LOCUSTS AND PROMISES

The threshing floors shall be full of wheat; and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. So I will restore to you the years the swarming locusts has eaten . . .  Joel 2:24-25(NKJV)

Locusts didn’t destroy my citrus trees. It was neglect, and that made the loss so much harder to bear. I grew the trees from seeds and lovingly nurtured them in pots for almost two decades. They were my tree babies. One of my lemon trees now resides in the Rawlings Conservatory Botanical Gardens after it grew too large to move outside for summer—even parting with that one was bittersweet.

Unfortunately, a sudden onset of arthritis affected my knee so badly it was difficult and painful to climb the stairs where my trees winter. I couldn’t water and care for them properly.

Sadly, one afternoon I found two of them severely dried out and withered. Experience had taught me they usually cannot recover at that point. Not willing to give up, I took them outside to soak in rainwater.

Weeks passed with nothing, and then one began to show a tiny bit of life. The other appeared dead. With nothing to lose, I pruned it back severely. Several more weeks passed. Finally, the tiniest promise of green! Each day more and more baby leaves popped out and grew.

What appeared devastation, was now restoration.

I am reminded of God’s promises. No one is too far gone for God to redeem and restore. As in the Book of Joel, God allowed the locusts to destroy the Israelites’ crops, driving them to their knees in repentance. There, He met them with restoration and blessings.

Thank You Lord, no matter how hopeless our situation appears, when we repent, You will restore. Amen.

©2019 Bonnie Mae Evans