MY SECRET GARDEN

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"Underneath it all" ... by Sherri Youngward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfT0naisqJI

Tomorrow I will embark on a whole new adventure here on this blog for a while. It originally was in honor of my birthday month (but I posted it sooner).

I am doing a daily personal challenge of transforming my life into a more prayerful one and drawing closer to God. I'm determined to do a chapter a day that I've already set up 31 prescheduled posts to read and do. It will really be liking journaling or notes shared publicly as I pass through these new waters.

I would like to grasp the 30 ways to pray for my life, so that I may live a life of balance, purpose, freedom, wholeness and true success. I want to live a more prayerful life, a life dedicated to drawing close to God and communing with Him every day - a life that works through the power of God, not my own, knowing what my true needs are and that God alone is my only source that I need to plug in to. I may share and I may not but the theme for each day is there and I'll share the scriptures, maybe the prayer or mine.

Clues for what the book is:

It is from a new book by the same author that I was hoping to do as an online study (but I postponed it until the New Year), she is a long time favorite of mine... since the late 80s, I have studied under her wings, reading her books, even in Spanish. The more I pray, the more I find that I cannot live without Him and His power. I long for the intimacy of my first love. I want to return to that place of deepening my closeness and fine tuning my ears and my heart. I desire for my heart to be softened like His. I seek true freedom and wholeness through living a prayerful life. (and no, it's not any of the books I mention)

I remember as a young child reading 4 books as soon as I could read from our family bookshelves: Black Beauty, Bambi, Happy Hollisters and The Secret Garden (of course, there were others I enjoyed even more). Yet one book, a big, red book that sat on our living room table, is the one that I really wanted to read. I was intrigued by its colorful pictures and even the texture of the book cover. It ain't so, that you can't judge a book by its cover, I beg to differ. So this next month, I am combining that special book, the Bible, God's Word to us, while taking time to go with my Lord into "The Secret Garden", spending time alone with Him, like no other time.

I'll call this time my "Secret Garden" time because I'm not sharing the name of this book with anyone (unless you ask me specifically in the comments & I email you the title) it's a secret! Besides, this will be a personal processing, where I am journeying into this garden: to uproot some weeds that don't belong; plant some new seeds; and water the beautiful blooms of fragrant flowers from my Beloved Lord.

He is leading me with His gentle and restoring hand, into the valleys and perhaps to the mountaintops. Much like another favorite book of mine as a young adult, "Hinds Feet on High Places", I am ascending through a transforming season and I am not like 'Much Afraid'. I am pursuing Him, much like another favorite of mine, "God Calling" and currently I am reading another devotional "Jesus Calling" but they are both the same (not the same book) the same Caller. I am listening like never before and I am running into His Garden... to be refreshed and restored through His Living Water. I will sit along the flowing rivers of plenty and healing, for He is doing a new work in me.

It will be like a blog break again... because I will not leave this Secret Garden and wander along other paths. I need to focus on Him. I am preparing the soil for the work that must be done. Be patient and loving kindness will follow all the days that I press in to draw closer and commune in this Secret Garden. Yes, I will tell Him many secrets that He may want exposed so He can reveal to me since He already knows and has just been waiting for me since I asked Him to search my heart...

I must be off... so I can be ready to make time for my King, my Beloved... He is coming soon.

And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:11

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

So I'm off to My Secret Garden for the month. Forgive me if I am a bit negligent in visiting you. I will try, but I can't promise that I will. I'm praying this time with Him will renew and give me a fresh outlook and perspective, focusing on where He wants me~not people pleasing but God pleasing first & foremost. We'll see where He leads me... May you continue on a journey of drawing closer to Him as well and your life filled with abundant blessings in this season of fall... my favorite!

What is your favorite season ?

What does the season of "fall" symbolize for you?

* I removed my visuals from this post, which really did add to the Garden... my own photos do not show gardens but forest from MN and MX beaches or desert or far off mountain hills. Not appropriate. I'll be explaining this in a future post. I added the beautiful garden song of Sherri Youngward in lieu of the Garden because the YouTube video was done so well by Alondra. Now I went back and added the entrance to MY SECRET GARDEN above. I went to read Brenda's Journals of the Heart today and Garden of My Love is The Word of the Day. WOW! I'm really blessed. Even my blog verse, Isaiah 61 is there.