Left for Dead?

Have you ever had something in your life that you thought for sure was dead and then it came back life?

We once had a snail in our fish tank that we named Lazarus…after the Biblical man Lazarus that had been dead 3 days and Jesus brought back to life. This snail was flipped upside down on the floor of the fish tank for a few days. We were busy and didn’t do anything with him, and then one morning we noticed the snail crawling up the side of the fish tank! It was a miracle! I have no idea if he was just hibernating (do snails hibernate?!), but Lazarus went on to have like 50 babies…which is a story for another day.

This past Christmas we bought a living Christmas tree that we planned to plant in our backyard to commemorate the first Christmas in our new home.  I diligently listened to the sales lady’s planting instructions, but apparently I failed to clearly communicate them to Ked. After the holidays were over, he hauled the tree outside and planted it. Except, we weren’t supposed to actually plant it until spring. The sales lady had instructed me to dig a hole and just set the pot in the hole and not plant the tree in the ground until spring.

I thought for sure the tree would die. I glanced out the window every few days this winter and watched the tree get browner and browner. I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to save the poor little tree. I knew its roots were freezing and it was going to starve to death. By spring it was a sad, brown tangled mess. I figured we’d just try again this next Christmas and we could just “pretend” it was the tree from our first Christmas in the house.

But then late spring, I walked out to the tree and noticed it was getting a tiny bit green. I thought, maybe, just maybe it would survive. I watched as teeny, tiny green shoots poked their way out of the dead branches. Then one day, after a week filled with rain showers *POOF* the tree exploded in lush, long, green shoots. It looked like a brand, new tree. I couldn’t believe it. I had left the tree for dead, but God brought it back to life in all the glory of early summer.

And I realized, God is the author of life. All life. Even snails left for dead, pine trees planted incorrectly, a cactus that never blooms, strained relationships, children who have wandered, and a neglected spiritual life. Nothing is impossible for Him. I wonder how many things I have left for dead that God is ready to bring back to life?

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26 NIV

What’s your impossible situation today? Bring it to God and ask Him to bring it back to life as only He can do.