Back to the Garden

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October 02, 2012

Just days before departing for Israel to join the Aglow 2012 Solidarity Journey, Susan Lasserre was connected with a Spirit-filled woman at her job at the Jackson County (Mississippi) Services Complex.  Learning of her upcoming trip,  her co-worker logged into the Aglow website and discovered that each person traveling on the journey was to bring a stone from their home town for the prayer time the group would have at the Garden of Gethsemane.  She presented Susan with a large iridescent stone which resembled a tear drop.  The stone seemed appropriate after all their city had been through for the past seven years, rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Though the storm raged all around her, Susan's home was miraculously spared.  She reports, "My house was the only one standing untouched on my street by Katrina.  We had yard debris but not a shingle was missing.  Just 2 days before Katrina, we buried my brother from West Nile infection and we saw our protection as God's providential hand over our home. Our county offices were damaged, but my home did not have to be rebuilt."

When the day finally came for the prayer time at the Garden of Gethsemane, the five women in Susan’s group joined hands, each placing their stone in the center of their assembled palms. The five women took turns releasing declarations and prayers over her nation which the rocks represented.  The nationality of the woman reflected the worldwide influence of Aglow International, as there were two women from Canada, two from the United States, and one from the nation of Oman joined together in prayer.

Susan was overwhelmed by the power that flowed through her hands and arms as she experienced the power of the combined stones, prayers, and declarations they had just made. Her tear drop stone was on top of the others, and she felt as if God was sealing the prayers of the group with the tears of His Son, standing in the same place where Jesus Himself wept 2000 years ago.

The group placed the rocks representing their faith promises at the base of a nearby tree in the Garden.  It was at that moment that Susan felt a sense of divine destiny. God had brought her 5,000 miles to be a part of this beautiful expression of faith, hope and love.  Just as her city was once beautiful, then devastated by the storm, and now is being rebuilt, she thought of the first love God had for His children in the garden.  Destruction came on the earth because of sin, and now God is bringing His children back into right relationship with Himself - back to the garden.

Start making plans now to join Aglow as we travel to Israel April 29 – May 8, 2013 for another journey of a lifetime <<Israel 2013 Journey>>.