The Garden by Pamela McCormick

THE GARDEN by Pamela McCormick

“And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” (I Come To The Garden Alone by C. Austin Miles 1912)

I had been going through a trial and I did not feel God close. I even had thoughts that He had abandoned me. It was a week before Easter; I heard that our church had set up a prayer garden with stations set up where I could seek God and pray. I did not know what this prayer garden would yield when I went.

The first stop was the cross. The huge wooden cross was so tall. I fell to my knees and wept. My pants were tan, and the mulch was dark, almost black, but I just knelt anyhow and cried many tears. I wanted to say so much to God, but I had no words. My eyes were drawn to some purple and yellow pansies growing near the foot of the cross. I started smiling. Such delicate, tiny flowers, but oh, so beautiful. I got up and moved towards the next prayer station. It was just a short distance away. I saw two squirrels chasing each other up a tree and heard a bluebird singing a song. My smile grew bigger.

As I moved to the next prayer station, I saw some pink and white dogwood trees. The wind was blowing slightly, and the trees swayed as if they were dancing, causing their petals to fall on the path in front of me. The path was covered with a tapestry of pink and yellow petals, and I felt like a bride walking down the aisle of a church on her wedding day to see her groom.

All this because I listened and went where the Lord wanted me to go. It was a moment I will never forget. All my doubts, fears, hurt didn’t matter. God met me in the garden and reminded me that He loved me.

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 NIV)

Every girl dreams of being married in a church dressed in white with petals of flowers under her feet as she goes to her groom. As I became pregnant before marriage, I was not allowed to wear white or get married in a church. But He was going to make me smile that day in the garden and provide what hadn’t happened very specially. He’s so good.

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10 NIV)

Pam McCormick is an aspiring writer who recently retired from teaching in the public school and community college setting and still enjoys tutoring Algebra at the local library. Pam had a story, “The End,” published in Isothermal’s magazine, The Mentor, in December, 2014. Pam was also published in December 2016 in collaboration with eight other authors to write a devotional book, Ancient Stones Timeless Encouragement. Pam is a member of the Encouragers’ Christian Writers’ Group that meets monthly. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and tent camping with her husband, watching old time westerns, doing crossword puzzles and spending time with her daughter in Kentucky and her son, his wife and granddaughters, Merryn and Charlotte in Fuquay-Varina. Every other Sunday, she visits a nursing home and teaches a Bible study, feeling very blessed by God for this divine opportunity to share her love for her Savior. Pam has recently chosen to work on being more health conscious by eating a better diet and exercising more. Although tough times have come along her journey with God, she finds solace in the Truth that God is always there, just a prayer away, ready to help her get back up on her feet and start afresh. You can contact her at pjmc411@gmail.com.

Let your manner of living be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” ~Hebrews 13:5 NKJV

Photo by Karen Ruhl

Photo by Karen Ruhl

Photo by Karen Ruhl