“And you can now get mature manure,” the radio announcer said, “and you’ll have the greenest grass ever.”

Mature manure? Who ever heard of that? But as odd as its name, so was its effect.

It turns out that when you put this product on your grass, it protects it and produces a pretty nice-looking lawn.

Life can be stinky

But don’t think for a minute that this kind of manure was limited to grass. That same material comes in by way of disappointment, sadness, self-pity, heartache, setbacks and even tragedy.

All are part of the manure of life. It stinks. It’s ugly. It’s unpleasant. And when spread over, the view isn’t pretty.

I know that first hand, trust me. When blindness set in when I was 31, my world stunk. And I sunk in the pit of smelly self-pity and discouragement. Hopelessness tried to cover me up.

Until one day, God poured grace, mercy and compassion upon my world. That’s when I knew that the mature manure of heartache produces a nice lawn of faith and strength.

Three Truths

Rather than sink into pity, I hung on to the rope that held three truths:

• In His ways, He will turn to me.
• In His timing, He will hear my cry.
• In His power, He will lift me up.

Instead of sorrow or grief, my soul sang: “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth…” (Psalm 40:1-3).

Used with permission by Global Media Outreach from Janet Perez Eckels. In spite of her physical blindness, Janet serves the Lord as an inspirational speaker and author. This article was first published on July 20, 2021 at www.janetperezeckles.com.