"Bloom Where You Are Planted"

When we moved to Texas we left our church in Toledo, where I was married, fell in love with Jesus, and had been a member for 10 years. I grew there to love God in a very deep personal way with these brothers and sisters in Christ running alongside cheering for me the whole way. That really creates a special bond.

Some of the ladies got together and gave my daughter Bree and me charm bracelets. Each charm had a special significance, they presented them to us one by one as each lady explained theirs...you can imagine the scene as these beloved sisters in Christ showed their love for us as they expressed what our relationship meant to them through this sweet gesture. I have never been so touched.

The only exception to these being all women was the Pastor had added one to mine. It was a large blooming sterling silver daffodil. His instruction to me was this, "Bloom where you are planted"...

I have thought about that through our many moves since leaving Toledo, but truly have I not understood it more than since I have been here in PC. You see, I did not want to return to Ohio.

It came to me one day last summer, shortly after we arrived when I was on a rock pier that stretched out onto Lake Erie. I took pictures of these beautiful flowers that were just defying nature to me. They had grown out of rocks! No fertile soil or flower bed...it was amazing to me, (who can't keep a houseplant alive)that these beautiful flowers were more than growing, they were absolutely thriving! It was obvious that this is not where these flowers would EVER have chosen to grow! Surely they were there by forces beyond their control. But here they were; a beautiful vibrant splash of color and life in what looks like a place where nothing should live...unprotected, cold, hard, dark, dead rock.

If I was a flower I would want to be in the most fertile soil, I would choose a lovely English garden where the gardener would take such good care of me, and the weeds would be pulled, the other flowers around me would be complimentary to my beautiful petals, and as people walked by they would truly appreciate me and my beauty in my wonderful spot in the garden. And my life would be very controlled and comfortable.

But here was the lesson...this flower was blooming where it was planted. And had it been in a garden, I may never had noticed it...I am so grateful for the flower that in spite of the conditions that it undoubtedly would not have chosen, it was in full bloom reaching for the sun.

God is most concerned with who I am, not where I am, what I am, but who I am...I learned that "who I am" can be the same no matter where I am... Texas, Toledo, Vermont, Port Clinton...or what I do; stay home with my kids, work in an office full time, or stay home while everyone else is at school/work. When I serve in a little church that needs to be shown the world outside their walls, or a big church that doesn't seem to need me much at all.

So who am I?

I am Kelly Vossen, wife, mother, lover of the Word of God, disciple of Jesus, a woman who is desiring to honor Him in all I do, a witness for Jesus Christ to all He lays in my trust, servant and daughter of the King of kings.

I learned that no matter where I am, no matter what job God gives me He wants to use me...so I need to just be willing to serve Him to the best of my ability with everything I've got! And to do it joyfully and with a thankful heart! After all, God wants to use me! That is something to be thankful for.

Let me ask this...wherever you are, whatever you are doing....are you able to say, that you are in full bloom reaching for the SON?