I left for work on Wednesday morning knowing all I had to do was to get through the next 9 hours. Then I could finally take a long weekend off.

I was more than ready.

I shoved aside my exhaustion and kicked myself back into survival mode.

Maybe you know what that’s like. Going through the motions, no joy, no hope, with nothing more to give and the only way you’re making it through the day is by digging deep in your soul, slapping on a smile and counting the seconds until work is over and you can slump into the seat of your car so you can make your way home just to fall into bed.

Exhausted.

That was 1000% me Wednesday morning.

When my eyes popped open the next day I breathed in slowly. A bit hesitant to get excited about the upcoming time off.

With everyone still asleep in the house I pulled on my windbreaker and tennis shoes, leashed up my 2 pups and headed out for an early morning walk. Just me, God, my exhaustion and my 2 dogs.

As I walked, the realization that I had nowhere to go, no one to see and all the time in the day to do nothing began to seep into my soul. My normal break neck speed slowed. My mind began to accept I was truly on a hiatus and it was ok to let go of work, life and heartaches that had been building up.

Without warning my internal dialogue with the Lord shifted from frustrations and anger about my life, to, “Hey wait a minute, the trees are changing colors. It’s fall. I love fall. I don’t want to miss this, slow down and enjoy.”

I did.

With each step I took, I began to see and feel life.

Cool fall air filled my lungs and pulled the few wisps of hair I’d tucked behind my ears out from underneath my ballcap and tossed them to and fro across my cheeks.

I smiled.

This was my favorite time of year and I wasn’t missing it.

As I focused on the brilliant fall colors intermixed with the last green leaves of summer I tripped and almost face-planted on the sidewalk. When I looked to see what caught my foot I noticed a tree root system squeezed ever so tightly in between the cracks of the sidewalk, bursting forth and making itself known.

It struck me then that the root was like my life at the moment. Despite the hardships, struggles, pain and pressures I was experiencing in my life, God in His infinite wisdom and love was providing a way for me to get through the tough times and still grow.

I needed to trip over that root and be reminded that God sees beneath the hard stuff of my life. He knows what takes us to our knees in heartache and He will use to create beauty.

What we see as impossible, God makes possible.

In fact, as I correlated the analogy of this trees root growing in impossible conditions and how God does the same in my life, I began to notice perfect impossibilities in the trees around me:

• Sometimes the stripes of pain we endure mar our outward appearance but eventually will lead to beauty.

• The bumps and bruises of situational challenges cause us to have character and depth.

• And even when we feel as if every hope is cut out of our life…

 God has the ability to take what looks to be dead and bring it back to life!

My friend, we serve a mighty God! A God who loves us so much that He absolutely refuses to leave us where we are.

Instead, whether we can see His hand in our lives, or if we’re completely blinded by the pain we are experiencing we can trust, like the root growing in impossible cemented conditions, God is a God of ever possible solutions and He will grow you in ways and in “soils” that you didn’t even think were possible.

My friend, there is hope in His love for us. God sees a way when we think all is lost and He will take our pain and create beauty out of our lives that we will not imagine or begin to understand until His work is done.

May God bless you today and show you just how precious you are to Him no matter what you are going through and where you are headed, God loves you!

“No eye has seen, no ear has heart, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV

With love and blessings,

Amy