Creating my own Sanctuary...

[Vicky Jo Frescas]

OK. So I'm outside watering my seedlings that are getting ready to go into the beautiful garden that we've been building. It's a beautiful, hot (almost -summer) day in El Paso and I am feeling totally at peace. You see, I was working inside on a project (I work from home) and was getting a little stressed out - not to mention, I'd been sitting on my pregnant butt a little too long and needed to stretch my legs. So I went outside to go check on my little seedlings. Funny - but a little over 6 months ago you would have found me puffing on a cigarette on my back porch feeling happy to have one, but at the same time thinking about all the things I went outside to smoke and forget about.

So where was I?... Oh yes - my sanctuary. Well, while I'm out there watering, feeling all peaceful-like, I start thinking... "This is my Sanctuary." This thought comes hours after I was thinking how it was sad that I no longer live in Virginia where I can physically go to the beautiful Guardian Sanctuary that we have now been blessed with. :-)

What is the purpose of "The Sanctuary"? Well, according to our website it is "Refuge and Redemption." The definition of Refuge is: "Shelter or protection from danger, trouble, etc; a place of shelter, protection, or safety; anything to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape." And Redemption? "An act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed; Deliverance; rescue; Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation; Atonement for guilt."

Wow. Although I've been working with Jon and the whole Sanctuary project for quite a while now... these words really made me stop and do a "re-think." How meaningful those two words really are - and how perfectly they really do fit the whole vision of the Sanctuary. But they also perfectly describe my own little "Garden" sanctuary. It is a place for me to escape for a while - to find refuge. I also see it as (partly) my deliverance from smoking. It has helped redeem me from going outside to smoke (or wishing I could) to "rid" myself of my frustrations or problems. Smoking was a false Sanctuary. This is the real deal... it's also the place that alows me to slow down and listen to God speak. He doesn't always speak... but He did today.

Besides... I have a feeling that this sanctuary of mine is going to come in very handy once little Billy Ray makes his way into the world.