I Come to the Garden Alone

{My Media Room}

Today is my Spiritual Birthday. I was born again 14 years ago. God has lead me on so many adventures since then. I have loved living by Him, in Him, for Him, and through Him. I recently stumbled upon this essay that I wrote years ago. I found it very fitting to share it on this special day. Weaved in the lines of this piece you will find metaphors about gardens, lyrics to my favorite worship songs, and my testament to God's grace. Remember: God can take the bad and use it for His good. He did that for me on 9-11 and He continues to work all things for my good still today.

“I Come to the Garden Alone” on a gorgeous Sunday morning, enter through the gates, and silently “lay [my] crowns at the feet of Jesus”. I am spiritually parched and thirsty for righteousness! The soft strokes of the piano begin. The strums of the guitar pull my mind away from earthly matters and into “The Heart of Worship”. The music grows louder as the last chorus begins in a grand finale. Every arm raises. Every eye tears. Every heart abandons. The body of Christ, diverse in nature, joins together in “Amazing Grace”. “How sweet the sound!” The voices collide with heavenly angels in a joyous jubilee as all creation sings “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”. The Holy Spirit blows through the rows of flowers, all uniquely beautiful, surrounded by “fount[s] of every blessing”. They create an irresistible aroma as they bow down to their Master. The tulips drop to their knees. The daisies bend in the breeze. The dandelions sacredly sway forward. Even the roses, with thorns in their flesh, and the daffodils, weighed down by weeds, are in awe at their Gardener who is “Mighty to Save”. Every worry, every struggle, every sin dissipates “at the mention of [God’s] Name, King of Majesty”. The breathtaking feeling of utter surrender makes me ten times lighter. In this moment, and, dare I say, only in this moment, when I feel the most significant and the least burdened, when I am fully and completely engulfed in praising my Savior, that I feel absolutely content. 

Like Eve, the serpent of deception tries to distract me with my weakness, worry. But that math grade I received last week no longer concerns me. Which college I will attend next year, I leave up to Him. My grandfather, sick with cancer, I tearfully place in the hands of my Healer. Even after all that I have done, “One Thing Remains”, God’s love.

I reflect on the day when God first pruned me many years ago filling me with the Fruit of His Spirit. I remember staring at the TV that September day, watching the planes purposely collide into the towers crushing the lives of thousands of people. I, young, but old enough, wondered where all those wilted humans went. I wondered where I would go if I died in a similar drought. As I pray to my Father, “How Great Thou Art”, the image of folded five year old hands, petals in the wind, flashes through my mind. I hear my tiny voice echo my mother’s as I talk to God for the very first time. I watch myself bloom into a breathtaking “Lily of the Valley”, planted by seeds of tragedy, watered by Truth, and shined on by grace. Now, years later, He “lead[s] me to the cross” once again, where He wipes away every past sin since the Garden of Eden, every present wrongdoing, and every future sin I will commit before He comes again. “Here in the death of Christ I live”. During this half-hour, He restores in me the Joy of my Salvation. Rooted in Christ, contentment does not depend on present circumstances so I speak the Lord’s prayer from the Garden of Gethsemane, “Yet not as I will, but as you will”. When I walk back through the gates, returning to reality, my problems will still be there waiting for me. But in just thirty minutes of worship, tending to the Garden of my Heart, drinking in the Water of Life, and basking in the Son’s light, God strengthens me with the nutrients I need to handle every situation that comes my way. Therefore, I find my satisfaction “In Christ Alone” through rain or shine, clouds or storms. I am overwhelmed with the hope of singing praises to God in the new Eden “ten thousands years and then forever more”!

Lord, Restore to me the Joy of Your Salvation. Remind me that all I need and want is found only in You. Thank you for the freedom I have in Your Son. Amen

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The Girl Next Door