{"id":2202,"date":"2017-03-01T14:44:48","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2017-02-20T18:45:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T18:45:18","slug":"growth-in-between-two-stones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2202","title":{"rendered":"Growth In Between Two Stones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"07-11-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Look at the beautiful flower that is growing in the middle of that fence!<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Yes, something about it speaks to my heart about the struggles of life.<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I was reading that in a book.\u00a0 Let me share.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is from the book Disappointment With God by Philip Yancey<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paradoxically, the most perplexing, Job-like times may help “fertilize” faith and nurture intimacy with God.\u00a0 The deepest faith, what I have called fidelity, sprouts at a point of contradiction, like a blade of grass between stones.\u00a0 Human beings grow by striving, working, stretching; and in a sense, human nature needs problems more than solutions.\u00a0 Why are not all prayers answered magically and instantly?\u00a0 Why must every convert travel that same tedious path of spiritual discipline?\u00a0 Because persistent prayer, and fasting and study, and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes, not for God’s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The flower is beautiful and rare not because it has grown up in a field full of roses.\u00a0 It is beautiful because in the most unlikely places, a fence on a gravel path with no rich soil around it, the flower bloomed.\u00a0 We may not know the struggle it took to bloom in that spot but we can look at that flower and appreciate the beauty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Revelation 3:20<\/p>\n

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.\u00a0 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,\u00a0I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Look at the beautiful flower that is growing in the middle of that fence! Prodigal:\u00a0 Yes, something about it speaks to my heart about the struggles of life. 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