katie shaw ficker

I drove through town, seemingly everywhere I looked holding a painful memory: the gravestone that held the memorial to our son, the school we had to close, homes that once held friends now gone, difficult conversations with neighbors, and even back to our own house where memories still hung of scary nights and the unmet promise of babies that almost joined our family here on earth. The truth is, I would have taken any sliver of an opportunity to get out of our very small town and country for awhile. The grass looked greener in every other lawn that I could slightly see, and even though I knew that my feelings were not accurately portraying the reality of truth, it was hard to shut them off in the face of what those car rides reminded me. I begged God to open up doors for us to be able to leave for a bit to heal and refresh and restore away from all the painful memories. And while that was not an unbiblical request, it is not what God chose to do.Instead, I heard that soft, kind, whisper one day many months into my pleas, “Katie, bloom where you are planted.”

“Bloom here?!” came my incredulous response. “No way. Nothing can grow here. The pain is too much, the soil is too rocky, and the weather is too dark and cloudy.” 

But He gently encouraged “you open up the painful and the rocky places, and we will plant seeds of hope and new life, and I will bring the sun, the nutrients, and the water that will produce the blooms.”

And slowly, that is exactly what He has done and is continuing to do. It has not been easy, and I have not always been a willing partner, but the power of what He has done is unmistakeable. Just as He said He would, He has brought beautiful blooms out of dry, hard, dead soil.

After news that we would not be able to have more biological children, we planted a seed of hope into the soil that held that painful place of loss, and miraculously, one year later through the gift of adoption, we brought home our gorgeous daughter, watching in surprised awe as God brought redemption to our whole family.

While some of our education programs closed, we watched as seeds of Truth and knowledge planted in our students blossomed as they continued their education in other facilities and/or found professional employment, changing their family trees and helping the economy of our town. God was watching out for every aspect… watering and tending to those small seeds long after they were out of our view.

As seeds of honesty, vulnerability, repentance and forgiveness were planted deep into the soil of our marriage and relationships with others, roots grew down and plants full of color and beauty emerged as a reminder of what God can do in the soil of humility.

And as we opened up those dark places, deep within the soil where lies and hurts and our own sin had caused ruin, we pulled out the weeds, placed them in our Father’s hands, and planted the invaluable seeds of Faith, Trust, and Truth, watching as strong roots grew down deep, finding that never-ending water source deep underground… and as sturdy, secure, thick trees emerged, full and flourishing and now able to provide rest and shade and a place of safety for not only us, but also for those who need to be reminded of what God can do with a bunch of tiny seeds and available soil.

Bloom where you are planted.

And then, very unexpectedly, God did bring us out of that geographical place for a season. While we maneuvered a sudden, international move with four children back to a land they had never known, I found God whispering the same message in those chaotic and uncertain times… bloom where you are planted. Do not worry about the when, the where and the how… just bloom. Love your neighbors, let them love you, and live life where I have placed you. It is here in this season that other hidden, desperately-prayed prayers have been answered – not in the way I thought they would, of course – but as we have let ourselves grow down into this new soil too, God has once again brought about what only He can. 

And watch as God redeems not just that inner Garden deep in your own heart, but as He brings Heaven and His glory to the people and places all around you as well.

“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven…” Matthew 6:10