Thrive

A faint, golden hue in the eastern sky signals the approaching arrival of dawn. Gradually, sunshine sprinkles the grass, flowers, and trees, causing nature to be bejeweled with soft dew that sparkles and gleams. Early morning is one of nature’s most splendid moments. The soft blanket of dew brings daily refreshment to the earth. It is a great picture of God’s faithfulness to us as He provides a daily covering of His grace to our lives. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (KJV). 

The love of the Lord is like “heavenly dew” that covers our lives. It heals us, it restores our souls, and it brings refreshment when we feel down, frustrated, and disappointed with our lives. Every morning we are given a new opportunity to have the mercy of God and His boundless love lift us up and help us again. God is so good and faithful to us. Proverbs 19:12 tells us, “…His favor is like dew on the grass” (NIV).  We have unearned, divine favor. It’s like pure distilled “heavenly dew.” It makes our lives lush, green, and fruitful, which is a glory to the Lord. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV).

God has been speaking to me about your life as a righteous woman, and He has been taking care of your daily life with His consistent mercy and grace. He has been showing me how He is constantly “raining” His Word on you through the written and the spoken Word! In your hard times and through days of sorrow and distress, He has continually “rained” His Word upon your life! It has never returned to Him void, but it has been accomplishing His purpose for your life! I saw God’s beautiful woman budding and blossoming, and His promises being fulfilled in your life! I saw prayers being answered and years of struggle ending. God’s woman was overflowing like a large pot of flourishing flowers and vines. You are not forgotten, precious woman! He remembers you! You will thrive, as Proverbs 11:28 states, “…but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf” (NIV). Thrive means “to prosper, bloom, blossom, expand, grow, increase, develop, progress, succeed, and bear fruit.”

Sometimes life presents desert places, and instead of feeling productive, we feel dry and useless. We incur struggles and oppositions and barely have enough energy to deal with our circumstances. Yet, our faithful and loving Father keeps watering us with His Word, and promises us in Psalms 92:12, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (KJV). Where do we see palm trees growing? In the desert! Make a declaration each day and say, “I’m going to flourish like the palm tree!” Let’s look at what makes the palm tree so unusual.

1. Almost all trees require fertile, well-watered areas to grow. Not the palm tree! It seems to enjoy defying the status quo. Palm trees grow in difficult and desert-like conditions. When a woman of God is placed in a dry wilderness with tribulations, adversities, and conflicts she is challenged, but determined to thrive in the Lord! She doesn’t just survive, she learns how to thrive!
2. Palm trees grow from within and therefore recover from damaging treatment. In most trees, the sap runs just underneath the bark, leaving the inner trunk hard and dead. If their bark gets stripped deep enough, they can die. The palm’s sap, however, flows through its heart! Strip its bark, or scar its trunk, and it will keep on living! If a righteous woman loses everything, her spirit keeps thriving though the outer circumstance reflects only loss. Scarred, hurt, or damaged by circumstances, God’s flourishing woman knows who her true life source is, and where her provision is found!
3. Palm trees survive storms and forceful winds. Ordinary trees suffer major limb breakage in severe storms. Part of the reason for this is the shape of the leaves which “catch” the wind and also the rigidity of the limbs. The palm tree’s leaves are slender and its limbs easily bend. In fact, the trunk of a palm tree can bend so far over in strong winds, that its crown can almost touch the ground! That’s absolutely incredible, especially when God likens us to the palm tree! This life with all of its storms can truly bend us over, but through Christ we don’t break!
4. The palm tree’s roots grow deep, strong, and thick! Instead of running along the surface of the ground like other trees, the palm’s roots penetrate downward where the deep flowing waters are found. First Corinthians 2:10 reminds us, “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (KJV). When dry and thirsty, a righteous woman of God knows how to find the water of the Word. Her spiritual roots search and search until she finds refreshing water in Him!

Woman of God, you are flourishing in Him even if all you see is desert ground in your life! He has been faithful with His mercy and grace in your life. You have been watered by the Word of God. You are thriving, not merely surviving! You are a capable, beautiful, and strong woman of God!