"I want to build you a garden..."

The Mustard Tree Trust was having their annual Garden Party at a beautiful English country side home. The annual  Garden Party is large fund-raising event that gathers together  supporters from across Northumberland for a relaxing afternoon of tea and cakes. Mike Willis, our Senior Pastor,  thought it would be a great idea for us to tag along to meet and greet some of the amazing people of Northumberland. 

 I (Paul) woke up early that morning to help set up everything for the event that afternoon. I helped to set up tables, tents, and chairs. It was a pretty routine morning of light labour. I was doing my best to be helpful. It was a day like any other; except that all around me was the vast open English country side. When I took a momentary break from routine tasks, I would stare in wonder of the land that God has called us too. It was all very beautiful; the estate, the sun piercing through the clouds, and the garden. 

It was sometime during the morning that a song began to play in my head.  It started as a whisper. The song grew louder with every passing moment. I soon found myself humming the song, singing the song, and praying the song as was doing my assigned tasks. It was a song I was very familiar with, by one of my favourite worship leaders: Jason Upton.

Here it is: The Gardener's Song

The Gardener's Song

"I wanna build you a garden
In a dry and desert land
I'm gonna find a river there
I'm gonna find a river there

I have seen a garden grow
In a land filled with injustice
I have heard a mother's cry
For her child to live again

I have seen a withered soul
Fall like petals on the water
I have watched a flower grow
Slowly rising toward the sun

No one knows what God has seen
As humankind destroyed this Garden
With bleeding hands we'll plant the seeds
And He'll make all things new again
God will make all things live again"

This song became my prayer for our ministry here in England. It is a song of faith. It is a song of believing in the power of resurrection. It is a song that declares that in Christ there is a whole new world, the restoration of Eden; a new creation. It is a song that knows the deep truth that, 'God will make all things live again'. This was my song I sang all morning to myself. This is the song, that I believe, God was singing over me, and with me. 

I might have kept this to myself; as an after thought; as something to smile about every time I listened again to this song. 

BUT.

The LORD works in mysterious ways. 

A few days later....Kaylee and I were at congregational prayer (which occurs every Monday at 7:30pm). We gather each week at NLCC to be formed in the practice of prayer. Towards the end of our prayer time together the group that had gathered felt led to pray over Kaylee and I. People began to pray out-loud that God would give us direction in the days ahead, a vision for the  ministry in the church.  There was soon a quiet hush in the room. It was then that I noticed that off in the corner of the room, someone was reaching in their bag for a note. It was Emily Nicole, a wonderful lady in our church. She explained that she had been praying for Kaylee and I throughout this past week and this is what God had given her to say over the past week. She passed me this note:

It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

God couldn't have spoken more clearly to me.

"Build my garden" 

(The beauty of prophetic never ceases to amaze me.) 

Removing the rubble, weeds and rubbish. 

So I am taking this experience to pray over and ask the question: 

What are the weeds//rubbish//rubble that are blocking the 'sunshine and rain from heaven'?

A few things that came to mind:

• A distorted image of God 
• Incomplete faith (any separation of heart, soul, mind, and strength in the love of the Lord)  
• The wounds and pains of life
• Misunderstandings

(Feel free to add to this list below) 

Here is one such 'weed' (un-forgiveness) that I preached about this past Sunday. (Click here to listen) 

Thanks for reading,
Paul & Kaylee Walker