PUNISHMENTS WERE OFTEN general in Ravensbruck. Once we suddenly (continued)
9. No Wilderness, the Lord's Garden "YOU MUST TICKLE the hand of God before He is willing to help you," said a prisoner who was sitting on the bed behind me.
"No, girl, that is not true. When you really know the Lord, you know that He is far more ready to bless us than we are ready to ask for His blessing. He loves us. The Bible says, 'You are God's field'" (see 1 Corinthians 3:9 Rsv). The great preacher and writer C. H. Spurgeon expresses this very clearly: Oh, to have one's soul as a field under heavenly cultivation, No wilderness, but a garden of the Lord, walled around by grace, Planted by instruction, visited by love, Weeded by heavenly discipline, guarded by divine power. One's soul thus favored is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God.
A garden does not do much. It does bring forth fruit and flowers. But the one who has the responsibility is the gardener, and it is He, our Gardener, who blesses us, surrounds us with grace, and disciplines us. Whether we are willing or not, He does the job. On our part it is necessary to surrender, and then He makes His garden from the wilderness of our lives. It is wonderful what He is willing and able to do. o20