Is the Garden of your life Thriving?

Would you say the garden of your life is thriving?

Is it lush with new, exciting, healthy growth?

Or are there areas in your life that resemble a neglected garden?

Places of too much busyness, distractions, lack of focus, unhealed pain, or sexual addictions (or any type of addiction) can act like stubborn weeds or invasive, pesty bugs, causing damage and hindering good growth.

 Last week, you heard a powerful, life-changing, healing story from Jami Webb (if you did not watch, I urge you to look it up and share it with others!). At one time, Jami’s life seemed like a barren and unfruitful land taken over by weeds and bugs…but God… turned his life into a flourishing, ever-expanding, life-giving place!

What does this next season for your garden look like?

As I strive to establish a lush 'Garden of the Lord' in my life, I'm reminded that just like any gardener, I need to keep weeding, watering, and fertilizing my life to ensure continuous growth. Our Master Gardener can transform our barren patches into glorious gardens.

Think of the many history-making famous people in the Bible born from a place of barrenness, both physically and figuratively! I can relate as I was a 'barren' woman who could not get pregnant due to a biological condition I had, so my husband and I adopted two wonderful children. But I know very well the intense emotional pain one can go through having a big dream for something, yet hope is deferred.

God wants to do the same for you and me! These barren mothers had a DREAM and a PROMISE:

• Samuel, the great prophet of promise, had a mom who was painfully barren for numerous years until God did a miracle.

• Samson, the mighty, strong man, was the miracle baby of a barren mom with a dream and a promise from the Angel of the Lord.

• God gave Abraham a dream and vision of generations of people through him…yet he had a barren senior wife. Sarah once dreamed of having a baby in her younger years but needed her dream resurrected! Sarah gave birth to Issac!

• Issac pleaded with God to bless his barren wife, Rebekah. God miraculously gave her two miracle babies, Esau and Jacob.

• Jacob’s much-loved wife, Rachel, was a barren woman for 14 years until she gave birth to the famous Joseph.

• John the Baptist’s mom dreamed of someday having a child but was a barren woman until she was an old senior. But she gave birth due to a promise from a God who keeps His Word.

I want you to know that God has planted dreams within us and He wants to resurrect dreams of our past long forgotten. Imagine the joy, strength, and courage that will be stirred up within us as we dream BIG again with childlike faith.

A newfound focus that fills us with hope and vision will keep us pressing onward to also address things that are seriously hindering us!

Blessings! Michele