The delphiniums came up beautifully this spring. I was so excited … I couldn’t wait for their beautiful blooms to fill the front flowerbed all summer long.
Then one morning I came outside, and they were all eaten back. The deer had been by.
I’ve been talking this week in the blog posts about loss of friendship … loss of relationship. All summer, as I would walk by the front flowerbed and see the pitiful remaining leaves of the eaten-back delphiniums, I felt like that. That’s what I felt like this summer … after losing many of my closest friendships.
The Bible tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10; 1 Peter 5:8)
Just like the deer ate back all the beautiful delphiniums, that is what Satan is seeking to do to the gardens of our lives.
Then one morning in August, I came outside and … surprise of all surprises, a lone little delphinium was starting to grow from the eaten-back leaf-base. For several weeks I watched that lone little delphinium grow tall and set on little blooms.
I felt like that lone little delphinium. That’s totally what I felt like as I tried to continue to “bloom” for Jesus this summer.
But would the lone little delphinium survive?? Would its little blooms have a chance to open?? Or … would the deer come by again??
Hoping beyond hope I watched … and waited … and bit by bit the beautiful little blooms opened! The background photo today shows the lone little delphinium blooming! It was so beautiful! I felt like that little delphinium … it had been able to bloom after all!
But where were the deer? The deer are always wandering back and forth across the property.
This mystery was solved as I began to notice bright yellow fungus-type patches in the flowerbeds. Each morning when I would come outside, there would be yet another new bright yellow fungus-type patch somewhere … always in a different place each morning … scattered here and there all throughout the flowerbed.
My conclusion is that a coyote has been marking its territory.
Unseen protection.
The deer did not eat back the lone little delphinium because it was protected … by unseen protection.
In the same way, God protects those who love Him! We might sometimes feel like that lone little delphinium. We might feel “eaten-back” by the devil. Yet even if we lose our closest friendships/relationships, God will never leave or forsake us! God will always be with us to strengthen us … to help us … to protect us!
Thank you, God, for your unseen protection!
