After the Storm...

"After the winter comes the summer.  

After night comes the dawn.  

After every storm there comes clear, open skies."

~Samuel Rutherford~

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It is only after we have come through temptations, storms, and trials, that our true character is seen.  We have then been proven.  We either have shown strength and faith in the hardest times... or weakness and faithlessness.  

After the storm... flowers bloom.  When we come through a storm, we have bloomed. Grown.  In ways we previously couldn't even have imagined.  We change for the better when we feel that we are at our lowest.

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One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in Habakkuk 3:

 ¹⁷Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

   ¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

   ¹⁹The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

I find it so encouraging that, although life-threatening things had happened in Habakkuk's life, he was still able to pick up and say "I am still trusting you, God... You are my strength and I will not fail!"  May we all find the strength to trust God in the hard times.  God promises that He will never leave or forsake us... 

and His plan and way are perfect!  Trust Him... the results will be worth it!