How do we prepare for bad weather? With storm warnings, we anchor loose items, or grab a raincoat. Sometimes severe weather is measured by drought. Without adequate water, a plant doesn’t grow well nor does it bloom! Unless it is a cactus.

Recently, I was in Mexico, and  learned that cactus are beautifully adaptable to their dry environments. With built-in systems they maximize water storage, and minimize moisture loss, accessing vital resources to live.

A friend asked me why believers suffer? And while she understood that life eternal is the reward, we discussed seasons in life that often include desert times with drought; and how we must adapt like the cactus,  which is covered in spines that help trap water within its skin.

  Do we wither and complain when the heat is turned up? Or do we maximize our resources to grow through it? Are we absorbing life lessons that will sustain us when we need to access reservoirs of living water?

There are roughly 300 references of deserts and wilderness in scripture that compare to a believer’s life. But there is also faithfulness from God who provides water and rain soaked restoration for the weary.

  And, while I would never consider a cactus beautiful, thanks to their spines, they also bloom to reproduce!

May we as believers  bloom through difficulty as well.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; it springs forth,  do you not see it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Is 43:19