The Garden Behind the Wall

"But be patient, my brothers as you wait for the LORD... Look at the farmer quietly awaiting the precious harvest of his land. See how he has to possess his soul in patience till the early and late rains have fallen." James 5:7 Phillips translation


Dear Friends,

The thoughts I am sharing with you this week began over a year ago in my heart and have been "cultivating" there ever since. I don't think this will be the only part to this story since it's been brewing awhile in my heart, but I will see where the LORD leads me to go from here.
A few years ago, our backyard neighbors allowed us to use a small portion of their back lot to become our garden. They had fenced in their yard, and left the easement portion unfenced in case the city had to come through and do some work. I asked them if they minded if I used this portion of their yard, behind their wooden fence, to make a garden for our family and they were very gracious to let me. I knew at any time the city could come in a destroy it, but that didn't deter me from my vision of making this little plot of hard dirt something that would bring forth "fruit" to feed our family. It just so happened along about this same time, the LORD was teaching me a lot about organic gardening...through necessity. I had become highly sensitive to artificial fertilizers and my health had been broken by pesticides, so this was a "new" path for me. I had lots of great resources the LORD brought into my life during this time to teach me, including Howard Garrett, The Dirt Doctor, (www.dirtdoctor.com), Gardenville (http://www.gardenville-university.com/d/5297133_37446.htm), Acres USA (www.acresusa.com), and the Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening (www.aehf.com) book by Howard Garret and Malcolm Beck. I really didn't know much about organic gardening at all...but my Dad and Mom have had a large garden all of our lives, and I knew that it was a lot of work to have a garden...I just didn't know how much. My Dad brought his tiller up and he and John Mac tilled the soil, and I tried just about every kind of natural fertilizer I had read about to begin trying to build up the nutrients in this hard piece of red clay. As I read these different resources and learned about different fertilizers and weed killers, and bug control, I would try them on my little garden. Some things worked, and some things didn't work too hot. I remember spraying my green beans one year with "Shaklee dish soap" to kill the bugs and it killed my beans deader than a doornail. I guess the dish soap was too strong for my tender plants. Citrus oil will do the same thing...I tried some on my squash plants and apple tree this year, and it sure did burn the leaves. I learned about composting during this time, and my husband bought me a really nice composter than you could turn and it would make compost faster. I'm sure he has regretted that decision many times over, as the family hasn't been too crazy about me keeping scraps around the kitchen to take out to the compost bin. So, we learned about composting and every early spring I would get the "compost" out and spread it on my garden so we could till it under and mix it with the soil. I gathered leaves in the fall, and spread them on my garden to rot and build up the soil. I learned to put my ashes from our charcoal grill out in my garden...I used natural charcoal and I read in my Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening Book that fireplace ashes are an excellent ingredient for the compost pile and soil amendment if not overused. We bought fishmeal from our friends the Wahl's,(http://www.wisementrading.com/), and spread it on the garden and flower beds, and man did we stink up the place...every cat for miles around wanted to visit our house, and the dogs loved that nasty stuff. I spread cornmeal on my garden every chance I got, and ordered kelp and seaweed fertilizer to help the plants grow. I learned to use Molasses and even sugar to feed the little microorganisms in the soil, and to use leftover drinks, fruit juice or anything sweet like that to pour into the soil and make those little buggies flourish. We didn't have easy access to cow manure or horse manure or chicken poop, but I did buy some bags of cow manure and used...I'm sure it was nowhere near as good as going to the barn and scooping it up... we had plenty of that growing up. We also used some natural fertilizer called Sustane made from Turkey Manure. These are just some of the soil amendments and nutrients that I remember learning about and using in my little garden to help build up the soil and make it healthy so the plants would flourish. I usually planted a few tomato plants, some corn, squash, green beans, peppers, watermelon, radishes, okra and I can't remember what else. Believe me, it was trial and error, and I often learned more from my mistakes, as I do now:), than I did my successes. One thing I learned was to not pick my corn while Dixe, my golden retriever was with me. My first year I was so excited about my first harvest and couldn't wait to pick those golden ears of corn. As I was picking it and putting it in dishpan, unbeknownst to me, Dixie was confiscating it and taking it into her pen and eating it. By the time I finished, I had hardly any corn in my dishpan that Dixie hadn't stolen and chewed up! I learned after that to keep her in the fence while I was picking corn. I remember one summer something unusually large was growing in the garden and it was the largest radish I have ever seen...it was huge! I pulled it up after several days and showed it to our agricultural extension agent who lived behind us and he said he'd never seen anything like it.
It was a nice little garden, and not only was GOD teaching me, but during this time HE gave me the opportunity to write a column for our local newspaper and I was able to educate our whole city and county about organic gardening with the lessons I was learning in my little garden. Each year, I lovingly and tenderly tried to add more nutrients to the soil, so the plants would be strong and healthy and the "fruit" would be more nutritious for my family.
Then one day our neighbors came and told me that they were going to extend their fence back to the back of their property and would be taking in my little garden that I had worked so hard over the years to build up the soil. I was saddened at the loss and the hard work that I had put into building up the soil and now it was all for nothing it seemed....but GOD had another plan, and the next spring my dear Daddy helped me make another garden. It was a lot smaller than my other garden but big enough that I still could plant some tomatoes, squash, lettuce and a few other things...just not at the same time. I had to start all over building up my soil, and it is nowhere near what the soil was in my other garden, but it will eventually get there.
One day, I was out working in my new little garden, "Daddy's Garden," I noticed a sunflower coming up over my neighbor's wooden fence. The fence is several feet high so you can't seen what's behind it, but when that sunflower popped up, I had to go over and investigate what else was behind that wall. I climbed up on the fence and looked over and what did I see but a full garden planted in my little garden spot! I was so thrilled...even though it wasn't mine (I was only a steward of this spot for a season), I was so happy that all my hard labor had not gone to waste and my neighbor's were now being blessed with the hard work that I had done to build the soil up! The sunflowers were growing tall and peeking over the fence as if to say,"Come and see the "Garden Behind the Wall."
It's amazing as I have often thought of that "Garden Behind the Wall" since that time. I have thought so many times, that things that we have given up hope about, GOD is faithfully growing the "Garden Behind the Wall." I have friends who have raised their children to love CHRIST and they invested so much into their young lives, loving them tenderly, teaching them about CHRIST,taking them to church, being involved in Bible Drill, having family devotions, praying for them...doing all they knew to do to make the soil of their hearts fertile to receive CHRIST and walk with Him and yet their kids are not there yet...in fact, it seems like nothing is going on "Behind the Wall." When I saw these sunflowers springing up over the fence, and saw the lovely garden growing behind the wall, I was once again reminded of the lessons of faith in the lives of believers. GOD so often allows a "wall" to go up so that we can't see what HE is doing in the "Garden Behind the Wall" until the sunflowers grow tall enough to peep over the wall. The garden is there all along, and it has been often cultivated and tilled for years by the prayers and hard labor of HIS faithful servant's whether it be a loving parent who has diligently tilled the soil of their child's heart, or investing in family members and friends that we very much care their relationship with CHRIST. Yet, there doesn't seem to be anything going on "Behind the Wall," and our hearts grow weary. The wall is where faith comes in...trusting GOD to hear and answer our prayers, to keep the promises of HIS WORD, to do all that we can...and trust HIM for what we can't, to grow "the Garden Behind the Wall." "The Wall" may be a situation that we find ourselves in such a health problems, or financial struggles, marital problems, whatever your situation may be... CHRIST asks us to trust HIM as HE is growing the "Garden Behind the Wall."
My dear friend Wanda Adams shared a quote with me this week that has really made me think about the difference persevering prayer makes while we wait sometimes, years, and sometimes it may be in heaven to see what GOD is growing in the "Garden Behind the Wall." Peter Kreeft, author and professor of philosophy at Boston College writes, "I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives." Over and over we are encouraged in GOD's Word to pray and not give up, even though we can't "see" the results of our prayers. In Luke 18:1 JESUS said, "that men always ought to pray and not loose heart." James 5:16 tells us, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. In Mark 11:22-24, Jesus answered them, "Have faith in GOD. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he say will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." "Without faith it is impossible to please HIM, for whoever would draw near to GOD must believe that HE exists and that HE rewards those who seek HIM." Heb. 11:6, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Gen. 18:14, and "With GOD all things are possible." Matt.19:26.
Our friend's the Greene's sing a beautiful song called, "When GOD Has Another Plan," that sure does encourage my heart. When our world is turned upside down...and the "walls" go up and it doesn't seem like there is any hope, "GOD Has Another Plan." It's a song about Joseph and the dreams he had and how he was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually put in prison for many years after he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. These plans certainly weren't Joseph's plans, but GOD knew what HE was doing as he was preparing Joseph to be second in command of Egypt and save his chosen people during a time of great famine. Joseph's father, certainly had no way of knowing what GOD was doing "Behind the Wall," and what joy was brought to his heart when GOD allowed him to be reunited with his son. GOD has plans for us, plans that are far beyond what we can ask or imagine, and HE asks us to trust HIM as HE grows "The Garden Behind the Wall." At just the right time, the sunflowers will peep over the wall, and our faith will turn to sight, and we will praise HIM for the wonderful way HE has chosen to work that we could not imagine..."What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." John 13:7
With all HIS love,
mitzi

"When GOD Has Another Plan"
by Amy Keffer Shellem and Daryl Williams

Forsaken by his brothers, Didn't fit the scene
Being made a slave, Was not what Joseph dreamed
The coat of many colors was stained, with blood and lies
But from this divine appointment, a ruler would arise.

Chorus:
When GOD has another plan, walk on and just say yes
When GOD has another plan Be assured that HE knows best.
When all your dreams are shattered rest in HIS sufficient grace
We don't have to understand when GOD has another plan

Alone and brokenhearted, Questions fill your mind
Changes can be hard, That comes by GOD's design
But if you could see tomorrow, with a view from heaven's throne
Every unexpected struggle has led you closer home.





Thank you so much for your prayers for us as we traveled to Louisville this past week, and for Hannah Beth as she traveled to California...GOD has been so gracious and answered them and we appreciate you praying for us so very much!

Please remember our dear friend and former pastor Aaron Johnson and his wife Denise in your prayers. Br. Aaron had the remaining portion of his colon removed last week after battling cancer 5 years ago, and is recovering from his surgery http://www.pastoraaronjohnson.blogspot.com/ in a hospital in Florida.