They say that planting seeds is an act of faith.

I think that’s true: you put seeds in the ground in spring, hoping most will germinate and grow into a plant. If you’re lucky, you might see hints of growth in a few days, but often it can be weeks before a little green head pokes its way out of the soil.

If planting seeds takes faith, then I think it takes a special kind of faith to plant bulbs in the fall.

In the fall, you know the days are getting shorter and colder. The leaves are dropping from the trees, and tender plants are beginning to die from early frosts. You know that snow will soon blanket the garden to the depth of a couple feet. You’re heading into a barren season.

The precious tulip, daffodil or hyacinth bulbs that you’ve just planted will disappear from your view for many months. You’ll have no indication that they’re all right, let alone any guarantee that they’ll eventually bloom. They may fall prey to rabbits, squirrels or deer. Who knows what will happen to them?

And yet you still go ahead and plant fall bulbs, trusting that they’ll survive the frigid winter and bloom later in spring.

Some things in our lives take special faith to trust for, too, don’t they?

Maybe you have some burdens on your heart that take special faith to believe for. Perhaps you’ve been trusting God to change a situation around for you, but it’s been years and you haven’t seen movement yet.

Or maybe you’ve been planting “seeds” in someone’s heart about Christ, but so far they’ve come to nothing. The ground seems to remain barren, with no sign that positive results could be on the way.

But if you’re trusting in the word of God, you can be sure of one thing: He always follows through on His promises.

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11 ESV)

If there is a written promise in the Bible that you’re leaning on or if God has spoken a word to you directly, He will bring it to pass. It may take some time, but God will accomplish what He has purposed.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV)

Even when we don’t see anything happening in our situation, God is still at work. It may take extra faith to believe for answers to prayer when we’re in a winter season of our lives, but the “bulbs” we’ve planted are not dead, they’re just in a waiting phase. At the right time, God will see that they bloom. And the glorious flowering will have been worth the wait.

God’s word won’t return to him void, like a bounced cheque. He can be counted on to fulfill His promises.

And you can take that to the bank!

© 2020 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.