Growing Stronger Through Pain & Trial

I had planted a Bird's Eye Pepper and  had kept it alive through the winter in the house but it was a sickly and straggly plant. It looked more like a vine than the bush it should have been. I'd kept it, replanted the seeds almost yearly since we moved to Texas in 2000 because it was from a plant my husband's grandfather had.  Last summer I took that poor pitiful potted pepper and sat it on the front porch where it was buffeted by the harsh Texas winds and an amazing thing happened. I did not fertilized it, nor did I re-pot it yet it grew to an amazing height. The thin vine-like  plant became tree like, able to stand on its own, producing an amazing amount of tiny red peppers. I had been treating this plant with kid gloves forgetting the rule, some plants need to be buffeted by the wind in order to grow strong. This year Grandaddy's Bird's Eye Pepper is pruned, out on the porch and looking good. By summer's end it should be covered with tiny red peppers.

Often, if you want a tree or bush to do its very best, you must injure it a little by cutting part of it away. It will then flourish and be a much grander plant than if you neglect it. Most flowers are the same way. If we want them to continue to bloom, we must cut away the blossoms that have bloomed already to encourage more. If bloomed out roses are not constantly removed, called dead heading, they will stop blooming.

Back in Louisiana we had a pecan tree that though it was old enough, had never bore pecans. One day after reading an article on how to force trees to make pecans, I went out there and hammered a long rusty nail into it. After that I beat it severely with the hammer damaging the bark in a few places. The article had said that if the tree felt threatened it would reproduce, it worked, that fall we had pecans.

How often have we felt the pain of God's pruning shears? There are times when we cease to bear fruit for Him and in order to help us get back on track, He will begin to snip away that which keeps us from doing our best.

No words can express how much we owe to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in a wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through the fire.

The road of life is covered with bumps, but these trials make us stronger, these bumps are what we hold on to. Though painful the crossing, these times of despair in the long run make us better people. Take comfort in the fact that before God can use you, He will put you through the fire and in the end, there will be joy unspeakable. When things look really bad, look up, God is speaking to you. 

I've used this poem before but it just fits with this article so I'm using it again:

BUMPS
By: Lillian Carol Russell

Life isn’t always easy, some friends & loved ones are lost along the way,
Some are faded memories, gone with yesterday.

The clock of life keeps ticking, changing all the while,
Some days are filled with tears, others you greet with a smile.

If I place my heart in a box, to protect it from hurt and harm,
It will grow cold and die, for a heart must be kept warm.

The bumps in life are painful, but I guess it should be known,
Although they are rough, we use them to climb, they teach us that we must hold on.

1st Peter...Wherein you greatly rejoice  though now for a little while if need be you have been put to grief in various trials. 

The following poem was written along with a memorial to my brother-in-law Norman Russell, who was killed in a plan crash on Kronborg Glacier in Greenland. Jan. 12, 1962

DEATH'S ICY HAND

By; Lillian Carol Russell

Your mother said you were so cute as a little child,
Curls so blonde and eyes so blue with laughter in your smile.

You grew up too fast like any normal boy,
You always were all your life a source of pride and joy.

From high school to collage to Navy you went,
Thus all the days of your life were spent.

You’d met Bonnie and planned soon to marry,
We all assumed your name she would carry.

Sometimes the book of life is short,
And loved ones are left with a broken heart.

Your pages were few we all soon learned,
As the final chapter came and the pages all were turned.

Death reached out its icy hand and snatched you from the sky,
Your plane went down and all twelve on board would die.

Those who knew and loved you said you had the sweetest smile,
Perhaps it was because you would see God in just a while.

We’ve finally talked to those who found your remains in that cold and lonely place,
Where God reached out to call you home to look upon His face.

Those who perished on the flight were:
AT2 Robert A. ANDERSON 1st Technician
LT John A. BROWN Flight Surgeon
LTjg Anthony P. CASWICK Co-Pilot
ADR2 Robert E. HURST Plane Captain
CDR Norbert J. KOZAK PPC
LTjg Michael P. LEAHY Navigator
ATN3 Alan P. MILLETTE Radioman
ADR3 Frank E. PARKER 2nd Mechanic
AEAN Joseph W. RENNEBERG 3rd Technician
AT3 Norman R. RUSSELL, Jr. 2nd Technician
LTjg Badger C. SMITH Navigator
AO3 Grover E. WELLS Ordnanceman

There is a memorial on my web site:http://www.ourchurch.com/view/?pageID=190376

also the Navy has a memorial site:http://www.vpnavy.com/vp5mem.html

War is a constant and ongoing thing that will continue until the Lord returns. Let us always be in prayer for the men and women who serve, for the wives, children, mothers and fathers. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice and have given their lives for our freedom.  Pray for those who see  their comrades fall, this is something that is very hard to get over. Each night when we put our head on a nice clean soft pillow we should remember to thank God for this simple blessing as well as all our big ones and ask the same be granted for each of our soldiers, a chance to come home and place their head on a nice soft pillow in a safe bed where there is no sound of gunfire.