By Josie Siler

I love trees. Trees are my friends. That’s why it was so painful when I had to say goodbye to several trees in my yard last year. I knew they had to go. They weren’t healthy and they were hurting the healthy trees that were close to them, but that didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye.
 
The hardest tree to say goodbye to was a big beautiful maple right outside my office window. It was huge and cast wonderful shade over a good portion of my front yard. The tree was beautiful, but it was unhealthy inside. Like many of us, it had an invisible illness. Only the trained eye of the arborist could see the disease.
 
The tree had to go. If we didn’t cut it down there was a good chance that it would break during the next big storm and fall right on my house. I understood why it had to be cut down, but I didn’t like it.
 
When the tree was cut down it left behind a big, gaping hole. We filled it with dirt, but the ground is scarred and ugly. Now when I look out my window I’m reminded of something beautiful that was taken away and turned ugly. It reminds me of my life.

I had a great life, a beautiful life. Everything looked great from the outside, but inside I was sick. Many years later I look back and see the scarred earth where my flourishing life used to be. It’s not a gaping hole anymore, but it’s not pretty.
 
I have big plans for that scarred part of my yard. It’s going to be beautiful again. This month is my birthday and for my present my parents took me to one of my mom’s favorite places, a place with lots and lots of rocks. I immediately spotted the best rock in the place and claimed it as my own.
 
This rock is a perfect sitting rock. It’s a huge rectangle with a perfectly carved out seat for sitting. The back area is curved and fits me as if God Himself carved it as a perfect match for my back. It’s going to be the centerpiece of my little sitting rock garden. 

Along with my sitting rock I picked out a small square rock that will be my footstool, a big gorgeous rock that has shades of green (my favorite color), a large blue and grey rock that will complement the other colors and a small blue rock that was too beautiful to resist.
 
Soon these rocks are going to be set right on top of the scarred piece of earth the beautiful maple tree left behind. It’s going to be hard work to place them just right. It’s going to take patience to choose the perfect flowers to plant among the rocks, water them, and wait for them to grow. But when it all comes together it’s going to be beautiful.
 
Dare I say I think it’s going to be more beautiful and special than the maple tree was? There are still roots under what is going to be my sitting rock garden. Those roots are the foundation I will build upon. I have grand plans for that scarred piece of earth.
 
My dreams and plans for my sitting rock garden give me hope and remind me that God also has a grand plan. His plan isn’t for a small piece of land that’s as miniscule as a speck of dust to Him. His grand plans are for me – and you.
 
God knows that our lives haven’t been easy. He knows that things have been stripped away and we’ve been left scarred. But God’s plans are perfect and good. He has a plan to restore our lives to something even better than what we started with.
 
Jeremiah 29:10-11 (The Message) says, “This is God’s Word on the subject: ‘As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.’”
 
Most of us are familiar with verse 11, but verse 10 helps put it in context. The Israelites were in exile. They were wounded, scarred, and hopeless. Yet in the midst of that pain God comes in and says that He has plans to restore them, take care of them, and give them the future they hoped for. 

God doesn’t rush things. He knows where we are right now and where He wants to bring us. God can turn our scars into something beautiful if we let Him. It will take trust, patience, and a whole lot of faith. But if we can do that, if we can trust God with our lives, He will be with us every step of the way. He will give us patience and help us believe in Him.

“…Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” ~ Mark 9:23-24 (NLT)

By Josie Siler

It had been a long day and I was tired. As I sat in the busy restaurant I was grateful for the noise that kept conversation to a minimum. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk with my family, but I was tired and just sitting there was nice.
 
Trying not to finish my raspberry cream drink before my food came, I sipped it slowly and took in my surroundings. One of our favorite places to eat, it looked different than our last visit. I prefer a booth, but I had to admit that the new red chairs and tables we were sitting at were really nice. I especially enjoyed the fact that the chairs were low enough for my short little legs to bend over the edge so that my feet touched the ground. It’s the little things in life!
 
There was also some new artwork on the walls and one piece in particular made my day. I’m still laughing about it and have since discovered this particular drawing on tee-shirts, mugs, posters, pillows, phone cases, you name it.
 
So what’s this wonderful piece of artwork? It’s a drawing of a rabbit making a shadow puppet on the wall that looks like a hand. Clever, right? Maybe it’s just my sense of humor, but I find it hilarious. It makes me giggle just thinking about it. Typically it’s the human hand making a shadow puppet of a rabbit, but this silly rabbit figured out how to make a shadow puppet of a human hand. Genius! 

Really though, I love this picture because it’s all about perspective. We get so used to seeing something one way that when someone takes the ordinary and twists it around it’s refreshing, uplifting, and even humorous.
 
When we’re sick we get bogged down in the everyday of life as we know it. We get used to tests, doctor visits, medications, resting, weakness, pain, frustration…
 
But what if we changed our perspective? What if we took a lesson from a silly rabbit and looked at our life from a different perspective? What if instead of slogging through another day of sameness we twist the ordinary into something a little more extraordinary?
 
Isaiah 43:19 (ESV) says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
 
God says that He is doing a new thing and that now it springs forth. Now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, but now. Today. This very moment.
 
God will make a way for even us. He’ll break into the wilderness of illness and make a way for us. He’ll refresh us with pure clean water in our desert places. He can break up the monotony of the everyday. He can infuse our lives with hope and joy, laughter and love.
 
Do you want Him to? Do you want to see your life from a new perspective? It’s going to look a little different for each of us because we are uniquely and wonderfully made. God is a deeply personal God and your perspective shift is going to look different than mine. But God is able and willing to help each of us see life differently; all we have to do is ask.
 
If you’re ready to take a lesson from a silly rabbit now is the time. Google Rabbit Hand Shadow, have a good laugh, and ask God to twist your perspective on life as you know it. Ask Him to allow you to see things as He sees them. Ask Him to do that new thing right now and to fill you with hope, peace, love, laughter, and joy.