Hope Weekly 3-4-13

Gardening with Pastor Barb

Spring is in the air and Easter eggs are everywhere! It's my favorite time of the year. I can't wait for my yard to start to grow and bloom again. People say we don't have seasons here in Phoenix but I think we do. What with those couple of days of frost so many of the plants in my yard look like they've had a hard life, not that they are treasured, watered, pruned, enjoyed and even loved as they grow. I've gone out to start to clean up the mess that winter left only to see, weeds growing like crazy and many of my beautiful plants suffering, but my hope is in the Lord. So I cut away that which has no life and clean up the dead leaves from the ground, knowing in my heart He can make all things new and beautiful again.

But enough about my yard, the reason I share my hope for my yard is because it's that same hope I have for all things living here on Earth. We all have seasons in our life. Some are long, cold and hard, others short, warm and sweet but none the less ever changing. I can't change a thing in my yard. I can clean up and make the best of it and wait for God to make it grow again. Sometimes He calls us to look at our lives that way too. I choose to look out and see what my yard can be, not what it is today.

Personally this has been a wonderful winter season for me and my family. My son returned home to Hawaii with his wife after 8 months serving our country in the war. My daughter's husband just finished at ASU and we are hoping to adopt our 2 foster sons very soon if that's God's will for them.

Whether this is a good season in your life, or a hard one, put your trust in the creator of the universe. Look at your life as a gardener looks at his garden. What's holding you back? What needs trimming? Do you have some frost bite? Try to see your life like God does, full of amazing seasons that will forever change you, and lead you to your perfect destiny... Heaven with Him!

Please pray for the Egg Hunt and our Easter service. Ask God to use it to reach His lost people, in their season of great need. That we might come along side them and share the Hope that He has for all His Kids!

Grow in Grace,

Pastor Barb

Children are the living message we are sending to a time we'll never see.