In The Garden

Or more like the would be garden.

I dug through the garden alone
While the Texas sun was not buuurrrrning
And He briiiiiings to me
A sweet thought you seeeeeeee
Aboooouuut Himself and myyyy caaaaaalliiiiing

And He walks with me and He talks with me
And He teeells me I am His ooooooowwwn
And the joyyyy we shaaaare as we tarry theeerre
None other has everrr knooooown.

I'm digging and scraping the weeds off the weed mat- lemme tell you it is NO easy feat. You gotta put your back and legs and arms into the whole motion if you're going to get even one of those little rascally weeds. AND to make matters worse- there's a bunch of pebbles on top of it. Whoever decided that having a weed mat with a bunch of pebbles is out of their mind. BUT underneath all that mess is clean, fresh dirt just waiting to be tilled, planted, and one day a harvest of veggies will spring forth giving my family wonderful fresh garden veggies.

SO- wihle I'm "slaving" away (my choice to put myself through that punishment) the Lord graciously gives food for thought. Here are a few comparisons that He allowed to stroll through my mind because I could never come up with these on my own.

It says in Matthew that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Have you ever worked the ground with bare hands? I wouldn't recommend it after my experience today. You come into contact with someone- say a neighbor. You know from personal experience the joy of coming to know the Lord Jesus and you say to yourself the Lord wants to do in my neighbor what He did in me- changed my life and gives me hope for eternity. But the trouble is that neighbor has a lot of overgrowth, they reject Jesus Christ either because of their background, prejudices towards other so called Christians, or they think it's intellectual suicide. So they see you live- think you're a "good" person, they want what you've got, then after many discussions of what Jesus did for them on Calvary and how He lives to intercede for us and how He wants to have a relationship with them... they ask Him to be their Savior. Sometimes it takes years of living for Christ and having those discussions and praying for that neighbor before they come to that decision- sometimes it takes a few days or weeks. Sometimes that neighbor seems to "get it" and then falls back. Sometimes it hurts and it wears on you. Sometimes you sak God why you even try. But then "bham!" it happens and they recieve His free gift of salvation- not by what you've done, but by what the Spirit has done through you. And even after they come to know the Lord there's still discipleship! The "work" is never done. You've got to be available to love on them, read with them, answer questions, and show them through your life the difference Christ makes. So you continue to pray for their growth and that they in turn will bring others to Christ- a harvest. So as I'm thinking of this the comparison quickly comes to my wannabe garden. It's taking a lot of work to even get the ground ready to be planted. And the steps are slow and painful (not so much for the ground as it is for my hands). My neighbor is not a believer in Jesus Christ- she thinks I'm a good person, but I'm only a sinner saved by grace. So I'm praying, living, and hopefully soon we'll be discussing Jesus. The tempered shovel I've been using to do EVERYTHING on that piece of land I would compare to the Holy Spirit because it's only through the Spirit leading that anything I do is worthwhile. Those weeds and pebbles are the things which keep her from knowing Christ and as the Spirit slowly sweeps those things away it will reveal the weed mat- the bottom line reason as to why she hasn't come to Christ. The Lord will rip away that weed mat and she'll accept Him as Lord and Savior to reveal a beautifully fresh new life ready to be planted in and in turn bring an abundance of spiritual fruit.

Maybe you could join me in praying for my neighbor- her name is Vanessa. It kinda surprised me yesterday as I was talking with my other neighbor Lisa and Vanessa drove up in her Accord. I said to Lisa- you must meet her! So they met and Vanessa said "My parents are in town from New Mexico- YOU MUST MEET THEM!" That was the part that surprised me! Her parents are very nice and after a small chat with Reuben and Patricia I had to check on my napping baby. Mind you I was only gone for 10 minutes. Vanessa walked me back to my yard and told me it gives her rest at night to have such good neighbors- good people- she kept saying good. I might've been blushing if I didn't know that it's Christ who makes us this way. I told her "It's the Lord". We went our seperate ways and I kept thinking how is the Lord going to use me to reach my neighbor. Vanessa is in her last trimester and is looking for baby things. The sonogram reveals that she is going to have a girl. I thought- we have all this girl stuff like a travel set and a boppy- why not let them borrow the items until the little one grows out of them. I've volunteered my time if she needs help getting things ready or even after the baby's here- maybe it'll be during that time we'll tlak about the reality of Jesus Christ. So pray for her and if you could pray for me- not that I'm shy or anything- sometimes I keep my mouth from being used of the Lord. Much to my shame. Thanks for reading. :-D May the Lord bless you richly.