fruit. or as the spanish say: fruta.

if you have been at all following along with my incessant tweeting, our new house blog or just talked to me in the last few weeks you'd know that our house is an absolute disaster zone right now. although eventually 205 will once again be a cute little house i'm proud to call home, right now, let's be honest, it's uggggg-ly. example:

in the midst of the nastiness, though, i noticed this the other morning.

this summer, as part of a semi-embarrassing effort to become a little more domestic i purposely experimented with new recipes and also kept a small roof-top garden. it wasn't much but it supplied me all summer with suchhh yummy basil and cherry tomatoes. the third amigo, however, the bell pepper plant, appeared to do NOTHING for about 4 months. finally, though, it produced fruit! (right? i'm pretty sure a pepper is technically fruit?)

as is customary in the inner-workings of nicole's brain, this triggered an encouraging metaphor for me :)

this summer was hard for me. i went from living in a beautiful community, bustling with the lives of 9 great girls to coming home to an entirely empty house after work most evenings. i walked with people i love dearly through too much death and heartache and tragedy. i felt attacked. old doubts and insecurities and lies resurfaced. i worked a job i hated with people who seemed to hate me. i struggled. but, as hard as it was, i also know without a doubt that it was a season of life the lord used and will continue to use to grow and teach me. 

the summer seemed to come to abrupt end when all the girls returned to madison and school started up and i don't know that i ever really properly reflected on the summer. but even so, our good good god has shown me in the last few weeks fruit of some of the hard lessons and dark days i endured this summer- just as my little red bell pepper finally produced fruit faithfully enough.

i've grown to know myself better. i more fully grasp grace and own the fact that i am a beloved daughter of the highest king. i have a better understanding of my passions and gifts and how i can serve well. i've seen fruit come out of seemingly bone-dry summer months. and can't wait to continue to spot fruta in my life and my relationships from this summer.