Day 5: the tree. We visited this enormous, incredible old tree during our first summer in Ethiopia. It demands awe at its beauty and grandeur. There’s a lot of beautiful tree imagery in the Bible, and my favorite is in Jeremiah 17: 

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a TREE planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 🌳 🍒

We used to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about this adventure to Ethiopia, and then God gave us insight into how challenging it will likely be. This didn’t make us shy away from it, but it did take us down a few notches and sober us. This verse tells me that even if my external circumstances are hard, I can continue to grow and thrive because I’m connected to Jesus—like a tree that is planted by water. This all means so much to me that I’ve casually thought about getting a tree tattoo, but people who know me well think I might regret it.  What do you think? 😉 #31daysofcalling #lovesinethiopia