Garden

It's a bit tragic when we don't see ourselves the way our Heavenly Papa does.

During a healing retreat I attended almost a decade ago, God revealed to me that I was His fragrant watered garden. I've also received several prophetic words that allude to my life as a tropical garden beside a river, as a garden of wildflowers and more. 

I didn't buy it because here's the thing...I actually have a black thumb. I don't dislike gardening per se, but I'm not at all good at it. My tomatoes get slugs. My cucumbers don't thrive. My lettuce wilts.

But when I first heard "Garden" by Misty Edwards something inside of me immediately awakened. The lyrics refer to us as gardens for God's pleasure and as I listened to it again and again and worshipped Him, something deep inside my heart became unlocked. 

I let the Master Gardener take over and I succumbed to His view of me. I made way for His nourishment and living water. I sprouted, I grew, I blossomed. I allowed myself to be pruned. I agreed to be viewed as simply being beautiful. I took the risk of being plucked out of the soil where I was planted. And I let the changing seasons do their inevitable work. I became the me I always was supposed to be. 

I know you're wondering "All of this because of a song?" 

The answer is absolutely...when it's a song penned by God and obediently sung over His daughters, good cultivation is absolutely possible.

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. (Isaiah 58v11)

It's You and me alone God

You and me alone

You've hedged me in with skin all around me

I'm a garden enclosed a locked garden

Life takes place behind the face

So come into Your garden 

Come into Your garden

Here O Lord! Have I prepared a place for You

I'm no longer my own I'm Your garden

I don't want to waste my time living on the outside

I'm going to live from the inside out 

#MonthfulOfMusic #HoodMom

Lord, is there a wonderful memory in my life where you'd like to meet me?

As I continued on in my journey of asking God 40 questions in 40 days, He took me back to a special place from my childhood and suddenly one of the things He had spoken over me started to make sense. Because everything about Him makes perfect sense.

Day 12 - Lord, is there a wonderful memory in my life where you'd like to meet me?
What were You doing?

God said: 
I want to meet you at your Aunty Kate's farm.

And I said:
Of course you do.

God asked me:
Why are you crying?

I replied: 
I think I forgot how magical and enchanting that place was for me.

Yes Gaylene it's where I met you at that time. 
You used to look out over the land to the horizon and see Me. 
You climbed on the tractor to be with Me. 
You ate from the abundance of her garden. And she...

Kate?

Yes, always loved and accepted you. 

Enchanted Garden - John William Waterhouse

You were special to her heart. 
She tended to you. 
This is where you as my garden began. 
Earthy. Leafy. Beautiful. Abundant. Nourishing. Sustaining life. Growing. Nurturing. 

A fragrant watered garden. 

You.

NEXT: Lord, is there a painful memory in my life where you'd like to meet me?