Friday, September 29, 2017

Life in God’s Garden: Part 3

When you stop to think about it, God’s creation of man is pretty amazing don’t you think?  Every person had a “floor plan” so to speak, that is God has a designers special imprinted on each individual as one of a kind.  With all this uniqueness walking about it makes everyone’s life super interesting. 

I am intrigued by all the people that God allows to be part of my journey and can’t wait to tap into the communication lines to hear how God’s blessings have presented themselves into their lives. It doesn’t matter how it happens, whether in person or the internet, in one way or another I find a way to connect to people out of sheer curiosity. 

Over the years many have asked me where I get my material to write.  It’s not really that difficult, all I have to do is watch people or animals and there’s pretty much a story in all I observe.  Then there are those “special blessings” that I encounter along the way which in part make my work so much easier. 

For the record, most of my stories usually come from something that has happened in my life.  It doesn’t really matter where I am, hilarious or weird stuff just seems to find me and most of the time it’s in a grocery store!   

With all the billions of people on this planet, why do these things happen to me? 

Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list. 

New on DFB – Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India; Trbovlje, Central Sava Statistical Region, Slovenia; Tanzania; Uzbekistan; Haiti; Salé, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco; Waitara, Taranaki, New Zealand; Willemstad, Curaçao; Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia; Aurora, Mississauga, & Montreal, QC, Canada; Pathum Thani, Thailand; Dnipropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Uganda; Ukraine. 

USA Kalkaska, MI; Baird, Galveston & Schertz, TX; Ruston, LA; Mandan, ND; Morehead, KY; Edina, MN; Vacaville, CA; Adena, OH; Honey Brook, PA; Parkdale & Carl Junction, MO; St. Martin, MS; Albuquerque, NM; Cramer Hill, Minotola, Elmer, Salem, Avalon & Belle Mead, NJ; Alexandria & Russell, VA; Kingston, OK; Woodburn, OR; Clanton, AL; Dubuque, IA; Bismarck, Mandan & Linton, ND; Pascagoula, MS. 

I am so thankful for your visit and hope that you come back each week to participate in the weekly challenges.  Join us in our new series as we spend time in the study of Daily Favor Relationships. 

You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below.  All are private. I would love to hear from you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life.  Contact me by leaving a message in the box at the bottom of this week’s post.  

Don't miss out on this week's challenge (below).
Be sure to visit Tell Me About Jesus, Q & A or other sections.

Three Things We Need 

We had just finished work but before going home needed to stop at the grocery store for three items – bottled water, almond milk and dish soap.  Not long after we entered the parking lot we were favored with a great place to park. 

As we entered the store I suggested that even though it wasn’t on the shopping list, we should pick up a few more cans of cat food for the eighteen year old senior feline who doesn’t have teeth.  Although he eats with the others, twice a day he is individually fed his soft food diet. 

Grabbing two carts (one so hubby could lean on it for walking) we headed for different aisles to shorten our trip.  I’ll get the dish soap and you get the cat food.” I said and we separated to complete our tasks. 

The cleaning products were located in the next aisle past the cat food. Hubby turned down his lane and I made the next left.  Taking only a second to grab my item I circled back and joined him in the pet food section. 

Get Your Motor Running 

When I met up with my husband he had already selected a few delights for kitty.  It wasn’t long before my cart was forced to come to a stop due to a traffic jam. Two ladies, both in electric “Mart Carts,” were facing one another and holding quite a conversation unaware that they had an audience. 

No need to eves drop here; mega phones held no candle to their voices. Patiently I waited as they talked.  It was pretty funny and frankly I wanted to see how they would conclude their little visit.   

With a smile on my face I propped my foot up on the wrung at the bottom of my cart and settled in wondering just how long this was going to take.  By now hubby was in line behind me and who knows how many others. 

The interaction of these senior ladies was worth the wait. Suddenly the lady that was facing my direction looked at me and said to her friend in the other motorized cart.  Back and forth they squabbled. 

“You have to move someone’s behind you.”
“There’s no one behind you.” 

“No, you  ... someone’s behind you!”
“There’s isn’t anyone behind you.” 

“No, YOU have to move … we’re blocking the aisle.”
“Oh.” 

Enough said, she bid her farewells and motored out of the aisle. 

No Clean Escape 

The woman facing me in her electric rider was parked in front of the cat litter.  Without moving she looked up and called out, “Something is smelling clean.”   

Strange I thought … Lady, you’re right in front of the smelly cat litter!  Maybe that’s what you’re smelling?  You think? 

Pushing the pedal to the metal she slowly moved maneuvering her vehicle toward me.  Stretching her right arm out full length declaring for all to hear as she pointed directly at me, “Is it you?” 

Immediately I was stage struck and didn’t know what to do.  Even though embarrassment was written all over my face I couldn’t help burst into laughter. Was this a scene from Princess Diaries when Mia first meets her grandmother Queen Clarisse?   
 

“Amelia, I’m so glad you could come … Well, let me look at you. You look so … [pausing] young.”  

Not knowing how to respond the young girl looks at her grandmother and responds,  

“Thank you … and you look so … [pausing] clean.” 

A few other things popped into my thinking but I didn’t have time to act or escape. “Clean … clean?  Something, not someone lady. You said something!”  
 
 
A Little Stinker 

Turning to look at my husband the next thing I knew she stopped her cart blocking me then grabbed my left arm whipping me around toward her. By now the entire aisle was glaring in my direction seeking out the sight of the commotion. 

I was laughing so hard and in a panic all at the same time.  How bold of her!  She was sniffing out whatever wafted through her God created senses.  What if she sniffed and said it wasn’t me?  How awkward would that be? 

Then I thought, with her statement she clearly didn’t think it was her!  Someone on that aisle smelled clean and she was destined to sniff her way through it to find out who it was. 

With my arm pressed up to this stranger’s nose, she took a big sniff, paused and openly shared her finding, “Yep, it’s you!”  That was it and she drove away feeling confident that she solved the fragrance case. 

Being on center stage I have to tell you, for the first time in my life I was relieved that I was the “good” littler stinker.  Thank you Lord for the blessing of clean water for bathing! 


What again, really Lord?  What is this about people and their unauthorized sniffage?  She’s the second lady to do that in a store this year, besides hubby back in June when we first talked about relationships?  This could easily turn into a complex issue. 

The mystery lady continued down the aisle driving toward hubby.  Still laughing about what happened he lifted his armpit and said to the woman, “You wanna sniff?”   

I’m so glad I wasn’t standing next to him at that time! Not because he smelled or anything, but because I would have had to popped him one for making the ordeal even more humiliating.  What’s a wife to do, right? 

Without stopping she smiled and emphatically replied, “No thanks.” Rolling past him leaving all of us sort of in a stupor, we watched her turn onto the main aisle to continue shopping. 

That was probably a wise choice on her part. I don’t know how much of a sweet aroma she would have received about then. Now I’m not sure which embarrassed me more, getting sniffed or hubby offering to be sniffed! 

Garden Ties 

Relationships are funny aren’t they?  We never know how they may form, how long some will last or what the circumstance will be that creates interactions among living creatures. One thing we do know is that in all of them something about God’s creation can be identified. 

When I was working through my notes I asked the Lord to give me something I could share, He just happened to choose a humorous incident as a “garden tie”.    

Ten Blessings of Eden 
 
Moving along the garden gate, this week we’ll look at two more of the blessings of Eden.  If you haven’t read the first blessings discussed you can here.  



Seventh Blessing One of the best blessings that shows the favor of God toward His creation is the gift of fresh water. 

Besides having water to bathe in, no one would ever go thirsty physically, because God provided clean water for every living thing in the form of flowing rivers. 

“Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.” (Genesis 2:10 NKJV) 

However, the flowing waters also have a different meaning spiritually.  If we glance back a few verses the Lord tells us that the earth received nourishment from the dew that came from the ground, because there was no need for rain at that time.   

“… before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth.” (Genesis 2:5 NKJV) 

The blessing of water in the Garden was to serve the physical body, soul (emotion/thinking) and eternal spirit.  The dew took care of the plant life, while the rivers of Eden washed over the body, soul and spirit. 

Often times when scripture talks about water it is referring to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of a believer.  In Hebrew, rain and teaching are the same word, so when our spirit is watered or bathed in the Word, it is the Holy Spirit “raining” down on us in His teaching and Wisdom for a situation.  The ancient prophets spoke of the wisdom of God as “rivers in a dry or desert place.”  For believers to operate in wisdom we need the watering of the Spirit of God daily. 

Ezekiel described the river (wisdom) that flowed from the temple transforms the desert which is our unlearned spirit. (See Ezekiel 37)  Wisdom was the eye opener to the mysteries, blessings and favor beginning in Eden enabling us to see Jesus as the Anointed One.   

Without the Holy Spirit we could not comprehend or draw near to God.  We would be blinded from the truth.   

As believers and Children of God, we have the access to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit flowing through our desert souls bringing refreshment as we fellowship in relationships with the Lord and one another. 

Jesus often taught about Living Waters and those who drank of it would thirst no more.  Through the Messiah fountains of wisdom would flow around the throne of God being poured out like water in the Holy place.  It was a symbol of the Garden of Eden being restored to “Adam” – all the living in the Heavenly City. (See Revelation 22) 

Moving on to the next blessing, were you able to connect the gift of Jesus’ birth to the Garden of Eden from last week’s think challenge? 
 
 

Eighth Blessing – God provided a source of wealth for the future economy.  Gold, bdellium and onyx stone (precious minerals and gems) filled the earth in the surrounding bodies of water (the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel [Tigris] and the Euphrates rivers.) 

“The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.  And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.  

The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.” (Genesis 2:11-14 NKJV) 

The things that were found in the Garden of Eden are symbolic of what was to come in this world and how the LORD would restore His relationship with man.  They are sometimes referred to as “double references” as in parables or other meanings to what has been said. 

It would take a long time to explain the rivers significance here, but let me share this. 

Everything that would be eternally needed for man, animal and the universe was provided in the beginning.  Even the gifts that would be presented to Jesus when He was born to a virgin, and the new Eden for when we one day are reunited in Heaven had been factored into measure at the time of creation. 


When Jesus spoke on the cross "It Is Finished" it wasn't only concerning His dying, but about day seven of creation where restoration of the relationship of God and man would be made complete. 
 

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 
 
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV) 

In order for the relationship between God and His creation to live on throughout eternity, the tools that were needed had to be established before anything was created. 

 
The treasures of Eden provided more than blessings of physical and spiritual wealth.  The grace, unmerited favor of God gave us Living water of salvation poured out through the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus.   

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of Living water." (John 7:38 NKJV) 

The river of life is available to all who will believe in Jesus as the Son of God.  One day those who trust in Him as Savior will be reunited in His Garden – which is … the NEW JERUSALEM. 

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life …  

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:1-2a & 17 NKJV) 

Is your soul thirsting for something this world cannot quench?  That sniffer lady in the supermarket recognized a scent on me represented by soap and water for the body; she had no idea of the cleanliness of my spirit. 

Do you want that inside and outside feeling of being truly clean of all unrighteousness that separates a person from having a relationship with God?  Then let the Living Water Garden blessing flow through your soul, and the mercy (favor) of God will fill you right where you are.  Pray.  

Together let us rejoice as we await that glorious reunion where we will resume Life in God’s Garden by saying, “Come Lord Jesus!” 

The grace (favor) of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the Saints until that day. 

Think on This Challenge:
Water, the True Gold of This World 

Water is the true wealth in this world, without it there would be no life at all.  Without life there isn’t a need for gold and it would be deemed worthless. 

The Bible tells us that Heaven uses gold to pave its streets, so why are we decorating ourselves and “things” with pavement? 

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:21 NKJV) 

Our think on this challenge begs this question: If there was no need for gold as a measure of wealth, what would you do with it? 
 

Come Living Water (Fill Me) by Bob Carlisle
 
Honoring a servant of God – Happy Birthday Bob Carlisle!
(His birthday September 29th - the day this published) 

 
More beautiful Living Waters songs to fill your heart with blessings.
 
Rivers of Living Waters by Canaan’s Crossing

Living Waters by Keith & Kristyn Getty 

Living Water by Gateway Worship
 

P.S. If you see me on the street, please don't sniff me :)
 
If this article has encouraged or helped you, please consider sharing it by using the social media icons provided at the end of this post.
 

Until next time, water is God’s favor on life! 

“Drink the Living Water and live favored.”
Jesus Christ
 

*Unless noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy. 

Note: Emphasis is given in some scriptures to show clarity or understanding and is not to take away from the inspirited Word of God. 

Disclaimer: Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness. 

What’s New This Week: Click on the photo or link.


Prose, Poems and Prayers Celebrating the Love of Gardening
 
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