Sara’s Garden

Seeing the End from the Beginning

5 Comments / Encouragement / / ,

Many of you wrote me about the videos I shared of Sara’s new garden. It is a joy to live in the middle of this.

But there’s another story here. Sara saw this garden before we ever moved into his house and if you saw what the yard looked like when we bought the place, you wouldn’t believe it. So, I thought I’d show you in seven different before and after pictures that my grandson made into a video this weekend.

 

As various craftsmen were out doing things in the backyard from replacing the old drain pipes that were filled with palm roots to putting in lights, they would ask Sara about positioning things. It was amazing to watch her as she had already mapped out the garden in her mind. “Let’s see, that tree is there, the rose bush is here and here, so put the light there,” she would say pointing to an exact spot on a barren piece of land.

When I see this video, I think of what Father sees in us even before he begins his work. He doesn’t even see the barren places because he is already visualizing how he is going to fill them with beauty. Isaiah 46:10 says it so wonderfully, “(He declares) the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure . . . ” 

Even better, as Sara was doing it with her garden, God was doing it with changing the barren places of her recently-discovered trauma into a garden of great beauty.  He, like Sara, makes all things new.

What does he see in you that you cannot yet see?

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Painting with Flowers

Behind the Scenes / / , , ,

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

My wife paints with flowers, and what an amazing job she does. We’ve lived at our new home for just a little over a year and I wanted to share Sara’s latest garden with so many of you who have asked about it. Sara will always say it is a work in progress, but here it was last Friday in the middle of summer:  

(If the link doesn’t play in your email, click on this link.)

She calls it her favorite garden of all she has done, and it’s mine too, even though the last one was pretty impressive. The difference now is that instead of going out to look at her garden, we live inside of it. Every window looks out on stunning views of the flowers, greenery, fountains, butterflies, and birds that inhabit this space. It makes our new home a true oasis of beauty and peace. There is nothing more pleasurable than sitting in this garden with friends and family as we share the wonders of our life in Jesus. We’ve done that a lot since we’ve been home from our last trip and I’ve always said I’d enjoy the day when I travel less and people come to find me.

So, y’all come and sit a spell if you’d like. Let’s do it by prior arrangement, though, so we can space it out. And maybe I’ll fire up Wayne’s Smokehouse (see video for what that means) and break bread together as well.  Space is limited, but I’ve no doubt that if Father has it in his heart, it will work out.

And if you want to see how magical it turns at night, click here.

And, if you haven’t heard this yet, here is one of my favorite stories to ever come out of Sara’s Garden.

 

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Zoom With Me? 

On an unrelated note, I will be hosting an open Zoom conversation this Saturday, August 10, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, for anyone who would like to discuss any of the themes of our podcasts or my blog. I don’t have an agenda for this, just a desire to further the discussion with those who are finding similar hunger in their own journey. Lord willing, we will stream it live on The God Journey Facebook page for those who want to listen in. If you want to participate in the discussion, please email me in advance for the Zoom link.  There’s lots we could talk about—gazing with God, praying for a younger generation, healing from trauma, how God speaks to us, living with temporal uncertainty, God’s vengeance, life in the spirit, or anything else on your heart. You’ll set the agenda, I’ll just be along for the ride.

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