Taken Care Of...

I have to share a little secret desire - I would love to have a garden. Not just one garden but three.

*Flower Garden* How wonderful to sit outside in the morning with a cup of coffee during my QT or entertaining family and friends.
*Veggie and Fruit Garden* To teach my boys that carrots and strawberries do not grow at the grocery store.
*Herb Garden* I'd love to step outside and snip what I need while I am cooking.

The only thing that stands in my way is that all important green thumb! I wonder if that can be a learned skill? I have so many stories of plants coming to their demise on my watch. After several attempts to keep anything alive I finally gave it all up. In May we bought some Geraniums (see picture above) and until vacation they thrived. Even though they were being watered, they were practically dead when we got home from Colorado. Once home from Savannah I tried one last attempt to revive them by deadheading the plants down to the stem. No luck, they were D-E-A-D. I am embarrassed to admit that the very dead plants remained in their pots for several weeks (if you notice in this pic and this one I cropped them out so no one would know I have dead plants in my front yard.). It make me laugh that I was worried about the people reading my blog noticing the dead plants but I wasn't even concerned about my poor neighbors seeing them every day. Just sad! :o)

Something happened on September 9th -the plants that had not been watered in FIVE weeks (except for the very rare rain shower) were getting buds and new leaves!! What was this -a miracle - a little smile from God? The pictures above were taken Wednesday, just 10 days earlier they were dried up brown sticks - still just shocking to me!

Over the last week I have been trying to see what God is trying to teach me through this little unexpected gift. I have realized He is trying to show me that He is in control of this great big world and all we have to do is trust in Him to lead the way. Easy to say I believe this - but do I live it out in my actions?

It is easy for me to pray for others when they have uncertainties in their life and I believe in my heart that God is in control. If Jeremy is stressing about something, I confidently tell him to give it to God because He is the only one who can guide him through whatever is going on. It is not just the easy "Christian thing to say" - I honestly believe it. But this belief does not always translate into my own life when things feel out of control. Instead of praying first, I tend to freak out and let my over active imagination take control. You will see evidence of this in this coming Mondays post. Meredith had a post last Friday that really hit home. When she said "calm isn't really my first response" I laughed out loud because that is so me!

All this to say, I feel like God was trying to say"Even when things feel out of control or that there is no hope in a situation" trust in Him enough to take a deep breath, pray and then let Him take control of whatever it is that I am facing.

"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen."

Philippians 4:19-20