Planting In the Garden of Life by A.P.

God met me today!

Two months ago, when it was time to begin planting seeds for the garden, I was so very hesitant.

I have gardened for many years.

It was very clear to me that, by starting those seeds, I was choosing a specific path. I was committing to showing up continuously for many months to reach and preserve the harvest.

We have a huge garden space. I was carefully counting the cost in time, effort, and commitment.

It was something I spent a lot of time pondering and praying for whether or not that was the path to take this summer.

Through that process, I realized several things.

Because of the abundance of last year’s garden, not only was there more than enough good food to feed my family.

Even more, I was able to take many boxes and bags of amazing, organic produce to share with others.

It satisfied something deep within me.

I found that I really LOVE being able to share this gift with others.

If I choose not to grow the garden this year, who might go hungry? Whom could I have fed?

The garden space we have has taken years to build to what it is today.

If I choose to not grow food in that space or maintain it, it will just return to what it was before. Full of grass and weeds.

The thought of that made me heartsick.

This garden–and what I have within me to grow food–is a gift from God.

If I let that go, what then? How could I fail to steward that gift?

So I decided to start the seeds.

As they have grown, I have noticed that they weren’t as vigorous as usual. There would be a few dead seedlings here or there.

I easily forgot to check them or water or adjust the heat or airflow on them.

Today I went to see how things were doing and was quite alarmed to see the condition of those plants!!

Many were dead. Many more looked sick and weak.

The situation was urgent!

They needed new soil and new pots right now!

I began to gather the supplies, feeling a bit frantic and behind.

Everything else needed to be put on hold for these seedlings.

I told everyone around me I needed help.

I was very thankful my sister came to help me out.

It was clear also that I

needed to take the extra step to sterilize all the pots and trays.

That’s in case there was some pathogen carried over from last year that could be causing the issues.

I sat down with a tray of sick plants in front of me and began the tedious process of repotting extremely tiny droopy plants.

At first, all I could see was sick, wilted plants.

How did we get here to this point?

Then it dawned on me: even though I moved forward with planting, my heart was still on the fence. I was not whole hearted in the growing process.

This caused me to cut corners and not pay attention, to miss the signs early on and not respond.

It is TIME to get off the fence. Either be all in or all out. I repented of being wishy-washy.

At first all I could see was sick plants and wondered if I should just cull them all and start over.

Then I heard God’s still, small voice:

"Where else are you going to learn to hear My Voice and do it but in all the aspects of your life? Your children, husband, garden, animals, household chores. Hear My voice and do what I say."

The sickness on the plants was an attack of the enemy.

I have exactly the same authority to rebuke it as when my husband was getting attacked earlier this year.

I have exactly the same authority to rebuke it as when my husband was getting attacked earlier this year. I prayed and saw God heal him miraculously.

So, I rebuked the unhealth off those plants in Jesus’ name, and began to proclaim God’s will to give me healthy, vibrant, growth and harvest.

By the time they were all in their new pots with new soil, my perspective had changed. I chose to see them with new life, as healthy seedlings, ready to burst forth in growth.

And I am so thankful to have had my sister here to confirm it and help! 💕

Expressing Need Causes God's Spirit to Respond by Percy

The Lord keeps speaking to me about how good it is to be in need.

Our need of Him–our seeking because of that need–causes the river of life to flow. So blessed to be in constant need!!

When we do, we not only get to be partakers of His divine nature and know Him. Oh, no. Then we also get to spread that life to others in our life that they may be filled and refreshed and give to others.

I saw this in action one day. God led me to a sermon on YouTube about how God is the God who is more than enough! I was needing more and had listened to it while working. God spoke to me: it’s something others needed.

A couple days later, there was a group of us believers gathered. God stirred me about sharing that sermon I heard.I played it for everyone, and before long, the people were being stirred by the Lord.

I felt it filling me till I had too much energy to contain. My friend, Roger, and I were shouting and singing, praising God together. Then others started praying for their needs and others. Soon, everyone was in unity in the presence of God.

Then others believers came to join us, and added even more.

A peace greater than I had ever known washed over me and filled the next day with such freedom!

But I saw something–because I responded to my need for more and everyone else did as well, it gave the Lord access. The blood, the fellowship, of the Body of Christ moving. Flowing and moving, giving life to all the parts of the Body.

God is waking me up to how we need that fellowship every day.

So–what prevents this glorious manifestation coming forth in each of our lives all the time? I believe it's not enough to just have the knowledge of it. 

Sure, our need of God is ever-present.

But to go deeper, each of us has our own perception of our need. All different levels and different interpretations.

God takes us through seasons of life to reveal our need of more and change us. Things in our life that hinder us in being able to freely give, express, and receive. Going all the way back to being kids.

Everyone has many places where they received/believed a lie. That lie got implanted in our reality, so even when they hear about a new land, or a new way God has for them, they can't fully enter in or practice it because of those things.

One day, a group of us were out working on a log home. The supervisor noticed a gouge in one of the logs.

He asked me about it, and–before I even knew what he was talking about, I had familiar feelings of "oh I messed up again" wanting to rush in.

But since God has been taking me on a journey of learning confidence and overcoming those things, I saw the door out of there.

That mental and spiritual door out of that insecurity was this:

I have a choice.

I don't just have to accept that dread and insecurity. I don’t have to. I can stay free of it!

That insecurity was a generational bondage that I watched plague my dad and his father before him.

So I chose freedom instead.

Without that insecurity or fear clouding my vision, I had a chance to really look at that awful gouge in the log. Then I was able to see the reality. That gouge had nothing to do with me–I had nothing to do with it!

All that insecurity and fear wasn’t even real!

We have a lot of those moments in our lives, though. Generational bondages and trauma from past hurts. They block us from seeing what is real.

God brings these things up in our lives to set us free of them, but we have to let God do that.

So we can live a life of constant glory to glory! Not just occasional touches of God. To be wholehearted.

To be able to receive God’s love fully. That will cause change as He reveals himself. And free us to say as Paul said:

“...I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Phillipians 3:8-10)

How to Hear a Whisper in a Whirlwind

Many things clamor for our attention. Flashing billboards, pop-up ads on YouTube, a blaring TV–our world today is full of noise.

But what we often need most is silence.

In the Bible, God told the prophet Elijah to: “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.”

There, Elijah experienced a mighty wind that tore rocks apart. An earthquake shook the ground. Then fire raged. But the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. After the clamor came a still, small Voice. 

And in that whisper, God spoke.

“What are you doing out here, Elijah?”

People talk about the benefits of meditation. Meditation harnesses a powerful spiritual law of meditating on God and His word. After all, the Bible says to meditate.

     Psalm 119:15: “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.”

     Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.”

     Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of the Lord...and in His law, He                   meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water…and whatever                               he does shall prosper.”

However, modern-day meditation distorts the power of the practice. That’s because it doesn’t draw us closer to the Lord. Drawing closer to the Lord is where the real power is.

Oftentimes, the noise seems so important.

“This deal will end at midnight! Buy now!” an advertisement screams.

Or: “Have you heard about so-and-so doing such-and-such? You have to hear about this!”

I like to stay busy. It feels better when I’m busy, when I have something to do. I feel like my life is going somewhere. I’ll take on a few extra projects just to prove that I can.

Recently, for instance, I’ve found myself juggling a potential property deal, yearly business schedules and paperwork, plus personal drama, and full-time work.

Finally, my life is coming together more!

Real important, right?

Not really, actually. Real stupid.

I was getting stressed. I feel less manly even writing this, but despite my boast: “I can handle anything!”--I was stressed and overloaded.

As I felt my nerves fray, I realized something: I didn’t have God’s peace. I didn’t have the joy of being with the Lord.

I think all this stuff is important. But what’s most important is my heart for the Lord. If I cannot hear that whisper in the whirlwind–that still, small Voice–truly: nothing else matters.

In the Bible, Jesus warns about this in the parable of the sower. The seed of God’s word can be choked out by: “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things”(Mark 4:19).

There’s not anything wrong inherently with much of the noise. But when that busy-ness and stress replaces what God is doing, it becomes a demonic distraction that can strangle out God’s will for our lives.

In another part of the Bible, Jesus went to the house of two sisters.

While one sister, Martha, was busy working, the other sister, Mary, just sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to him share.

Finally, Martha couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Jesus, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me.”

Jesus told her: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

I read about a teenager who reminded me of Mary. She loved to hide away in her room and sing to the Lord for hours on her guitar, drawing close to the Lord.

One day, she got in a terrible accident. For months, she lay in a coma. Doctors warned her parents she might never wake up. And even if their daughter did come out of it, she might be a completely different person entirely.

“We’ve had priests and nuns come out of comas swearing like sailors,” the doctors said.

Yet the quickened spirit of a person is different than a religious soul.

One day, a family member, sitting at her bedside, nodded off when they woke to singing.

What that young woman had chosen–the good part–had not been taken away from her. It brought her back from oblivion. Even though her mind never recovered, whenever she would sing to the Lord or talk about the Lord, her quickened spirit would come alive and she could speak and act normally for awhile.

That is what truly matters.

Turning off the external noise doesn’t matter if you can’t turn off the noise in your own head.

I remember being a kid and asking my parents: “How do I make the thoughts stop?”

A few years ago, a man asked me the same question in a different way:

“Don’t you know how to turn it off?”

My brain can run a thousand miles a minute.

Then, as I watched, the man demonstrated it. He put his head back and closed his eyes. In a minute, he had nodded off.

I followed suit. I closed my eyes as well. I didn’t quite fall asleep, but I got something from that interaction I never forgot.

I finally learned how to separate myself from that mental whirlwind.

It wasn’t easy! But it was necessary.

I’ve written of this before, but I remember stepping outside, my mind whirling from what I thought was a crazy conversation. It was 2am, but the stillness of the night couldn’t penetrate my thoughts. I had to do it.

I had to change the channel.

In the midst of my furious, angry thoughts screaming at me, I began to sing over the noise. As I sang to the Lord, peace returned. God asked me: “Do you want joy?”

I did, so I went to bed with joy and a peace that passes all understanding. I was in God’s presence again. That’s all that matters.

That is the good part. We really can’t take any of this world’s busyness with us.

But our heart for the Lord, and our hunger to be with Him, that gives us something to truly answer the questions we are facing.

And beyond that, it gives us something for the life to come.