The Beauty of Darkness!!!

The Beauty of Darkness!

So a little update on how things have been going here in Ghana sometimes things are good some times things are real tough.  But I wanted to share something with you that God gave me through these last days,   So the last few days here have been pretty rough it has been about 4 days since we had power.  During those days it was tough especially because none of my devices had power.  So during the day I was out side the place where I am staying and I noticed that there were a lot of nice plants all over the compound.  When you look around there are many flowers and plants with an arrangement of beautiful colors.  If you even take some time to notice even the trees are bearing all kinds of wonderful fruit from tangerines, avocado, mango, and even papaya.  Yes, you can just go outside pluck one off clean it and eat.  But if you keep looking around in all this beauty you see this regular old cactus.  You know it’s sometimes hard to find beauty in the plant its just tall, green, and sturdy.  But if you don’t pay attention closely to this particular cactus you will miss the definite beauty of the plant.  So the other day I ventured outside during the night and happened to glance at the plant wouldn’t you know at night the whole plant is draped in beautiful white flowers that only come out at night.  Later that night we had a terrible storm the winds were blowing, the rain was torrential and you could see lightning filling the sky from all over.  But one thing I did notice is that through all this I glanced at the cactus the flowers were open and the plant was so sturdy the wind hardly affected the plant it was amazing.  So when I got up in the morning I looked around the grounds and it looked like a war zone, all those beautiful plants looked like they had been through hell and back.  But there in the corner still green, sturdy, and tall was the cactus looking as if it had never missed a beat.  Well your probable saying yeah so what!  What is the big deal?  Believe me I was thinking the same thing!  Until this came to me no matter how dark the days are, things can be worse.  But because you believe in a God who has made you perfectly for your situation you are able to stand firm.  You are able to stand firm when your days are dark and to make things worse its dark and storms roll in.  But in the midst of the darkness don’t forget to pay attention to your situation.  Sometimes God uses the dark places in our lives just to reveal how unique and beautiful we are. 

Justin