October 3, 2024

by Kimberly Hobbs 

EMPOWERING LIVES WITH PURPOSE:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

I’ve always had a fascination with trees, and when looking for a new home, I specifically wrote down what I wanted to have in our new home. I prayed about it and every single one of those desires was given to me by the hand of God. 

One of the specific things I prayed was to have a backyard full of luscious trees, and God answered by literally giving me a forest of them. The trees are a constant reminder of God’s strength with the many branches that nurture our souls to bring life where there seems to be darkness and need of help. 

The trees remind me of the changes one might go through when they first come to the Lord, not knowing what to expect but still needing God to show glimmers of hope. Just as the trees lose their leaves in the winter, God always brings new growth in the summer.

God brings hope even with the trials we face. He strips us of fear, anxieties, hopelessness, and the denials and inability to dream. He instills in us a desire to seek Him for the things that bring life! He gives a hope that feeds on the goodness of the Lord and the courage to let go of the old. 

Try new things with forthrightness to believe that we can do all things that God has prepared us to do and do it well because we can! With God, all things are possible.

Laurie Sammarco