The Heart of a Gardener

I am a gardener and I love to plant things and watch them grow and produce. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's "green thumb" and some of my planted things end up in the trash heap. I love to plant and I love to water, but I don't like to weed and yet I have to do it (or my husband does!) in order to keep the plants growing strong and my gardens looking good.

I just recently planted some new herbs and tomatoes and was musing about my delight over their progress and how it reminds me of Abba Father and His care over me. I go out first thing every morning to see if the plants have grown or if new ones have sprouted up. I check my mature tomatoes and fruit trees to see if they have started to put on fruit. I get so excited to see fruit forming and new sprouts starting and growing. I carefully tend the "babies" and shelter them out of harm's way. The more mature plants can take the full sun and elements and need it in order to grow bigger and stronger and more able to produce fruit. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

Our Father, or husbandman, watches over us with a similar type of anticipation and joy. He delights to see us growing and is constantly providing what we need in order to grow strong in Him and to produce the fruit of His Spirit in our lives. He carefully tends us, shelters us & teaches us how to remove the "weeds' that can stunt our growth and prevent fruit from setting. His joy in seeing us grow strong and healthy and bearing fruit is much deeper that what I experience with my plants, but I think He allows me a glimpse of His heart with my garden. I love showing off my plants to others and talking about what they're doing and how great their harvest. I love sharing the fruits of their growing with others and seeing them enjoy those fruits as well. I even love talking to those plants and praising them for a job well done at the different seasons - don't laugh, it works! What a picture of our Father and His joy in us, His plantings! I could go on and on with analogies, but I'll stop here and let you share some of your own with me. I'm so thankful for the extraordinary love of Abba Father for me!

Singled Out II

Well, I guess the time has come to attempt an answer to the Tozer writing from February 21st. I must admit, when I first read the piece I was uncomfortable with the words. Knowing that Tozer was not a "pussy-footer" when it came to his relationship with the Father, I had to delve deeper into his meaning than just a cursory reading. Please bear with me as I try to share my thoughts on Tozer's statements. I will try to follow his paragraphs in sharing my thoughts with you.

When we are called to a higher calling by God, we are expected to live lives above reproach. That means a greater discipline in all areas of our lives. The suffering Tozer talks about is, in my opinion, the result of dying to our flesh. The more we desire to be like Christ and to please our Father, we have to die to the natural man that desires his own way and own will. Christ showed us that example throughout His life and His death. The greater suffering He shared with us at Getsemane as He sweat blood in the agony of surrendering His will to that of His Father was a precursor of the suffering we would have to undergo in order to reach that same conclusion, "Not my will, but Yours be done". If we aren't willing to go there, we won't be able to go there to the place and purpose of our creation.


Tozer's second paragraph at first seemed harsh and frightening, but as I continued to ponder, became a wonderful picture of the work Father God has been chiseling and hammering in my life throughout the years. The times when I have seen the greatest growth in my spiritul life have been times when I've experienced the most pain. Pain caused by choices I made or others made, deeds done against me or mine, and especially hope destroyed and expectations trampled. Those things hurt fiercely, but brought the most change! I've learned how to love unconditionally, to trust God when I saw no reason to trust except for His Word to me and I've learned how to rest securely in the Father's love. It was worth the pain! Everything I have experienced is helping to form me into a thing of beauty for my Father and it has all been worth it!

I'm thankful that God, in doing His supreme work of grace within me, has removed things from my heart that prohibited my relationship with Him. This third paragraph isn't talking about God killing our loved ones or destroying our homes. It's talking about those idols that are where the Holy One is to be - first! He has shown me the idols that needed to be removed and helped me to remove them. Some were very precious to me and, yet, not anywhere near as precious as He is. We all have to come to the place of crisis where we make the decision to follow Christ even if it means all else falls or fails - I call it our "Crisis of Faith". Can we trust Him with EVERYTHING? If we can't, we trust Him with nothing. From the ashes of our idol treasures can come our greatest joy of knowing Him.

I agree with his fourth statement that true faith lies in the will, our will. It is a joy unspeakable as we experience our faith growing in a relationship with our Father. There is great stability in knowing that I am truly His child and that I can trust Him no matter what!

Tozer's final paragraph appears to be an indictment of immature Christians. There is so much talk about having peace about something and being joyful as believers. Most of that talk is often related to the desires of someone and the happiness they are experiencing. I don't mean to belittle those desires and happiness, but I believe it falls short of true peace in the circumstances and joy based on a faith walk with the Father.

So, let me know what you're thinking and we'll continue to sharpen each other in the faith. God's blessings on each of you as we remember our own Passover Lamb, Jesus, and the wondrous, glorious truth of His resurrection!

Singled Out

I read this writing by A.W. Tozer yesterday and it has caused me to muse again. Today, I'm sharing his words with you and then I'll share my musings at a later date when they have become more solidified in my mind and heart. I invite you to muse along with me and then share those musings with me so we can encourage one another. The writing is from A.W. Tozer's book, RENEWED DAY BY DAY.

"If God has singled you out to be a special object of His grace you may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than others are called upon to endure.

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful.

To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be.

Thus you will learn what faith is; you will find out the hard way, but the only way open to you, that true faith lies in the will, that the joy unspeakable of which the apostle speaks in I Peter 1:8, is not itself faith but a slow-ripening fruit of faith. You will learn, too, that present spiritual joys may come and go as they will without altering your spiritual status or in any way affecting your position as a true child of the heavenly Father.

Then you will also learn, probably to your astonishment, that it is possible to live in all good conscience before God and men and still feel nothing of the "peace and joy" you hear talked about so much by immature Christians!"

So, dear friends, think or muse on these things and let me know what you're thinking. My inquiring mind wants to know!

Ark Building Faith: Part Deux

After I wrote the preceding blog I had several thoughts jump into my mind. I'm sure you know I am a woman who muses over things by now. Anyway, I was thinking about the ark. It was built to the specific directive of Father God. He told Noah what type of wood to use, the dimensions, number of stories, windows and openings, etc. He told him to gather the animals in pairs of male and female of each species on the earth and to have areas prepared for them in the ark. He told Noah to bring food for his family and the animals and to bring extra animals for sacrifice. Now, God told him all this, but Noah was still operating by faith. As I wrote before, there had never been rain or a flood on the earth. Noah had no idea of the number of animals or the species and would have had to have help in getting them gathered for the boat ride. It took years for the ark to be built and I'm sure there were many difficult times and seasons during the building of the vessel that would keep them safe and get them to their new life. Father God's directions were so specific and perfect for the situation that later ships were built using the same ratio of dimensions to keep them afloat with the least danger of capsizing or sinking. But, it was all through obedience and faith on Noah's part that his family was saved.

When we operate out of that same obedience and faith to Abba Father's instructions, we are in the process of building a vessel that will be able to ride out the floods and rains in our lives. Our vessel (life) has been given with specific criteria to help us come through those floods victoriously! It normally takes years and can be an unfamiliar journey of walking in faith that what God has said He will do and how He says to do it will come to pass even when we don't see it. Faith! When we build our lives based on faith in the Word of God, our vessel is sound for the journey and less likely to capsize or sink when the flood levels rise! What an awesome thing! God pre-designed us to walk by faith and when we do, we please Him and are blessed with assurance in His plan! Don't you just love our extraordinary Father?!!!

Ark Faith

What is faith? Sure, I know the biblical definition that "faith is being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we don't see it" but, what is faith? I've been told that it is like sitting in a chair and believing the chair will hold me up, but is that really what faith is? I believe faith is bigger than a chair that holds me up. Noah built the ark under the directive of God when there had never been rain on the earth. He faced ridicule and rejection and yet, kept building until the ark was complete and the animals inside. Funny thing was, the rain didn't start immediately once they were all in. Did Noah or his family question his God during that wait? Probably some did. I'm sure those on the outside were laughing and mocking for a time. But then, the rain started and didn't stop and the laughing and mocking became cries and pleas for entrance to the ark. Noah and his family were saved because he knew God's word concerning the coming event was true even though he had never seen rain before. Faith.

The entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a recounting of many men and women of the Bible who chose to operate on a faith account rather than a visual one. Hebrews 12:1 states that we have been surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means! It is not trusting a chair to hold you up! It is heavy-duty, all encompassing trust that Abba Father is bigger than circumstances, bigger than reports, bigger than enemies, bigger than death and bigger than knowledge.

As I walk through my current circumstances, I'm having to walk in faith. Have I had doubts and fears to deal with? Sure, I have. I am choosing to walk into the unknown with the All-Knowing One. Would it be easier to do it my way and get a quick "fix" to my circumstances. Probably would be, but then I would miss out on the wonderful reward of knowing I have trusted God to do what He has said He will do. I can't please Him if I walk only in what I can see - I have to have faith! Sixty is not the age, in the natural realm, to be "starting over", but it is the age in the spirtual realm that I believe will produce the greatest life I have ever had - by faith! Many of my family and friends are having rough times in the current economic climate and are being faced with an uncertain future. What's going to happen and when are big questions in many hearts. We have to settle who and what we are going to believe. Are we going to believe there are "giants in the land' or are we going to believe that Abba Father has led or allowed us to reach this place in our lives so He can prove Himself mighty on our behalf and bring good for us out of the circumstances? What's it going to be? Faith or fear? Life or death? I encourage us all to choose faith and in choosing faith we will experience abundant life in God's favor and blessing! I love you! Be blessed today.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

On February 3rd, ninety-eight years ago, a baby boy was born who would become my father thirty-seven years later. Daddy was born into a family of sharecroppers in Georgia. He learned to work hard as a little boy and worked in the cotton and tobacco fields until he left home as a young man. He only finished the eight grade at school and then worked full time to help support his family. Daddy's mother died when he was 12 years old and he told me that her death changed a great many things in his life and family. My grandfather married very soon after my grandmother's passing in order to have someone to care for their home and family. Not very romantic, but a necessity of life in the early 1900's.

I was my father's first-born and always knew that I was loved by him. When I developed acute rheumatic fever at the age of nine and was hospitalized for weeks, my daddy would stay with me every night in the hospital so I wouldn't be frightened when the nurses would awaken me for more shots or tests. One night I was awakened and he wasn't there because he had gone to the nurses' station for coffee. As I began to cry loudly in fear, Daddy came running back into the room. He held me in his arms there on my bed and told me that if he could take my place and be sick for me, he would gladly do just that. Even at the young age of nine years, I knew he was telling me of his amazing love for me - his little girl. I never forgot it! Many years later after dealing with heart problems related to the illness of my youth, I was missing my daddy and just thanking God for giving me my father when the revelation of what happened in my hospital room all those years before become very clear. God was revealing to my little girl's heart a picture of the sacrificial love of a father for his child that would prepare the way for me to fully know and accept the love of my Abba Father for me. Daddy loved me and wanted to take my place and take my disease, my pain and my fear, but he couldn't. Abba Father also loved me and wanted to take my place and take my disease, pain and fear - He wanted to, He could and He did! What a glorious picture of my Abba's love revealed through my daddy! I still miss my daddy but I have the assurance from God's Word that Daddy has not ceased to be - he is still very much alive! So, happy birthday, Daddy, from your little girl. Thank you for loving me and preparing me for the greatest love I can know! You did good, Daddy!

She Looks Like Her Daddy

From the time I was a very little girl, I was told that I looked like my daddy. I loved my daddy and enjoyed being told that when I was young. However, as I grew older my desire was to look like my mother or my older sister. It was the '50's and mothers in that decade wore dresses or skirts to work even if that work was at home. The dresses were gorgeous, full-skirted renditions that showed off the waist and figure. I thought my mother & sister were beautiful and I really wanted to be told I looked like them instead of my daddy. That never happened. They both had dark brown curly hair and dark eyes while I was blonde with manufactured curls and blue eyes. My daddy had the same color hair and eyes and we shared similar cheekbones and noses. He looked like a young Bing Crosby, even to the ears and I had those, too. He wasn't unattractive, he just wasn't pretty and I was all about pretty! Well, my daddy died when I was 27 and now I love it when someone states that I look much like my daddy. It helps me feel close to him when I see a reminder in the mirror or in pictures that show our similarities.

Today, my hearts' desire is that when others see me or interact with me, they see a resemblance to my heavenly Father, my Abba (Daddy). I still like pretty and I still think my mother and sister are beautiful, but my desire is more to glorify Him than myself while on this journey called life. I think my face is beginning to look more like Him because I know my heart is. The more I interact with Him, the more I look like my Daddy inside and out! Isn't that an awesome thing about our extraordinary Abba - how we are changed from within as we walk and rest in relationship with Him and then become more and more like Him in the process?! She looks like her Daddy are sweet words to my heart! Thank you, Daddy.