Can I "Blossom" Where I Am Planted???

This week's lesson in our small group was about Leah...the first wife of Jacob. Jacob deceived his father Isaac which created turmoil and friction in his family. He then ran from his brother Esau who wanted to kill him. He came across Rachel, whom he loved. He offered to work for Laban, Rachel's father, for seven years in order to marry her....only to have Laban deceive Jacob by giving him his oldest daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. A week after the wedding to Leah, however, Laban gave Jacob Rachel to wed also for the price of working yet another 7 years for him. How must Leah have felt to know that she was not the one that Jacob loved? That within a week of her wedding to Jacob, he married his real love!!! Leah had six sons and one daughter with Jacob....yet knew all these years that it was Rachel that Jacob really loved. The sin of her father, Laban, affected Leah's life for years to come. With each son she bore for Jacob, she must have wondered, or even prayed, that maybe this time Jacob would finally love her?? In all these years though, it never appeared that Leah became bitter regarding her circumstances. She praised God for the children that she bore and tried to be content in the role she was given. Her children were a blessing to her. She may not have been as beautiful as her younger sister Rachel...but her real beauty was her gentle spirit. It was through Leah that God kept his promise also....through her last son, Judah. It was through the line of Judah that Christ would come. So...what can we all learn from Leah? She like so many of us had to live with the consequences of another's choice. Yet, she never lost sight of a God that loved her even in the midst of a husband who did not. Her faith in her God remained firm and she continued to praise him. Once again we later see that God used her.....as Christ then was born from her son, Judah's line. It always amazes me as I see how God seems to use the most unlikely characters for his glory! :) So tonight my prayer is that regardless of circumstances I may be placed in during the course of my life, I can continue to be "grounded" in the truth that God loves me, just as I am. May I continue to "blossom" where I am planted, just as Leah did! Have a blessed week! :)