a glimpse here and there and we’re surprised!

Surprised at the grace God bestows on us. For we surely would wipe ourselves off the face of the earth and yet God speaks softly and says come back beloved. Surely we know our misbehavior, our failings, our sins. We know our imperfections and we concentrate on each and every one. Yet He speaks love songs into our hearts.

Surprised at the mercy from the Throne Room. We were destined to die, to shrivel up like a bulb left out of the ground and yet Mercy comes dancing into our presence and says oh beloved, I AM granting you clemency, your debt has been canceled, your sorrow is covered by My sympathy.

Surprised by His love! I am, aren’t you? We are a works oriented people. We are demanding and we think God is too. We believe that the only way He could love us is if we perform! But we can’t – performance breeds pride. And we could never perform enough. Just as the bulb pops out of the ground grandly showing its beauty – God’s love pops out of the soil of our disappointment, discontentment and our failures to blow us away with His love for He IS love!

We don’t always like surprises do we? Sometimes we have lived with the depression, the condemnation, the rejection, the religious activity so long that we blink our eyes in disbelief? What is God doing we ask? He’s messing with my life! He’s changing the order of things – my order of things. I was comfortable and now God has gone and surprised me!  It might not have been good but at least it was normal.

Oh beloved, surprise! God loves you! God has given you grace, mercy and peace! They’re growing just beneath the soil of your heart right now and if you will let Him they’ll pop up and surprise you with joy! Take the entire gift of God’s wonderfulness and enjoy the view from His love. Look into His Word of Surprising Wonderful presents – and see what’s there. And then take it in, plant it in the soil of your heart and watch as God blooms and blooms and blooms. Rejoice as God surprises you with His abundance in your lack.  He’ll keep surprising you that even in hardships, God has a plan. He always seeks to love us and make us more like Him in all we encounter.

Bloom beloved, bloom, in the light of His love and in the light of His constant care. Let Him keep surprising you with all He is and all you are in Christ.  No matter what, God loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters.

Psalm 111:2 How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them.

Psalm 126:3 Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!

Psalm 40:5 O Lord my God, You have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

Psalm 84:6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.