{"id":35169,"date":"2023-03-18T03:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=35169"},"modified":"2023-03-17T12:00:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T19:00:37","slug":"march-18-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/03\/18\/march-18-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"March 18, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

God\u2019s Garden<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed…. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…\u201d Genesis 2:8, 3:8<\/em><\/p>\n

Just for a moment, try to imagine a garden that God would plant. The Word tells us that there were herbs, seeds, trees, fruit, and animals. It mentions four rivers, birds, fields, and mist. There was gold and onyx.<\/p>\n

It was a dwelling place for man and woman. It was specially created to sustain and provide, nourish and bless. Nothing was lacking. Nothing more was needed. God didn\u02bct forget a thing.<\/p>\n

He gives us places of refreshing today, too, doesn\u2019t He? Places to retreat, like green gardens in the wilderness. Waterfalls, gentle streams, bubbling brooks, lakes, ponds, and fountains. (Have you noticed that \u201cwater\u201d is always associated with \u201crefreshing\u201d?) Cooling shade trees, silently swimming ducks or geese, fish rippling the waters just below the surface.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a mountain retreat with tall, sighing pines is more to your liking. Or country meadows with cows quietly munching the grasses. Or snow-covered peaks that speak of grandeur and majesty. Or the ocean\u02bcs unceasing waves that come and go, with orange and purple sunsets on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Our good God has given us so many places of refreshing. This is His gift, an oasis of calm and cool when our lives are busy, or complicated, or painful, or scary.<\/p>\n

Have you found that His Presence is just such an oasis in the desert? To know God\u02bcs Presence is to be refreshed. We are invited to a time of quiet and solitude, contemplation and meditation, with Him alone. To \u201chide in Him\u201d is to find a place to think and pray, to be renewed.<\/p>\n

Do you have a place of retreat? Maybe it is a physical place you go to that you can call your own. I know a lady whose husband built her a little gazebo with a bench way out in the back corner of the yard. Or perhaps the shower is the only place you can get away from everything else. Or maybe it is not a place, but a time: \u201cWhen I am… raking leaves; just waking up in the morning; driving to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

I urge you to find a place or a time where you and the Lord can be alone. He has surely provided it, for He longs to be with you.<\/p>\n

I\u02bcd love to hear your place of refreshing. What or where is \u201cGod\u02bcs garden\u201d in your life? Leave a comment!<\/p>\n

Lord, may I long more and more for Your Presence, in that quiet place or time where I am alone with You. Show me those times of refreshing that You have prepared for me, and may I enter in fully expecting to meet You there. In Jesus\u02bc Name, Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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