Hey all! For today’s Tuesday post, we have a tag chain started by the lovely Bella from the blog Peculiar Treasures. I loved her inspiration for this, which is to reflect on the lessons and seeds that God has planted in your life.

How the chain works:

1. Copy the Bloom Tag questions into your blog
2. Answer them honestly (short or long—your choice)
3. Add your own “Final Bloom” reflection
4. Tag 3–7 other bloggers to continue the chain
5. Mention the creator (bellaspeculiartreasures.wordpress.com) 
6. Mention where you received it from (so it keeps spreading)

The Questions:

Seed: What do you feel God is currently planting in your life?

Sprout: What is God currently teaching you?

Bloom: Where do you feel most grounded or closest to God right now?

Wildflower: What is something unique about how God made you that you’re learning to accept or appreciate?

Wilted Leaf: What are you learning to release into God’s hands right now?

Final Bloom: If your current season were a flower, what would it be—and what do you think God might be shaping in you through it?

~ ~ ~

seed.

What do you feel God is currently planting in your life?

Right now, it feels like He’s planting a lot of opportunities for good, fruitful relationships. I’m going to be hosting a Bible study in the summer and inviting my coworkers as well as church friends. That in itself is a blessing, as well as the chance to go to other friends’ Bible studies, church events, and other experiences to develop friendships.

sprout.

What is God currently teaching you?

There’s been a lot that the Lord has taught or is teaching me in the past year—one of those being patience. As I’m coming up on the one-year-mark since we moved, I’m not exactly satisfied with where I’m at. I expected, with how things were going in the winter, to have several close friends. I’ve seen God’s hand in my relationships, but I also need to remember that close friends come with time.

bloom.

Where do you feel most grounded or closest to God right now?

That’s hard. It’s not that I don’t feel close to Him because I actually feel the closest to Him than I ever have been! I think that He’s been reaching out to me a lot through Scripture. Reading my Bible has been one of my favorite things to do lately, and that’s a blessing as that used to be something I dreaded.

wildflower.

What is something unique about how God made you that you’re learning to accept or appreciate?

I’m learning how to love my uniqueness as a whole. Let me explain: the southern culture that I live in now is very different to me and I’m still adapting to what people call ‘normal’ or ‘popular.’ There’s a lot of hair-dying and extensions, false lashes or nails, ten pounds of makeup, and everyone taking pictures that are only Instagram worthy instead of just having fun (BAD) pictures for memories.

So when I came here from Washington (a very…free-spirited state, if you will) where people don’t care what you wear, it’s been a huge shift of dynamics. And that’s impacted the way I act, dress, and think.

All in all, I’m still learning how to love the way my appearance and background is different, but that’s alright.

wilted leaf.

What are you learning to release into God’s hands right now?

Like I said about the sprout, as we come upon the one-year-mark, there’s been a lot of emotions of joy but also mourning—bittersweet. This is when things start to finally feel settled, when we have finally felt ‘home,’ and when relationships have been made. But there’s still the many ‘What if’s’ that are frequently revolving through my mind.

What if we’d stayed? What if we’d never moved here? What if I did this or that or told this person this or that?

So really, it’s all a period of surrendering those questions in trusting that I’m where I’m supposed to be and when I’m supposed to be. The reason for those ‘supposed to be’s’ might not figured out yet or for a while, but that’s not the point.

All of this is “so that the works of God might be displayed in [this.]” (John 9:3 NIV)

final bloom.

If your current season were a flower, what would it be—and what do you think God might be shaping in you through it?

I think it would likely be a wildflower, or a bouquet of a variety of wildflowers. The uniqueness of each flower doesn’t disqualify its’ beauty and the same goes for the seasons we go through as humans. The pain or the struggle or the brokenness doesn’t disqualify the beauty of your faith. (Matthew 17:20)

Thank you so much, Bella, for tagging me! I really enjoyed this and I am so excited to hear other people’s answers.

Lola Mae at Lola Mae Writes

Hope Elizabeth at Flame

Apple at Apple Smith’s Substack

I’m at a loss as to who else to nominate, but if you want to carry on this chain and answer these questions, please do!

Thanks for reading everybody, and I hope you found these questions as through provoking as I did.
~Willow