Verse 3, of In the Garden sings;
I'd stay in the garden with Him
Tho' the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go;
Thru the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.
Once you enjoy this tender and honest rapport between yourself and the Best Friend in the universe, you'll find it gets harder and harder to tear yourself away. Other things tend to fade in importance. So what's better than retreating from the world and spending all our time with the true Lover of our souls?
I'll go through spells when I must struggle to make time to meet with the Lord on a regular basis, and then just when I've mastered the habit and given it a regular place in my life, - something jumps in and disrupts everything.
That happens to you too?
It's easy to blame the Evil One for trying to steal our joy and peace, isn't it?
But why would God allow that to happen? Doesn't He like us any more?
In fact He loves us very much! God is so big He loves everyone He made. Many of them have never heard this, so God wants to use us to go out and be His agents of love and represent Him to those who don't know Him.
That's why He lets things happen that will mix us in with other people. Not always pleasant happenings, but a need to work for a living, or an illness in the family, or an education on a school campus. Or, you end up on the internet, running a business, editing your own ezine! God has no end of resourceful ways to bring you, or me, to where He can use us.
Which is the point of the third verse to our dear old song, In the Garden. precious as that intimate time is, we are also sent out to be like Christ to others.
In my novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses, Ruthe experiences this. Much as she loves her early dawn walks around the outskirts of her hometown, Kleinstadt, where she discusses her new city friends, and compares them to roses, Ruthe finds herself constantly in new crises. She meets new friends, and her heart goes out to them. They ought to know her Best Friend too.
Her very first adventure was to help a girl out of a disco, who had her clothes ripped by guys fighting over her. -- Soon Ruthe is counselling a woman dying of cancer, -- and attending the funeral, -- at the following tea she got to talk to people she had never dared tell of her relationship with Jesus otherwise.
The brother of her new girlfriends became a thorn she couldn't get rid of. -- Then, in a bold move, Ruthe rescues a strangler's victim! -- And sets that girl up in a business when she becomes homeless
See how her life rolls from one woe to another? But it is her continuing inner garden time, or prayer life, that gives her strength and wits to deal with each new experience.
There's lots more. Like the Irish Granny no one else could talk to or soften. -- The co-worker with whom she buys a car. -- The mansion she suddenly inherits -- and how that helps her build her mother's dream house while her family is away! -- The teacher she helps to transform, but who then sets about transforming Ruthe!
You get the idea?!
Constantly Ruthe is paralyzed with fears her parents will find out and will stop everything. She finally recognizes her fears for what they are, and faces them square on.
The point is, like Ruthe, we can't just stay in the lovely garden of spiritual fellowship with the Lord all the live-long day, and day after day. We also must live out what we learn, and share it with others who need that same glorious relationship.
My passion is to see many others able to sing too;
"And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share
None other has ever known."
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Ruth Marlene Friesen makes friends wherever she goes!
Her friends become her rare roses at Ruthes-SecretRoses.com
Order the softcover edition at Booklocker.com
And- Subscribe to her weekly ezine RoseBouquet
To follow and get to know Ruth better!
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[Article may be reprinted only with this resource box].
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Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada