The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Six years ago when we started THE GARDEN, we chose this passage as the theme verse for our women’s ministry because it contains such great encouragement about God’s faithfulness.

A well-watered garden is a beautiful picture of what God imagines for our lives of faith – a lush, vibrant place where we are never left to wilt and never zapped of the strength needed to love God and serve others well.

We see two valuable messages in this amazing encouragement. First is to recognize God as our gardener and the ultimate source for everything we need. The God who has no needs, recognizes our needs and always provides. This requires us to trust God despite our own desire to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.

Second, we need to stay planted. One of the things we emphasis at our garden gatherings is our ongoing need for community – we need to be a part of weekly gatherings and regular small groups, we need to encourage each other and support one another, we need to share with each other our stories of God’s faithfulness. We are always better together as a sisterhood and as a church.

So today think of yourself as the well-watered garden the gardener God made you to be and thank Him for giving you everything you need to flourish and grow right where you are.