"The Secret Garden Chronicles"

This morning I entered The Secret Garden, to sit and ponder what messages the Lord would send to me through His Word and His lovely creation.


The first thoughts that came to me were:

"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."

Psalm 84:1-2

As I looked above me I could see new growth of leaves on the Wild Black Cherry Tree that will help shade the Secret Garden throughout the summer months and also provide natural food for the birds.  This brought a smile to my face and joy in my heart for the many ways the Lord provides for His children and creation.

And then I began to sing the chorus (written by Matt Redman) that actually comes directly from Psalm 84:

"Better Is One Day" (Click HERE to sing along)

How lovely is Your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty for my soul longs
And even faints for you

For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere

One thing I ask and I would seek

To see Your beauty
To find you in the place Your glory dwells

My heart and flesh cry out
For you, the living God
Your spirit's water to my soul
I've tasted and I've seen

Come once again to me
I will draw near to you
I will draw near to you

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere

As I was reading these verses and singing this song, my eyes were lifted to the treetops surrounding me, and it truly felt like I was sitting in a lovely tabernacle, with the perfectly blue sky as the ceiling, and the treetops were pointing up like a church spire, lifting their hands in praise toward God Almighty.

And then I know I heard God say to me to start writing these thoughts down as I sit here in the garden...this is what He spoke to my heart:

"Don't wait and try to remember the words I speak to you 

when you get back inside the house to your computer...

but GO, get a new journal and begin to write

the messages as I tell them to you.

I want you to write a journal from

The Secret Garden...

My Own Messages to you from My Heart."

A little later my hubby and I took a ride to the nearest store where I could find a new journal book and begin writing...so here it is...

This may be the beginning of some very special communications between God and me...and I look forward to  sharing what He wants to teach me here in this place that has been set apart for prayer, worship and meditation on God's Word.  

Thus begins 

"The Secret Garden Chronicles"

Then I was directed to Psalm 86:10-12

"For You are great,

and do wondrous things;

You alone are God.

Teach me Your way, O Lord;

I will walk in Your truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your Name.

I will praise You,

O Lord my God,

with all my heart.

And I will glorify Your Name forevermore."

Yes, Lord, This is my prayer as I begin this new adventure in The Secret Garden with You!

Make Your Presence known to me Lord...here in the "Secret Place of (Your) Tabernacle."

(Psalm 27:5)

"One thing I have desired of the Lord,

that will I seek;

That I may dwell in the 

house of the Lord

all the days of my life

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavillion;

In the SECRET PLACE of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be 

lifted up above my enemies all around me;

Therefore I will offer 

sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;

I will sing, yes I will sing 

praises to the Lord."

Psalm 27:4-6

Thank You, Lord, for speaking to Me today.  I am ready to do Your will!  Amen.

Friday Foto Friends - Progress in the Garden!

Hello Friday Foto Friends!  I truly love this weekly gathering of friends from near and far...who share their favorite photos of the week...which could be  anything from babies to birds to seashores to sunsets to snow...we never know what we will see each week...but it is always fun and interesting.  So, I hope you will join us! Grab your camera and take some pictures this next week, and share them with us next Friday!  Just link up with Deb at Breathing in Grace on Friday for the Friday Foto Friends.   (I wrote this last night to post today...but as you can read below, we had to take a little detour today...)

I am sorry that I am a bit late to the "party" today.  We got a call late last night that my sweet 93 yr old mother in law had fallen and was taken to the hospital. So we made a 2 hour trip one way to be with her today and have just gotten back home. Please keep her in your prayers. She does have a fractured hip, but not severe enough for surgery or a cast, thank the Lord. She also was dehydrated and has some other issues, along with her dementia, etc.  So they have admitted her and she will most likely be going from the hospital into long term care.  Thank you for your prayers for our family as we make these decisions and attend to her care. We know that God is in control...and we can trust Him to care for His dear child.  But...well, so many of you already understand how this feels.

So now, here we go for my photo offerings for the day:

As most of you are probably aware by now, I am attempting to create a "Secret Garden" as a place of prayer, meditation in God's Word, and just resting in the Lord while I observe His creation at work around me.  Click HERE for  how it all started with a Christmas gift from my son... .  Now for an update on the progress:

This was the view looking at the back yard fence toward the neighbor's house behind us.  I wanted to create something  to give the Secret Garden a little more sense of peace and solitude. So we decided to put up something to give the visual illusion of privacy without it being a total blockade fence...

It took our best "engineers", "architects" and "construction supervisors" to figure out the most reasonable way to put up this privacy screen with minimal expense and also without having to bring in heavy equipment to dig down through the myriad of roots of the huge magnolia tree that shades this spot.  So with some creative use of rebar, PVC pipe and vinyl lattice panels we came up with a plan...

We framed the lattice panels to give them more stability...

And then we carefully attached the panels to the PVC  pipes already pounded into the ground over the rebar...

And the finished product does exactly what I hoped it would do...it gives a visual screen of privacy without totally blocking the light ...and creates a lovely, peaceful spot to relax and enjoy the Secret Garden.  Next comes the "landscaping"...clearing out some of the ferns to create a spot for the lovely new bench and some other secret surprises for the garden...hopefully when my "landscape architect" gets some time to do some creative  weed-whacking and planting...  (please note, these "specialists" are all family volunteers pretending to be whatever I happen to want them to be for the moment...)

Already God is blessing this little place with beauty and friendship...one of my friends in the community who happens to sell plants at the local flea market brought me a lovely gift of a camellia bush for the garden and another delightful plant that will have bright yellow flowers in the summer that attract the butterflies... (I can never remember the name of that plant...help!)  This was such a wonderful surprise that I never expected...and I thank the Lord for this dear friend and neighbor who has such a giving heart....

And then I saw THIS plant on her plant trailer and just had to purchase it....it is called a 

New Zealand Tea Tree...and it has such dainty little pink flowers...and also will attract

bees, butterflies and birds!  :

So we are off to a wonderful start in our Secret Garden! God is already blessing this place with His Presence and drawing people here in a spirit of love and fellowship.  That is my dream and goal...

Oh, I guess I haven't shown you the bird houses we added to the garden...yep, right there on top of the clothesline...

And the other morning I noticed a chickadee flitting around in front of the bird house on the left...and then scolding me for watching her...therefore I don't know if she decided to build a nest in there yet or not, so I'll be watching from a distance! But isn't that exciting?  It's kind of like the saying from the movie "Field of Dreams",  "If you build it, they will come!"....so stay tuned for more adventures in the Secret Garden...

Until next week...

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord,

"He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust."

Psalm 91:1-2
Amen.

In the Secret Place...

This morning I was rushing to put a load of clothes from the washer into the dryer...rushing because my husband was waiting for me in the car to leave to go run some errands...and I remembered at the last minute that the clothes were sitting in the washing machine and I didn't want to come home to stinky clothes that would have to be washed all over again...and yes, I was in a hurry as usual...because that is just how I tend to operate...

and God got my attention....

I looked up and out of the window that is just above the washer and dryer...and there sat this beautiful male cardinal...partially hidden in the branches...but an obvious contrast to the green leaves surrounding him.  Naturally, I stopped what I was doing...and ran and got my camera, and prayed he wouldn't fly away before I could get a picture of him...and there he was, waiting for me...

because he was God's little reminder to me about my new One Word for 2017...REST... Stop what you are doing and pay attention to ME for a moment...the errands can wait...(even though my husband came back inside to see what was taking me so long...)   The pictures aren't the best quality due to being seen through a dirty window and it was rather cloudy this morning...

but God got HIS message across to me...

and here it is:

"You are my Hiding Place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with 

songs of deliverance."

Psalm 32:7

and:

In Psalm 32:8 He says:

"I will instruct you and teach you 

in the way you should go; 

I will guide you with My eye." 

"Oh how great is Your goodness,

which You have laid up for those who fear You,

which You have prepared for those who trust in You

in the presence of the sons of men!

You shall hide them in the secret place of Your Presence

from the plots of man;

You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion

from the strife of tongues!" 

Psalm 31:19-20

Oh yes! I believe I am going to enjoy this new One Word adventure for 2017...  The Lord is drawing me closer to Him...hiding me in the secret place of His Presence...away from the plots of man and this world and away from the strife of tongues.  He is already surrounding me with songs of deliverance...singing His loving lullabies over me...and sending songbirds to brighten my pathway.  

Now, if I could just learn to stop rushing around so much!

Have a blessed, joy-filled, restful, peaceful day, my friends!