I’ve just returned from two glorious weeks celebrating the sprouting of Spring at our Smoky Mountain cabin, so I thought I’d share a reading from my brand new 365-devotional, Bless Your Heart: Daily Devotions to Warm Your Heart and Feed Your Soul, set to release the first of July, 2025 (GULP – only 3 short months away!).
Many thanks to those of you who’ve already expressed an interesting in joining my Bless Your Heart Launch Team; I’ll be getting more info out with details about this opportunity within a few weeks. Launch teams are SUPER important these days in Publishing World, and I need the help of every one of my BFFs (Blessed Friends Forever) to set up a successful launch and spread the word. I appreciate you sweet gals – and wunnerful guys (who continue to remind me my BFFs include some great dudes too!) – more than I can ever express!
Okay, so here’s a sample of the daily readings from Bless Your Heart:
Bursting Into Bloom
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”
Deuteronomy 28:2 NKJV
I love spring at our cabin in the Smokies. Especially since my usual habitat is the seasonless flatland of Florida where the only hills are speedhumps. This year I noticed something new atop our North Carolina mountain. After the last April freeze, little green nubs began poking through the soil of the flowerbed. Now, I’m accustomed to daffodils, lilies, and hostas making their annual appearances this time every year, and I always celebrate them. But these leaf nubs were different. What could they be? I watched with interest as the nubs grew into stems, which then budded and finally blossomed into crazy-beautiful blooms that had never before graced my humble little flowerbed. Tulips. They were tulips.
Then I remembered. The previous Easter, I’d bought lovely, decorative pots of tulips, which don’t grow naturally in central Florida. The sweet blossoms brought beauty and joy for a week or so. Then they bowed their little heads and died. Soon nothing was visible but dirt in empty pots where there had once been vibrant life. The flowers were spent. Used up. Seemingly worthless. But then I realized that the essence of the flowers – the vital creative spark responsible for their previous glory – was still there, encapsulated within the bulb submerged beneath the soil. But their hidden potential would stay imprisoned and eventually rot if kept in a place contrary to what they needed to survive. So, I’d brought the bald, lifeless-appearing bulbs to the mountains and troweled them into the cabin’s rocky soil. And never gave them another thought. Until now.
Gazing at the unexpected beauty busting into bloom, I felt a personal message implanted in my heart from Papa God: Just look what can happen when you give hidden potential a chance. I call it redemption. It’s for people who feel like they’re spent. Used up. Seemingly worthless. People whose hearts just need to be transplanted to a nurturing environment where I can recreate something amazingly lovely.
How about you, dear bulb-friend? Can you relate?
Prayer: Master Gardener, transplant this spent, seemingly useless bulb into fertile soil where I can once again grow into a lovely blossom that glorifies You. Amen.
Copyright 2025, Debora M. Coty, Bless Your Heart
Hey, dearest BFF faithfully reading my weekly blog post – what’s your fave part about spring? I’d love to hear your comments. Hugs!!!
I really like your “tulips” .
Debora, Thanks for your lovely devotional! I do love spring ! To answer your question, It’s hard to choose just one thing I love about Spring! The colors of flowers, trees and growing things alone are the basic things I love! Just the act of coming to life again after the rest/sleep of winter that our lands need makes spring something to shout about! God bless you and your writing ministry!