Planted to Flourish - Your Nightly Prayer - May 28th
Planted to Flourish
Your Nightly Prayer
by Tracie Miles
TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE
"The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon." - Psalm 92:12
SOMETHING TO PONDER
I used to think a palm tree could grow anywhere, but especially at the beach. Turns out, they're incredibly particular about soil, water, and climate. Plant them in the wrong conditions or the wrong place, and they may survive—but they won't flourish. Such is the case for these two poor little palm bushes I planted in my yard at my beach house in North Carolina, feeling confident they would grow easily there. Yet apparently I didn’t plant them in just the right place or the right way, so they have barely grown at all and actually now need to be pulled up and tossed because they’re yellowed and dead. Back to the nursery, I suppose. But had I planted them correctly in the first place, and done a little research on what needed to be done, they could have grown full and spread beauty for decades, just like all the other ones on the island, which are huge and clearly flourishing.
Did you know our calling is the same way? Maybe you've been trying to grow in isolation—no accountability, no structure, no community. Maybe you've planted yourself in "someday" soil, always waiting for the perfect time to say yes to God’s call. Maybe you've been scattered across a dozen ideas, never putting down roots in one long enough to see it grow. You can't flourish in anything God calls us to do without being firmly planted in God's presence—and in the right place to grow. Psalm 92:12 says, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon."
Take a closer look at those two trees for a moment — because the writer chose them deliberately. A palm tree doesn't just grow anywhere. It flourishes in sandy soil, under relentless heat, in coastal environments that would destroy most other plants (which is why I thought my little palms would be just fine!). Its secret isn't that its conditions are easy but that it was made for exactly those conditions — and its roots go deep enough to hold when the wind comes. A cedar of Lebanon is one of the most enduring trees in all of Scripture — referenced throughout the Bible as a symbol of strength, dignity, and permanence. Cedars don't grow quickly. They grow slowly, deeply, and for centuries. Their strength is not the result of ideal circumstances. It is the result of time, depth, and roots that refuse to let go.
Neither tree flourishes by accident. Neither tree flourishes everywhere. They flourish because they are planted in the right soil, they put their roots down deep, and they stay there. This is the picture God is painting of the righteous person — of me and you. Flourishing is not about having perfect conditions - because life isn’t perfect, nor are we. It is not about waiting for the obstacles to clear, the timing to align, or the fear to go away before we commit to our calling. It is about being so deeply rooted in Christ — in His Word, His presence, His purposes — that when the storms come, and they will come, we can hold firm.
The calling God placed on your heart was never meant to be a passing season of motivation. It was not meant to be something you blew off because you assumed you probably heard God wrong. It was meant to be a life, a purpose - rooted, sustained, and bearing fruit long after the excitement of the beginning has faded into something quieter and truer. The question is not whether you want to flourish. The question is how deep you are willing to go and how much commitment, time, and effort you are willing to invest in your calling, so you can plant yourself in the right conditions and environment.
- If he's called you to start a nonprofit, you need more than passion—you need mentors, strategic planning, and people who've done it before.
- If he's called you to foster or adopt, you need more than love—you need patience, support systems, training, and a community that understands.
- If He's called you to lead a ministry, teach, speak, or write, you need more than a message—you need roots. Structure. Accountability. The right environment to actually grow.
I see this all the time with women who feel called to write a book - who feel called to flourish. They have a story they know God has called them to share. They are confident it could help others. But they've been trying to grow that calling in isolation—reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, googling for information, signing up for online courses they never watch or finish, starting and stopping a dozen times. Not believing in themselves. They survive, but they don't flourish.
What have you been trying to grow in isolation that needs the right environment to flourish?
What calling have you been starting and stopping because you don't have roots?
What dream have you been watering alone when you need a community, a mentor, a structure to help it grow?
Flourishing doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you stop trying to grow everywhere and start planting deeply somewhere. It happens when you start taking God’s call on your heart seriously and stop making excuses or doing it half heartedly without being firmly planted.
So here's my question for you: Where do you need to get planted? Maybe it's joining a small group at church, so your faith has community. Maybe it's finding a mentor in your field to guide your career. Maybe it's enrolling in that course, hiring that coach, or saying yes to that accountability partner. Whatever it is, stop trying to flourish in isolation. Get planted. Put down roots. Surround yourself with the right conditions. And remember, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon."
Not because they're perfect. Not because they have it all figured out. But because they're planted in the right place, with deep roots, in God's presence. It's time to stop surviving and start flourishing in whatever God has called you to.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
Father,
I've been trying to grow in isolation, and I'm tired. Help me find the right environment to plant myself and fertilize my calling—the community, the teaching, the accountability I need to flourish in the calling You've given me. Give me the courage to put down roots instead of staying scattered. Give me the confidence to stop procrastinating and start doing. I want to grow tall and strong, bearing fruit for Your kingdom. Plant me firmly in Your presence.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." — Psalm 19:14
Before you close this devotional and settle down for bed, take a few unhurried minutes with these three truths. You don't need to analyze them or reach a conclusion about them; just let them sink into your heart.
1. Where I am is exactly where God is working.
It is one of the most persistent lies the enemy whispers to women with a calling: not yet. Not until you have more followers, more credentials, more confidence, more time, more of whatever you think you are currently lacking. But a seed does not wait to be planted in better soil before it decides to take root. It takes root where it lands.
You are not in a holding pattern. You are not in a waiting room. You are in the exact soil God chose for this season — this particular life, this particular moment, these particular circumstances — and He is already at work in you here. The growth you cannot see is still growth. The fruit that has not yet appeared is still coming.
2. What God is doing in me right now is preparation, not punishment.
There is a season in the life of every seed when nothing visible is happening. From the outside, the ground looks unchanged — undisturbed, unremarkable, ordinary. But beneath the surface, something profound is taking place. The seed is breaking open. The roots are forming. The shoot is pressing upward toward a light it cannot yet see but somehow already knows is there.
If you are in a season that feels hidden — where the work you are doing seems invisible, where the calling feels quiet, where the evidence of growth is nowhere you can point to — do not mistake the hiddenness for inactivity. God does some of His most significant work underground.
3. Flourishing is not the absence of struggle — it is growth in spite of it
We tend to picture flourishing as a life free of difficulty — where the hard things have been resolved, the painful seasons have passed, and everything has finally settled into something peaceful and manageable. We put flourishing somewhere in the future, past the obstacles we are currently navigating.
Flourishing is not a destination on the other side of your struggle. It is a rootedness that makes you unshakeable within it. And that rootedness — that deep, quiet, sustained connection to the Living Water — is exactly what God is building in you right now, in this season, whether it feels like it or not.
Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.
Photo Credit: Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/ Olga Pankova
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