"Blue African Pomegranates," the team of teenage volunteers agreed. That would be our team's name for the retreat. The other team leader and I both love all things blue, and we had been the blue team in a game the night before. The teenagers all knew that after my internship in Chicago was done, I planned to move to Africa. I don't know where the pomegranates came from. 

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"Why was the temple in the Old Testament decorated with pomegranates?" one volunteer asked us sometime later. We didn't know. The only suggestion we could find was that pomegranates represent "fertility." That didn't sound right. Disappointed, we had no answer for her. 

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After becoming a missionary in Uganda, I read a commentary that brought up the pomegranate imagery in the temple. The answer hit me: it was about fruitfulness! In my struggles becoming a missionary, that beauty of that struck me. God doesn't necessarily promise succuss or greatness, but He does promise fruit. There will be fruit in ministry. There will be spiritual fruit in our lives. Even in the hard things, some good, some fruit, will come of it. 

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I cho0se to believe that whether my writing becomes famous or sell well, they will bare fruit. May my stories give you hope that in your most difficult moments, instead of ashes, you will find fruit. Keep looking for blue pomegranates.