Oh how it's changed and developed over the years!

2010 to 2016

 The grapevine arbor is full...

 Added English roses a few years ago... They are so beautiful and smell amazing

 Fall in the garden, the Oak Tree is gorgeous!

Wedding in the Garden

Wedding in the garden...

You are like a private garden, my treasure, my bride!
You are like a spring that no one else can drink from, a fountain of my own.
You are like a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit, with the rarest of perfumes:
song of songs 4:12-13




For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullnes of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Prov 4:18

God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

In this way, love is made complete among us so

that we will have confidence on the day of judgment,

because in this world we are like him.

There is no fear in love.

But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:16-19

May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Prov 5:18

A stolen kiss....

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

and they will become one flesh.

Genesis 3:24

Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his.

And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.

So guard yourself in your Spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

Malachi 2:15

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one.

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

MT 19:4-6

The morning of the wedding...

The Gardens in early summer....

In the garden is found time with my Savior

Time with the one I call friend

Lord, walk with me in the garden today

Lead me and guide me, give depth to my soul

Meet Hadassah.....

"Come, and let us return to the Lord; the woman whispered, "For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight."
Voice trembling, Hadassah took up where the woman had stopped, reciting the words of the prophet Hosea. "Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth."
The woman took Hadassah's hand. "Why is it only in darkness that we remember what sustained us even in the light? I have not thought of the words of the prophet since childhood, and now in this darkness they come to me more clearly than the day I heard them read." She cried softly, Jonah must have felt this same dark despair inside the belly of the whale."
"Hosea was speaking of Yeshua and the Resurrection" Hadassah said, without thinking.
Taken from A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers



"You are here, Lord. You are here and all around me. Would that I could always feel your presence so profoundly. Oh Lord, that I may one day bow before you and worship you forever."
Taken from A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers



"Nothing I can say will ever convince you, Marcus. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But I know Jesus arose. I feel his presence now, here, with me. I see the evidence of his Word every day. From creation forth, the whole world is witness to God's plan revealed through his Son. From the beginning, he prepared us. In the passing of the seasons; in the way flowers spring forth, die, and drop seeds for life to begin again; in the sunset and sunrise. Jesus' sacrifice is reenacted every day of our lives if we but have the eyes to see."
Taken from A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers






"Lord, you know what's in my heart. You know I love you. Help me."
Taken from A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

Winter 2010


A lot of snow in the prayer garden...

It was a rare winter where the prayer garden stayed covered in snow all winter long. From about Thanksgiving until early April there was too much snow in the prayer garden to go for walks. I could imagine where the paths were and we could find the center but it was very snowy white. Actually quite beautiful.

John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:8 "This is to my father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

The grape arbor in the prayer garden with grapevines beginning to grow and flourish.

The prayer garden, mid-spring, full of what we like to call "creepers". Ugh!!! Creepers are tough weeds to get rid of, one of the most challenging to any gardener. I sprayed them and waited, hoping they would succumb to the herbicide I used. Some did and some didn't. I'm still struggling with creepers and past experience with gardening tells me that I will struggle with creepers in this garden for a long time, until little by little I have less and less of them and then they are finally under control but never completely gone. It made me think about sin in my life. Weeds like "creepers" are kind of like sin. Sin can get out of control in our lives especially when the Holy Spirit first points out something that we need to change or work on that we've allowed to go on for awhile. It can feel overwhelming and that first confession and desire to change can make a big difference like my herbicide but it doesn't seem to ever completely get rid of it. Our old sinful nature is pretty determined to keep showing up and my experience with sin is that it takes the determination and persistence to keep pulling that creeper before it gets under control but maybe is never completely gone. Why doesn't God just take our sin away? I think He desires for us to learn how to depend on Him, be persistent, and keep working at being a new creation in Christ with the Holy Spirits help. "Creepers" are annoying and frustrating and sometimes just plain work, kind of like the sin in my life but because of God's grace and love for me I can see improvements and I can see that though I'll never be perfect and the sin in my life may never be completely gone there can be progress!