"I recently watched the movie The Secret Garden with my youngest
daughter. It's a story of a young troubled girl who grew up angry and
bitter because she was ignored and not shown love from her parents.
Her parents died so she went to live with the only family she had left.
Her uncle, the master of the home, was also grieving the loss of his
wife, who was the twin sister of the girl’s mother. Although she had
been gone for years, he fell into a state of sickness and sadness from
which he struggled to recover. As a result, he stayed away from his
home. Once again, the young girl was neglected.
The once-gorgeous and vivacious castle estate where they lived
was now a cold, unwelcoming place of grief and sorrow. The little girl
discovered a key that led to the entrance of a secret garden that had become
forbidden for anyone to enter. But the little girl and her friendly
companion, a boy of one of the servant’s, secretly snuck in and began
to restore the garden to life. They worked the ground, extracting the
weeds and planting seed after seed of different flower species.
One day, the little girl heard a lonely cry and discovered another
secret within the castle walls—the master’s ten-year-old son. He had
been hidden away, bedridden and imprisoned within his dark chambers
and held captive within his own home for his entire life.
Although he was the same age as the little girl, he had never gone outside
in the sunlight. His windows were boarded shut, and few were permitted
to enter his room. The boy and all who knew him, except this little girl,
believed he was sick and dying, having inherited the sickness of his father.
The little girl and boy became friends. Over time, she exposed the
truth to the boy, that he wasn’t sick and dying. He was merely weak and
had been fed a lie, concealing his true nature.
The little girl helped the boy to grow strong in faith and escape the restraint
of his boarded life. She exposed him to the light and shared her secret
garden with him. The boy took his first steps in that garden and grew to
really live, just like the seeds that were planted.
Like the little girl, the boy had also grown up feeling unloved and
unwanted by his father, who was always away. He cried out for him to
come back home one day and stay.
Miraculously, the father felt the cry of his son’s heart and returned
home to find him walking, playing, and fully alive in the secret garden.
The two were reunited in love, and the little girl was also finally accepted
and loved by the master as well.
Together as a family, they came out of the secret garden healed
and emerged beautifully from hiding. All saw the father and these
newly-healed children walking, playing, living, and loving again.
The once-forbidden secret garden was now made available to all. The terrible
grief and sadness were lifted off the castle, and peace and joy
returned to the land.
This inspiring story is true for God’s children as well. We all have
inherited pain, sickness, and death from our fallen parents, Adam and
Eve. However, much like the little girl who came to the crying boy, Jesus
hears our cries of bondage and comes to find us in our dark places.
He becomes our friend and promises life to us if we’re willing to leave
the agonizing comfort of our boarded walls and make the decision to
take a stand in faith and follow Him into the light. He takes us on a journey outside
the confinement that we’ve known so we can discover the hidden
secrets He wants to reveal. We’re invited to enter this sacred garden we
were once forbidden from only because Jesus made a way for us. He is
the key that unlocks the gate to the entrance of this glorious paradise.
Without Him, no one may enter. Behind these walls lies accessibility to
abundant and everlasting life beyond our wildest imagination. The secret
garden is a sacred place where magic happens and miracles grow.
Living unloved produces a cold, hard, heart of bitterness, anger,
and sorrow, but discovering this truth and the love of the friend we
have in Jesus brings healing to our bodies, restoration to our souls, and
eternal life to our spirits. Jesus sets us free from the lies of the enemy
and the curses inherited through Adam and Eve.
Upon receiving this key, we unlock the mystery of truth, escape
death, and enter into a new covenant of blessings, knowing we are
wanted, provided for, and loved throughout eternity by our Heavenly
Father. We emerge as He transforms us into who we were created to
be. We take on His beautiful nature and rejoice in singing, dancing,
laughing, playing, and planting while living in peace, having received
the key to the secret garden. We no longer live alone in the dark shadow
of fear and death. We walk in light, new life, and freedom.
Our bodies and our hearts are healed and cleansed of sickness and
lies. We become a blessed people, not cursed. This is how our loving
Father wishes to find His children when our Master returns for us.
We must learn to walk as children of light!
Walk in Light
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable
to the Lord (Ephesians 5:8–10 NKJV).
I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my
soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in
a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo
and a bride a jeweled tiara.
For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a
garden cascades with blossoms, So the Master, God, brings
righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before
the nations (Isaiah 61:10-11 MSG).
Just as the dark pupils of our eyes adjust and grow smaller in the
presence of light, so does the darkness within us grow dimmer as the
light shines brighter. God called for Adam in the Garden of Eden and
invited him to come out of hiding, reveal what he had done, and bring
it into the light so that He could cover both him and Eve. Now God is
calling us to step into the light so that we may emerge out of darkness.
He is calling us to become who we were created to be—His resurrected
beings, His bride.
As God plants His seed of faith, truth, and love within our hearts, we begin to
emerge, blooming and sharing the fragrance and beauty of our secret
garden with others.
Once we’ve received His kiss of life and entered into our secret garden
with God, He tends to us according to our individual needs as our
Gardener.
While we’re still here on Earth, we enter into intimacy with
Jesus and are constantly growing, maturing, and evolving into new life
until we reach our final destination in heaven—our eternal paradise.
His plan for us here on Earth is to produce a beautiful garden inside
of us, bringing forth tasteful fruit, vegetation, and shade for others to
benefit from and direct attention to His marvelous creation."
-Emergence: How to Experience Beauty and New Life in Dead and Dark Places,
Mistie House
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my award-winning book, Emergence.
For more Christian encouragement and to learn about all of my books, please visit my website at the link below.
Author Website:
Amazon Author Page:
God bless,
Mistie House
Award-Winning Christian Author| Illustrator | Podcaster
Sowing a Seed of Faith: Cultivating Christian Growth (sowing spiritual seeds)
Comments