By Helen Jesze 20th February 2026

“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry
aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the
desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine
habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall
inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed …” Isaiah 54:1,2,3, 4a KJV

Two years ago, someone gave me a beautiful orchid plant. It had several flowers
which lasted for a good while and gave me great pleasure. When the flowers had
died, I expected that in a few months, I would get some more, but this did not happen.
It looked as though my orchid had gone on strike or that it was dying. Even the leaves
did not grow much.

This was disappointing but I faithfully watered it, was careful to give it sunlight but
not too much and hoped some flower-buds would appear, and this continued for
nearly a year. Later I could see the roots were growing because now they were poking
up out of the soil instead of going downwards! It needed replanting into a bigger pot.
The stems were also growing thicker and stronger but no flowers appeared.
So a few weeks ago I repotted my orchid, giving it extra earth and compost and was
thrilled to see three purple flower-buds appear! These have now increased so I have
12 most beautiful purple, white and yellow flowers, which you can see in the photo
above! God’s wonderful creation! There were times when I had nearly given up and
thrown the orchid away, but it was well worth the wait!! I’m so glad I didn’t do that!
God speaks to us in so many areas of Life and of course, He spoke to me through my
‘resurrected’ orchid. There are times when we feel we are bearing much fruit in our
Christian walk and other times when we feel barren and useless, and when it seems
that people and God have put us on the shelf . We may have even been wounded or
broken emotionally and mentally, and we dread Tomorrow and what it brings. We
remember times of growth and what people would call “success” which we have had
in the past, but now they are just a memory.

Certain chapters in our life come to an end and it seems God is ‘repotting’ us, putting
us in a different place. He takes us out of our comfort zone and plants us in a new
position. Everything is new and we object. We may fight and rebel and refuse to go
this new way. But we forget God is building for Eternity, not just for Today. In order
that we have room to grow and develop we sometimes need to be repotted. Roots
should be growing down, not up and through the top soil!

Also, when God is healing us, He is keeping His hand over us and will never let us
go. I often think that our life is like an onion with many layers. Just when we have
got one area put in order, then a new one appears, and so it continues, until they have
all been dealt with, and He continues His process of healing. We might put a
temporary ‘sticking-plaster’ over our wounds, but God does the real deal! He goes
down to the root of our problem, gets rid of it, fertilises our Life-plant with His mercy
and love, and we start to grow in a new way.

Underneath the earth in a garden or a potted plant is the ‘root-system’. We can only
see what is above the ground or the earth. But the root-system is the most important
part of the plant, for what happens there determines if our plant or tree lives or dies,
whether it bears fruit or not.

So dear devotionalsjust4u!! friends, keep that spiritual root-system well watered with
the water of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God; be watchful if the world, its values
and ways would kill it, and guard it well with the power of prayer. If you are in the
barrenness-stage at the moment, be encouraged, God never throws His children
away! He is working in your life and changing situations. In the above Bible-verse,
the prophet Isaiah likens the nation of Israel as a barren woman, which at that time
was looked upon as a disgrace. He tells her to sing aloud, for God will give her
children which she did not expect. What’s more, he tells the nation it is time to get
ready for growth and prosperity. While the first thing someone would likely do is to
sit down and cry, she is to stand up and sing out in faith what God will do for her,
expecting to see it come to pass.

Israel’s barrenness came about because the people had turned away from worshipping
God and had turned to idolatry, causing them to be taken into captivity by a foreign
power. If our time of barrenness has come about because we have turned away from
the Lord in some way, if we will repent, Jesus will wash us clean and accept us back
with open arms. So dear friends, let us also sing out, give praise in our time of
barrenness. Let Faith rise up within us. Let us see with the eye of Faith new growth,
new horizons breaking forth, new possibilities, for our God has promised:
“Sing unto the Lord, o ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of
his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30:4+5 KJV