There is one special place on our property for which I have great appreciation. It has served me well in both trouble and triumph. That special place is my meeting place with God. I call it my prayer garden. Yes, I do talk to God everywhere I go, even in my sewing room. I know God is always with me, but there is just something about this place! It carried me through all the hard times of my grandson being in the Marines boot camp in 2005, and his being deployed 3 times in Iraq. My talks with God got very bold and serious then, and I cried many tears of which I know that He has promised He has collected in a bottle.
My prayer garden carried me through the heart ache while praying for my granddaughter losing her unborn child, and many more hard times as well as the glorious times. God proved Himself faithful in all!
I watched myself grow in more ways than one during those quiet times with God in my prayer garden. That is what it is all about! God even created man in the garden which is a place of growth. We must grow, be watered, be fed, be pruned, then grow some new branches in our life. We must be like “the trees planted by the rivers of water.” Psalm 1:3
Little did my Mother and Dad know in 1990 when they built this beautiful building that once served as my Dad’s bar-b-cue room, and the place they played games, that it would one day be something so dear to my heart.
When we inherited our property in Dec. 2004, I longed so much for a special secret place to continue my close commune with God. For years and years, my special secret place of prayer was on the small patio of our apartment surrounded by plants and huge tall plants that looked like tiny trees. I had a tiny tabletop waterfall out there and a comfortable chair to sit in. As soon as I got my hubby off to work at 7:00 a.m., I would sit there for a couple of hours, do my Bible study, sing to the Lord, and pray for my loved ones, friends, and Pastors everywhere, and yes even my enemies.
Our apartment was facing the road and in front of our apartment was a huge tree where the branches hung over my patio and I watched the birds everyday. Such beautiful creatures!! That tree and birds brought so much joy to me! I loved every minute of my prayer place, and always hated to leave for the day to do the chores. One day the apartment manager had that tree cut down, and I cried so much because I lost my beautiful birds that seem to sing for me every morning.
One of my special prayers then was “Lord enlarge my territory”. Little did I know that He was about to give me not just one tree to enjoy, but 25, and not just 6 or 7 birds to enjoy but hundreds of them.
After we retired to our new inherited home. I walked the property praying for a special place of prayer. When the Lord put on my heart to use the screened in building for my prayer place, I was so thrilled. Then began the transformation little by little. Now I have a large waterfall instead of a table top one, many chairs, plants, and I am surrounded by trees everywhere and many birds all year round. We had to even put up 8 feeders to accomodate all the birds, and put up 4 hummingbird feeders! God has been so good to me. When Hurricane Ike took our home in 2008 and we had to be gone for 11 months, I was so grateful that my prayer garden was spared from any major damage, but I missed it so much.
My prayer garden is my place of safety, my place of refuge, my “hiding place”. It is here that I can tell God everything and be myself and know that I will not be critized. I can sing songs to Him without worrying if I can carry a tune or not or if I am singing too loud. He loves hearing our songs of praise to Him. For He told us to sing a new song to Him. I have sung songs that the Lord put in my heart that have never been published. They are my love songs to Him. For none has given me greater love than He.
I can leave there each morning feeling refreshed, restored, renewed, and ready to face more storms and battles. Here I find comfort, assurance, and promises from God’s Word.
This is my meeting place with God.
I am so thankful that my husband this week spent a whole day taking everything out of my prayer garden and washing it down to get all the yellow pollen out. He even hand washed and cleaned everything that was inside it, so I could get back in there again. He does this for me every Spring. The pollen causes problems, but it also is the sign of the beginning of new things for the year and new things in my life.
So now early every morning after waking, I can hardly wait to get out there with my cup of tea and spend my 2 or 3 hours with God.
I look out my prayer garden window today and I see you God. You are everywhere. I see you in my husband’s love and care for me, You are in the beautiful trees that sway in the wind, and the bluebirds, red cardinals, and so many more birds that seem to look at me and smile. I even watched the mischievous squirrels, and laugh! I feel your kisses upon my cheek once again. So I cry and my heart rejoices for I hear once again you say to me “with long life will I satisfy her, and shew her my salvation”. Psalm 91:16
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