A Garden of Hope E-Book

Sandy Clough

• Herausgeber: Belle City Gifts
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 114

Beschreibung

A beautiful English garden overflowing with cascades of flowers, alive with the fluttering and floating of birds and butterflies and awash with fragrance—this is the life hoped for. A garden of perfection with perfect weather, abundance, and season after season filled with only delights. A garden of comfort, a garden of joy, a painting one could have walked into and lived dreams of a perfect life.  But the garden of life is not a perfect English garden. Yet within it, God has painted pictures of faith, hope, love and, yes, even correction in the places it's needed. A Garden of Hope illustrates lessons that cannot be painted with a paintbrush; they are painted instead with words. Those who read these words see God and realize He is everything they need. Life that seems so imperfect is full of beauty, for it has been perfectly designed as an invitation for us to know God. 

Leseprobe

Belle City Gifts

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

Belle City Gifts is an imprint of BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC.

Broadstreetpublishing.com

A Garden of Hope

© 2015 by Sandy Lynam Clough

ISBN 978-1-4245-5001-2 (hard cover)

ISBN 978-1-4245-5043-2 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Design by Chris Garborg | www.garborgdesign.com

Artwork by Sandy Lynam Clough | www.sandyclough.com

Editorial services by Michelle Winger | www.literallyprecise.com

Printed in China.

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Contents

Introduction

Hope in Your Character and Love for Me

Healing from Hurt

Purity

A Larger World

Helpless

Rain in the garden

After the Storm

Hope Has a Name

Safe in the Nest

All Things for good

Hope Is Already There

Sifting the Seeds

Annual or Perennial

How Can I Trust you?

Snake in the garden

Beauty

Joy

Sound of the garden

Broken Hearts

Keeping the fragrance

Standing and Praying

Busyness

Leaning

Talking Disappointments

Butterfly Whiskers

Lifting my Heart

Thankful for Today’s Blessings

Change

Lilies

The Cross

Conformed to Your Image

Loving god

The Business of Prayer

Contentment

Make me a Blessing

The fear of the Lord

Cracked Pot

Morning

The flow of Life

Depression

Mr. Fear

The flowers fade

Directions

My Pain

The Woodpecker

Discernment

My Self

Thirst

Discouragement

My Tongue

Walking

Failing

Open My Eyes

Wasting Blessings

Feeding the Birds

Opportunities

Watching You

Forgiveness

Ownership

Your Hands

Garden Choices

Pests

Your Word Is Light

Good Dirt

Pride

Growth

Pruning

The Blessings of Winter

About the Author

Introduction

The garden of life is not as perfect as we would like it to be. Yet within it, God has painted pictures of faith, hope, love, and, yes, even correction in the places it’s needed. The devotions in this book illustrate lessons that cannot be painted with a paintbrush; they are painted instead with words.

Read the words written here and as you reflect on them, realize that God is everything you need. Life that seems so imperfect is full of beauty, for it has been perfectly designed as an invitation for you to grow closer to God.

Hope in Your Character and Love for Me

A beautiful English garden overflowing with cascades of my favorite flowers, alive with the fluttering and floating of birds and butterflies, and awash with fragrance—I would have chosen that for a picture of the life I always hoped to have. A garden of perfection with perfect weather, abundance, and season after season filled with only delights. A garden of comfort. A garden of joy. A painting I could have walked into and lived my dreams of a perfect life.

Lord, my life is not my creation. It is yours, and you watch over it carefully. Although there has been much beauty and more joy, there have also been storms and droughts, broken branches and unsprouted seeds, tenacious weeds and even pests in the garden of my life. Yet all of it, sunshine and rain, draws me to know you. Each brand new problem, each new blow in my life seems at first unsolvable, draining all the hope out of the room. But every new storm causes me to run to you because instinctively I know that you are the only one who can help—even though I can’t imagine what the help will look like.

As I read your Word searching, searching for whatever hope you will give me, I see you… more of you. The beauty of your character, your constant love for me, your faithfulness, your wisdom. You are hope. You are everything that I need. I can trust you. My wounds will heal. The beauty will come back. Joy will inhabit it.

As I go forward with more confidence in you, my compassion grows for all those around me with both fresh wounds and stiff challenges. I find myself carrying your heart in my own—wanting to share it with those who hurt—pouring out hope from a garden hose attached to your endless supply. This is the kind of hope we only find in desperation.

“THIS IS THE WAY TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE—BY KNOWING YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, THE ONE YOU SENT TO EARTH!” (JOHN 17:3, TLB)

Your life that may seem imperfect is full of beauty.How do you see your life as an invitation for you to know God more deeply?

Healing from Hurt

I am tempted to plant my hurts in clay pots where they would like to be displayed for all to see. Then, I could have sympathy and my friends would say, “Bless her heart.” But I don’t want my life to be defined by my hurts. I don’t want them to be the first thing people see when they look at me. I want to be a voice for your healings and help, Lord. So, instead I will plant those hurts in my hope garden and water them with your Word. In this process, as your Word shows me your heart, the ugly seeds of hurt sprout into flowers of trust in you. As they mature, those flowers bear seeds of hope! You completely transform what was started as hurtful into something good for me.

Now, I can carry my hurts, not as baggage, but as a first aid kit. I can use the stories to connect the wounded people I meet to your tender care and assure them of your faithfulness. Because of you, hurts that could have darkened days of my life are now stored, not in resentfulness, but in a seed bank of hope. In this kind of garden, the same seed can be planted over and over again.

Please make me a careful gardener who has a doctor’s motto: First, do no damage. Help me to pay close attention to those around me and be very selective of the help I offer—realizing that all my seeds don’t fit in their garden. I especially want to be careful not to bruise them with careless chatter. Help me remember that sometimes just an understanding silence is a welcome cushion for a hurting heart. I ask you for opportunities to connect other wounded hearts to my stories of your watchful care and your transforming love.

WHAT A WONDERFUL GOD WE HAVE—HE IS THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE SOURCE OF EVERY MERCY, AND THE ONE WHO SO WONDERFULLY COMFORTS AND STRENGTHENS US IN OUR HARDSHIPS AND TRIALS. AND WHY DOES HE DO THIS? SO THAT WHEN OTHERS ARE TROUBLED, NEEDING OUR SYMPATHY AND EN COURAGEMENT, WE CAN PASS ON TO THEM THIS SAME HELP AND COMFORT GOD HAS GIVEN US (2 CORINTHIANS 1:3, TLB).

Are there people in your life who just need you to listen?How can you best love and care for them?

Purity

Feeding the hummingbirds keeps them close to our garden. They are a wonder to watch. They stretch my mind as I try to imagine how you designed them, Lord, and how you conceived of their entertaining ways. As I count out one-two-three-four measures of water to add to the sugar for them, I wonder, Should I be using bottled spring water instead of tap water? After all, these exquisitely beautiful yet incredibly petite birds have tiny metabolisms. Can they tolerate the impurities that might be lurking in tap water?

It was a noble thought—pure, bottled water for the hummingbirds. But the real question bubbled up in my heart. How careful am I about the purity of things I allow in my mind, my heart, and my spirit? If it’s garbage in-garbage out for a computer, it must be the same for me. Can I really let entertainment pour immorality and violence into my eyes and ears and not damage my soul? Psalm 101:3 contains a commitment to put no evil thing before my eyes.

Lord, I’m asking you to sensitize me to recognize the pollution of the toxic sounds and images I am bombarded with. As they become more and more common, I don’t want to be numbed to their effect. You have washed my heart and mind. You made me a brand new creature when you came into my life. I want to stay squeaky clean and filter out anything that isn’t pleasing to you, keeping my heart as a dwelling place that you are comfortable in.

DON’T COPY THE BEHAVIOR AND CUSTOMS OF THIS WORLD, BUT LET GOD TRANSFORM YOU INTO A NEW PERSON BY CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK. THEN YOU WILL LEARN TO KNOW GOD’S WILL FOR YOU, WHICH IS GOOD AND PLEASING AND PERFE CT (ROMANS 12:2, NLT).

Do you find yourself becoming numb to the toxic fumes of the world?Thank the Lord for his cleansing of your heart and mind.

A Larger World

As a child, I don’t think I considered what was going on in my mother’s world, in her plans, her thoughts, her dreams. It seemed to me that her world revolved around me—just as my own did. She and my father did so much to ensure I had every advantage they could provide, so I might reach my potential. Yet I never asked what their idea of “potential” was or questioned her specifically to tell me about her heart or her purposes. I missed so much by not realizing that my nurturing revolved around my mother and father and the purposes in their hearts.

I suppose it is the way of children to care only about their small world. Lord, although I am your child, I don’t want to have a childish heart that sees me as the center of your world. It is true that you have given me far more than I fully grasp. Your Father’s heart has created me, loved me, redeemed me, and has planned the days of my life and even my eternity.

I don’t have words to describe the wonder of you adopting me as your very own child. You are involved in every aspect of my life.

It is my life that must revolve around you. Let me never make the mistake of thinking this is all about me. You are master, king of kings, the everlasting Lord. It is my place to completely put myself in your hands and to fit into your world as you please.

I URGE YOU, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IN VIEW OF GOD’S MERCY, TO OFFER YOUR BODIES AS A LIVING SA CRIFICE, HOLY AND PLEASING TO GOD—THIS IS YOUR TRUE AND PROPER WORSHIP ROMANS 12:1, NIV).

Is the ultimate potential for your life to know and love God?How can you show him this?

Helpless

Lord, I confess that sometimes there are days when everything around me seems hopeless and I feel a little hopeless myself. But hopeless really isn’t the right word for it because I’m not without hope. What I really am is helpless. I am helpless to determine my own destiny, to guarantee my security, to control everything spinning around me. Helpless, however, is a really good place to be. Being helpless doesn’t mean that I’m without help. It’s a place where I can rest and be totally dependent on you, my Heavenly Father. Because you are not only my help, you’re a present help—here, now, always.