We call our home Goose Place. We have at least twenty houseplants of varying styles and personalities trailing about the house, reaching for patches of sunlight. They all survived a blistering California summer. But once winter came, I accidentally left one overnight in the backyard, and it froze to the core. Cold and crispy, the leaves turned black and shriveled. I was pretty sure it was a goner.
Then a wondrous thing happened. After a few weeks of gentle watering and a dash of foolish hope, I saw a brand new leaf unfurl at the tip—bright, green, beautiful. I couldn’t have been more surprised. Despite my neglect, this unabashedly proud little leaf burst into existence almost overnight.
It reminds me of “eucatastrophe,” a term J. R. R. Tolkien coined for a sudden, joyous turn of events. Even when all hope seems lost, something often changes the story’s end. Death in reverse. Hope restored. What comes after is nothing like what came before. There was an old way of doing things, and now there is a new way. Now, when I look at this little fiddle leaf fig, I don’t just see an ordinary houseplant—I see the power of death-reversing, hope-restoring life at work.
Our resurrected life in Christ is like this, only far better. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Just as each bud draws its life from the whole plant—including that decaying yet nutrient-dense soil—each of us draws our new life from Christ’s glory.
When we stop to think about this, it’s wild. God has given us new hearts, new minds, new eyes to bear witness to His miracles. Unlike those in the Old Testament, we live in an age full of first-hand stories that speak to how the resurrection shapes our present lives. Many of these appear in Scripture, and others are happening around us. Even in our hearts!
Christ in us changes everything. We are freed from our “old self” (vv. 6–7), the version of ourselves that is unbridled and keeps us bound to sin. We are healed and restored and have the privilege of partnering with Jesus in healing and restoring others. And we have the joy of walking with Him as our daily companion and friend.
How does the resurrection shape our present life? It gives us a lens for hope. It deepens our love for God and others as we experience His presence—a presence that draws in close and heals our hurts (1Peter 2:24). And it allows something as simple as a houseplant to reflect Christ’s death-reversing, hope-restoring life. Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for us and continue to do.
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Amen
Hi ladies! I just wanted to ask for prayer for my sister. She has recently walked away from Jesus and has started living her own way. She is making some very poor and risky decisions and is pulling away from our family. If you could all pray for her prodigal return, I would so appreciate it!
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I’m not where I want to be but I thank God I’m not where I was!! He is doing a work in me DAILY! So much of my old self to prune off. I just ask that He be gentle:)
@KIMBERLY Z: praying for you sweet girl on navigating the steps of relationships.
Good afternoon dear shes, I loved the analogy of the resurrected plant (fiddle leaf fig is a very finicky plant in my opinion, and the fact that it came back to life is a miracle in itself). There is something about plants that are both tender yet extremely resilient. Sunlight is number one plant food so they can photosynthesize- just like us, we need the light from the Lord to grow. I had many seedlings sowed back in January that are sad looking due to lack of light. We are not much different from plants, are we? Raechel Myers shared her garden in IG and she mentioned the concept of companion plantings that spoke to me. How the Lord plants us next to other plants that are so different from us, but certain plants will attract bugs away from the others and winds are necessary for the hardening of tender ones. Gardening is a whole gospel lesson in itself and it is a fascinating subject to me. There are certain weeds next to the tares that ONLY God can pull, and He might not pull just yet and just let them grow next to us for the sake of us. But as we are the plants in God’s garden, grown from incorruptible seed, may we rest assured that He is a very capable gardener. He deeply cares for the harvest, and He is ever so patient to wait long long years for the first fruits that we can yield. Though the much dreaded pruning process will come and might hurt us dearly (feeling like punishment, feeling like a limb getting ripped of), BUT we know the truth, pruning won’t kill us, it will help to give even more fruits. May the plants (us) continue to thrive, bringing various colors, beautiful fragrance, and wonderful harvest to the Master Gardener- who is so very faithful to sow, to wait and who has laboured much.
@MICHELLE: maybe you can ask the Lord through prayers what is it that the social media has filled you with, what is it that you seek through social media that it has satisfied again and again? (perhaps companionship, joy, connections, vibrancy, visions of happiness? …) may God reveal to you and may He fill that void so you won’t depend heavily on it. The journey on becoming “new in Him” does require some deep digging within ourselves, it takes time, and with God all things are possible.
@MOLLY R: praying for your garden space to be transformed. I recommend Laura from Garden Answer on youtube, she gardened on a 4 acre, and she sectioned them out to zones (vegetable raised beds zone, cut flower zone, green lawn zone to bring rest to the eyes, ornamental trees, etc). You can watch her garden tours and you might be encouraged seeing the harmonious end result:) Good job on the big undertaking of fencing that large space! Bravo.
Be blessed dear sisters.