This week explored the divine pattern of seeking and finding in ordinary places. Sunday's study examined two women in grief—Ruth gleaning in Boaz's field, Mary weeping at an empty tomb—who encountered God's renewal where they least expected it. Both began with devastating loss. Both stayed faithful when they could have walked away. Both found that God writes resurrection stories in fields and gardens, through ordinary providence and personal encounter. Friday's seminar centered on Philippians 3:10—the hunger to know Christ, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. We explored how the deepest hunger isn't for answers or certainty, but for intimacy with God Himself. The devotional addressed the garden of desire—how we reach toward things that can't satisfy us, and how exposure to God's character slowly reorients our reaching from shadows toward light. Throughout everything ran a single thread: what we're hungry for determines where we reach, and God transforms our desires not through willpower but through His presence.

"This is the last time." How many times have you said that to yourself—about that comfort you reach for, that pattern you can't seem to break, that desire that keeps winning? If you're tired of the cycle, this devotional is for you. The problem isn't that you have desires. We're designed to want, to reach, to long for things. The problem is we're reaching toward shadows instead of light. Using a simple plant bending toward sunlight, this week's message explores how desire works, why good things become destructive when they become ultimate things, and the liberating truth that change doesn't come through willpower—it comes through exposure. When you spend time in God's presence, your desires slowly reorient. Not because you're trying harder, but because proximity to the real Light changes what you want. The question isn't "Have I arrived at perfect desires?" The question is: "Am I reaching toward the light?"

This week we set Psalm 63:1-8 to music—David's prayer of desperate hunger for God written in the wilderness of Judah. It's the psalm for everyone who's learned that satisfaction doesn't come from circumstances but from proximity to God Himself. David moves from thirsting in a dry land to being satisfied as with marrow and fatness, from seeking earnestly to clinging to God in the shadow of His wings. The music mirrors this journey—starting sparse and yearning like the desert itself, gradually building as David discovers that God's lovingkindness is better than life. This is the prayer for those who've reached toward shadows and found them empty, now reaching toward the only Light that satisfies.

This week's study concluded our series "God's Heart for the Hurting" by examining two parallel accounts of renewal through loss. Ruth chapters 1-2 showed a widow moving from famine and death in Moab to gleaning in Boaz's field—ordinary providence bringing extraordinary redemption. John 20:1-18 showed Mary Magdalene moving from weeping at an empty tomb to hearing her name spoken by the risen Christ. Seven key observations emerged: both begin with loss and honest sorrow, both women stay faithful when they could walk away, both encounter God through what seemed ordinary (a field, a gardener), both experience a turning point when grace becomes personal, and both move from bitterness to blessedness. The pattern is clear: God writes resurrection stories in every generation. Sometimes it's a garden, sometimes a field, sometimes a voice, sometimes a kind word. We rarely see His hand in the moment, but later when we look back, we recognize He never left us. Faithfulness in the ordinary is the soil of new beginnings.

Building on this week's theme of encountering God in ordinary places, we've created "Fields and Gardens: Sacred Spaces of Divine Encounter"—a contemplative biblical exploration tool. This interactive resource guides you through six key locations in Scripture where fields and gardens became places of divine encounter. Explore Boaz's field where Ruth's loss became provision, Jacob's fields where twenty years of faithful labor under injustice became blessing, and the Field of Blood where betrayal money bought rest for strangers. Journey through Eden's garden where intimacy was lost and promised, Gethsemane's garden where surrender led to salvation, and the Resurrection garden where Mary's grief became joy when Jesus spoke her name. Each location reveals what was lost, what was sought, and how God met them there. The tool includes pattern recognition showing common threads across Scripture and ends with personal reflection: Where is your "field" or "garden" right now?

This week's seminar explored deep longings that go beyond material wants—the hunger for connection, meaning, peace, and adventure. The evening centered on Philippians 3:10: "To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." The discussion unpacked each phrase: the hunger to know God intimately (not just know about Him), the paradox of fellowshipping in His sufferings (why pain draws us closer), and what it means to be conformed to His death (dying to self daily). Participants shared personal testimonies of how God uses suffering to reorient desires, how the night season serves a purpose, and how staying in the Word—even when it's difficult—becomes the means of encountering Him. Lindy shared her discovery that the Hebrew word for "apple" in Song of Solomon (tappuach) derives from a root meaning "to breathe/blow," referring to its fragrance—connecting to the idea of all Scripture being God-breathed. The overwhelming response throughout: the deepest hunger isn't for circumstances to change but for God Himself.

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