Notes From the Potting Bench

EVERYTHING that God does starts as a seed and ends with a harvest. 

Time, money, talent, prayers, love, friendship, votes, words ~ they're all seeds.  

Follow His example and sow today what you want to reap tomorrow.



 

Counting My Blessings,

xo Susy

I'm sharing today at Charlotte's

Spiritual Sundays

and Barbie's

The Weekend Brew

Notes from the Potting Bench #3

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Edited for My Favorite Thing @ Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I'm so very grateful for the ladies of my Life Group ~ we really DO do life together.

Twice a month, on Monday evenings, you'll find my living room packed with women of various ages and backgrounds.  They come early and stay late (sometimes continuing their conversations outside long after I've turned off the lights.)

They have their favorite spots to sit.

  Some like the sofas near the coffee table. 

Others like the comfy chairs back in the "loge" section

 

 While the group was originally formed around

 our mutual interest in business (and still is)

 

 we can not escape the challenges of relationships, finances or health issues

 

A few have come and gone, but the core group

 has been together for several years now

 

 Over time we've lost parents, marriages, businesses, jobs, and houses.

  One lost her infant son.

On the other hand, some have grown their business,

 found meaningful employment, and written books

we've been healed from cancers, and restored to families

We've cried, laughed, been inspired, hugged and clung.
  We look to each other for strength, support,
 understanding and accountability

We sing, we study, we pray - oh how we pray. 

 I think the best part is seeing how this group of women

has learned to pray in faith, and see their prayers answered

 

I've watched them stabilize, mature, cross over their "red seas",

be transformed and then, in some cases, move on.

  It is an honor to be considered their leader

 and to have the privilege of sowing into their lives.

Collectively, they are one of the joys of my life,

  ...and the reason I still put up a Christmas tree (:

Counting My Blessings,

xo Susy 

 If you're looking for me, I'll be over at

My Favorite Thing

Notes from the Potting Bench #2

SEED SOWERS ~

A wise man once told me, "Your life goes where your mouth leads you".

Did you now that your words are like seeds.  In fact they are seeds, and the soil they are planted in is our heart.  Words are powerful ~ they can build up or tear down, be a blessing or a curse, shape our future and determine our destiny.

It's important to consider three things 

• what we say about ourselves
• what we speak over the lives of others
• what's been spoken over us

As harvest time approaches, I'm considering the seeds that have been planted in the field of my heart ~ just checkin' to make sure they're going to produce a good crop.

* * * * *
 "All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today"

Where are your words leading you?

Counting My Blessings,

xo Susy

I'm sowing and growing at 
Spiritual Sundays

Notes from the Potting Bench

I BELIEVE
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows.
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows.
I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come
To show the way
I believe, I believe.

Remember that song?  I heard it recently
 and it brought to mind something I hadn't thought about for years.

 It was when I was still in Healthcare back in the 80's, in a new supervisory position

 and working on my relationship with a gaggle of 20 women (oy!)

 

One morning a new-hire came to my office to tell me she needed to leave work
 to go to the hospital; her daughter had been in a horrible car accident,
 and was on life-support equipment.

 Although I don't remember the details of how it unfolded, I remember knowing 

that I was suppose to go to the hospital and pray for her daughter.

 
The next day my employee marched me through a waiting room full of family members like a visiting dignitary and right into the ICU room.  I remember explaining that although her daughter was unconscious and on breathing apparatus,  I believed she could hear me and that I was going to talk to her, quietly, in her ear.

Only one problem ~ I wasn't sure what I was going to say!
 
Then, just as I was leaning down to speak into her ear and introduce myself, I heard a voice in my heart say,  "Tell her that I'm not mad at her".  Wow. Okay.

I leaned down, told her my name and that I was a friend of her mother's and that God wasn't mad at her.  In fact He loved her so much that He sent someone to tell her.  And that if she wanted to receive that Love called Jesus, then all she had to do was say "yes" in her heart.

At that very moment she took a deep breath on her own.

Her mom gasped and kinda freaked ~ but I knew what had happened

 - she'd said "yes".

I didn't ask what might have occurred to make this young women think

 that the car accident was God's way of punishing her (which it wasn't).

  She never regained consciousness, and three days later they took her off life-support.

* * * * *
...for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows...

I'm sure lots of raindrops, in the form of tears, fell for that young lady.
  But I believe when I get to Heaven she'll be there, and I'm grateful
I was able to show the way

 I'd forgotten that Elvis recorded this song ~ if you'd like to listen, here's the link

I Believe 

Counting My Blessings

xo Susy

I'm joining
Charlotte at Spiritual Sundays