I had all but given up on it, my favorite rose bush.

It was pretty easy to grow, until I pruned it the wrong way, and accidentally dug too close to it…thought I killed it forever.

For some reason though, I just couldn’t pull it all the way up.

It was on the yard work list to have Clint do it because I couldn’t dig it out physically, I couldn’t tug and pull it up, nothing.

So I just left it there waiting on the moment to tend to it — funny thing about how gardening gets lowered on the priority list at times raising a family—I just needed to clear it out, throw it on the burn pile.

Today though, something about that bush caught the corner of my eye as I was unloading the Sam’s order from the back of the car…

Not one, not two, but THREE new, bold, beautiful red roses from that “dead” rose bush I was going to throw out, stopped me in my tracks.

This thought came into my heart… “Not all things are as dead as they look.”

Not all things that look done, gone, over, hopeless, labeled for the burn pile, are really burn – worthy.

Just because something looks dead from a distance, doesn’t mean there’s nothing remaining alive inside.

As you can see from these pictures, the whole bush looks dried up and withered, not life producing.

Crunchy and dry.

Yet, from one of those crunchy, dry branches, new life sprouted.

New life was erupting inside of that plant, and produced not one, but three beautiful roses.

Another thing I noticed about this bloom, is that it looked different than the blooms used to look.

The flower petals were curled a little differently, the petals were a different shade of green, and the shape of the leaves were different.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, your dry, crunchy, dead appearing thing you’ve walked through has life inside of it.

Believer, you have the life of God Almighty inside of you, busting, pushing, pressing to rise up from beneath the dry, from beneath the death, to sprout and shine His glory once again.

When we allow God to burst life back through the ashes from that thing that tried to take us out, we look different. We will walk different, talk different, carry ourselves different.

Because we allowed Him, He re-made us through it all.

More beautiful, more pure, more bright, more detailed.

I’ll tell you… nothing shines brighter than three single red roses growing from what looks to be a dead rosebush…

And nothing shines brighter than God re-making your story by His goodness from the ashes that remain from that destruction that should have slayed you forever.

God CAN and is still in the business of doing it.

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”Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.“
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭19‬ ‭AMPC‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/8/isa.43.19.AMPC

“To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.61.3.NLT