Last year, I read an ebook by Kate Austin which blew me away!
It is now published, and will be available at our Activate Emerge weekend away.
The Garden is an allegory of the intimacy shared with God as Father within His Garden as one of His co-workers.
Kate has been to many Activate conferences over the years, bringing with her beautiful Christian cards which she painted herself. She is obviously a very talented artist. However, I didn’t realise her creativity extended to her writing skills.
This book illustrates, in such a beautifully expressive way, God’s love for us in all circumstances. She encourages us to read it gently and slowly, so perhaps one thought a day would be a good idea. I’m afraid I started and couldn’t put it down until I’d read it through! I do need to re-read it and take it a day at a time!
Here is a taste of Kate’s writing:
The wild wooded walk was devastated. A heavy silence pressed against me as I plodded, one foot in front of the other, my eyes wide and stinging. Branches hacked off at their trunks, climbing vines drooped across the path with nothing to cling to. I stepped over the stems of snapped foxgloves that lay bleeding on the ground, clutching my cup of tea to my stomach and gaping at the destruction around me. A group of dried looking sticks protruded, brown and shredded, where the buddleia had been just about to bloom.
No!
Stately daisies lay trampled, their faces in the dirt. Red and pink Campion huddled in crumpled clumps, battered and broken.
I stared without breathing. The toil and the joy of the garden draining through my feet.
What happened? Why? Who would do this?
I am sure The Garden will inspire those of you who lead small groups with ideas. It will help you to understand God’s love, protection and guidance – maybe in a new way.
Come and chat to Kate about her book at the weekend away in April! She will have signed copies and art cards for sale.