You Are Now Entering The Secret Garden - Updated 1-21-2018 One Year Later

I can't believe it has been a whole year since the creation of "The Secret Garden".  I was looking at these pictures earlier today, and marveling at how green and lush everything was at this time last year...and that we were wearing shorts and t-shirts!!  Not so this past week! We had several days of freezing temperatures (yes! here in Florida!)  And the picture that I will show you at the end of these original pictures will show you how the garden looks today.  

Original Post 1/22/2017:

You are now entering The Secret Garden...

Welcome!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name,

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

and His truth endures to all generations."

Psalm 100:4-5

This sign and the Welcome sign above were lovingly created for the Secret Garden by my sign-maker son!

For those of you who have been following this story, you will be happy to see that "The Secret Garden" is truly becoming a reality.  God has been blessing this sacred place...yes, I call it "sacred", because it has been "set apart for the worship or service of a deity" (definition of sacred according to the Merriam Webster dictionary), and in this case, the "deity" is none other than God Almighty, Our Lord and Creator.  And most definitely this beautiful secret garden is a place of worship and praise to our God, as well as a place of service, or ministry to His children.  I am His child, and the Lord ministers to me in this place as He speaks to me through His Word, His creation, and His Holy Spirit. Not only me, but to anyone who wishes to come to this place and sit in His Presence for prayer, meditation of His Word, and/or encouragement between friends.  That is my prayer and desire for this "Secret Garden".... may it honor and glorify God in every way.

So that being said, let me take you on a tour of the newest additions to the garden....
Oh, Hello Mr. (Mrs.?) Chickadee!  Welcome to The Secret Garden...

I believe she has already taken up residence here!  How amazing is that???  And I was concerned that because I could not put any bird feeders into the Secret Garden, due to the bears that roam nearby, that I wouldn't have much bird activity to observe....guess I was mistaken!!!

"Look at the birds of the air,

for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns;

yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?"

Matthew 6:26

Perhaps we will one day welcome a family of chickadees to the garden!

 Oh wait! This same chickadee flew over to the other birdhouse and deposited more seeds into this one as well!  Could she have two nests?  Two families?  Hmmm...we will have to watch these interesting developments...

"But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;"

"Who among all these does not know 

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

in Whose hand is the life of every living thing,

and the breath of all mankind?"

Job 12: 7, 9-10

"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises."

Psalm  98:4

"How lovely is Your tabernacle, 

O Lord of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, even faints 

for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young...

even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;

They will still be praising You."

Psalm 84:1-4

(Jan. 2017) Meanwhile, back at the workshop, my two wonderful sons are finishing up the bench that was the inspiration for this marvelous Secret Garden project...

 Here they are putting on the crowning glory to the bench..."Mom's Secret Garden".... and I am in awe...

and then they placed it in the garden....

 and I am overwhelmed with the beauty of it all....

 Here's my "sign-maker son", who created all of the signs for the garden, including the "crown" for the bench...

And here I am with my other wonderful son, who found this bench in the dumpster and restored it for my Christmas surprise gift...setting the wheels in motion for the creation of this beautiful space....

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

and to sing praises to Your name,

O Most High;

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,

and Your faithfulness every night,

On an instrument of ten strings,

on the lute,

and on the harp,

with harmonious sound.

For You, Lord,

have made me glad

through Your work;

I will triumph in the works of

Your hands.

O Lord, How great are Your works!

Your thoughts are very deep."

Psalm 92:1-5

Thank you for joining me in this visit to The Secret Garden. I do hope you will come often and enjoy the peace and beauty of this sacred place...and give praise and glory to God.

Back to the future:
1/21/2018, one year later:

Yikes! What a difference a freeze makes!

All those lovely ferns were bitten by the frost...but actually the frost has done me a favor.  The ferns were getting too overgrown and I didn't know how I was going to thin them out...and God took care of it for me! And they will grow back in no time at all with a little rain and warm temperatures...which we had today!

This reminds me of the story in John 15:1-8, about the "Vine and the Branches"...

Jesus said in verses 1 -2:
"I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, 
and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, 
that it may bear more fruit."

Verses 4-5
"Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, 
unless you abide in Me.
I Am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;
for without Me you can do nothing..."

This year  (2018) my "One Word" in Renew.  I think I am in a kind of "pruning" season of life...old things are being snipped away little by little, and God is renewing me and helping me to "bear much fruit" in the process...at least I hope that is going to happen. Just like these ferns, they have been frozen down to the ground so that all the old leaves have been stripped off and fallen into the dirt.  Out of that dirt will spring up new life, fresh, vibrant and green.  Old things have passed away, and they will become brand new.

Just like what it says in II Corinthians 5:17~
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!"


I am excited to see what NEW things the Lord is going to do in my life in this year. 
How about you?