• Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Collaborate
  • Blog
  • Parties
    • Children’s Parties Ideas
    • Holiday Parties
    • Adult Party Ideas
  • Holiday Ideas
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Fourth of July
    • Spring
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • Seasons
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
  • Project Gallery
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY
    • Good Ideas
    • Tutorials
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

  • Book
  • Speaking
  • Meet Vanessa
    • Featured

November 13, 2011

Simply Sunday…I asked the Lord

 “I asked the Lord for a bunch of fresh flowers
but instead He gave me an ugly cactus with many thorns.

Cactus
 Source
 I asked the Lord for some beautiful butterflies
but instead He gave me many ugly and dreadful worms.
 Source
 I was threatened.
I was disappointed.
I mourned.
But, after many days, suddenly,
I saw the cactus bloom with many beautiful flowers
Barrel Cactus
 Source

And those worms became beautiful butterflies
flying in the wind.


 Source

God’s way is the best way.”

*Written by Dr. Chung-Ming Kao during his 4 year imprisonment*

Has God transformed your “cactus” into “beautiful flowers”?
Has He turned those “ugly worms” into “butterflies”?
Are you still waiting for that to happen?

It might not be something that takes place overnight, but we too believe that
“God’s way is the best way!”

Thank you for joining us for this Simply Sunday at the Fence,

dual signature

13 Comments Filed Under: Devotionals, Simply Sundays

Subscribe

Get the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

Previous Post: « Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 40!
Next Post: A Thankful Garland »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa @ Before Meets After says

    November 13, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    That’s so ironic because we spoke of this at church this morning. It’s funny how God doesn’t always answer our prayers like we think He should, but oftentimes those answers are blessings in disguise!

    Reply
  2. Susan (My Place to Yours) says

    November 13, 2011 at 7:21 PM

    God must really be wanting us to get this message… I wrote something similar, and posted it late last night on Inspiration Friday.

    Reply
  3. Rosemary@villabarnes says

    November 13, 2011 at 7:22 PM

    So true! Sometimes we overlook blessings, because we don’t recognize that our prayers have already been answered. Great post.

    Reply
  4. Dayle says

    November 13, 2011 at 8:01 PM

    I say a big, Amen! God’s ways are best, even when we can’t understand.

    Reply
  5. Ramblings of a Southern Girl ~ Rhonda G says

    November 14, 2011 at 12:32 AM

    Beautiful Post! If we could just learn to trust that God knows the future and what is best! Only He could make something wonderful and beautiful out of nothing! 🙂

    …Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
  6. andrea says

    November 14, 2011 at 1:08 AM

    In gratitude! If only all lost souls could understand that God’s love isn’t always sunshine and posies and blaring like a car horn. It’s in teaching us to look past the ugly that our soul really starts to grow. andrea@townandprairie

    Reply
  7. Janet says

    November 14, 2011 at 1:26 AM

    Thank you so much for this beautiful post. I know this very well and wrote of it on my blog, but I have a dear non-believing friend who needs to accept this and hasn’t.
    She needs to desperately, times are not good now in her family. Please keep M in your prayers, thanks
    craftythriftydecoratingwifemom.wordpress.com

    Reply
  8. Bonnie says

    November 14, 2011 at 2:10 AM

    Thank you for this…it is beautiful!!! After many years of fighting depression and loneliness, I am finally seeing the worms turned to butterflies and the flowering cactus in my life…the puzzle of myself that was in complete disarray is finally starting to take shape…and much is due to me understanding Jesus in the right way and following him…

    Reply
  9. classic • casual • home says

    November 14, 2011 at 2:34 AM

    We need to see the flowers and butterflies and be thankful. I am. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. Nellie's Cozy place says

    November 14, 2011 at 11:07 AM

    You are so right, God’s way are not our ways, and we might not always understand, but I too, have come to understand that God really knows what He is doing, after all, he created the Universe, and we can trust that
    His way is always the Best Way!!

    Blessings to you,
    Nellie

    Reply
  11. Debbie says

    November 14, 2011 at 6:18 PM

    Beautiful.

    Perhaps not at the moment, but in time I am always grateful that he gave me the process before the product. Maybe I’m just a before and after kind of gal, but when God does it, it is especially amazing.

    Reply
  12. Zolane says

    November 14, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Thank you for the beautiful reminder.

    Reply
  13. Deborah says

    November 15, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    Amen!
    This is beautiful and am so glad I popped in today Vanessa!
    Gods way is the best way!!!

    Deborah xo

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search This Blog

Take the Quiz

Stay updated!

Get all the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

Get the book!

Invite Vanessa to speak at your event!

Must Reads

Recent Posts

  • A New French Country Dining Table February 3, 2021
  • Open Now December 17, 2020
  • Tradition and a Christmas Home Tour December 9, 2020
  • Tabletop Hot Cocoa Station November 29, 2020
  • A New Front Door November 10, 2020

Get all the latest straight to your inbox

Footer

Instagram

I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
.
…It was just the beginning!
Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house that’s become the landing zone for ALL THE THINGS! 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪 I’ve never been more thankful for our rarely used dining room table as it’s become command central for school books and laptops and games.

Where are things collecting in your house right now?
“Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every si “Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every single one of these emotions has made their way through our home in recent days and, my guess is, they have in your home too.

I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole lockdown thing began, I’ve come to appreciate this time of day even more.

It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

What feels ‘normal’ to you right now? Whatever it is, keep doing it. 🌿
When I was in college I would frequently call home When I was in college I would frequently call home and pour my heart out to my mom, sharing with her all that was happening in my life in that completely unfiltered way that you can talk with the person who potty trained you. These phone calls usually took place at night and my mom would patiently listen as I vented frustrations about professors, roommates, boyfriends and the food in the cafeteria. And, inevitably, they would end with my mom saying, “Everything seems worse when you’re tired. Try not to overthink things or make any major decisions tonight, especially when you are feeling emotional.” Dear friends, may I pass along this advice to you today?

If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

If you are tempted to quit a job, start a business, start homeschooling permanently, stop homeschooling permanently, move to a new city, buy a farm, quit pursuing your dream, join a commune or make any other major life decision just…wait. Because, if it is in fact the right decision, it will be made even clearer once our lives return to their ‘regularly scheduled programming’. Instead, in this strange season, let’s all just take a deep, collective breath and let it out slowly, releasing the anxiety that threatens to overtake us. Let’s help each other maintain some perspective and not slip into a posture of over-thinking every little thing in our lives. Let’s remember that the enemy of our souls would love nothing more than to use this time when things feel dark to manipulate us into thinking that aspects of our lives are worse than they actually are.

My prayer for you in these days is that you will have the clarity to know what is true and that you will be filled with peace even while we live in this season of so many unknowns.
Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking thes Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking these days! 🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m trying to avoid gaining the #corona15 but my daughter and I LOVE baking together and it does help to pass the time plus it counts as a science lesson right?

If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

What have you baked so far during this time of social distancing? I’d love some new ideas!
There are a LOT of people out walking in our neigh There are a LOT of people out walking in our neighborhood right now (but still social distancing!) and she decided that she wanted to bring them some joy and put a smile on their face when they pass by our house. Also, the square with ‘say no to coronavirus’ is priceless. 😂 I just love her so much!
Follow
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2021 At The Picket Fence