How Does Your Garden Grow?

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. And today, we hope you have a special guest listening with you, your dad, grandad, big brother, or another father figure. God can use the men in your life to help you understand your distinct worth as a girl. 

We’re exploring that very topic this season, one drive at a time. 

Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. In the last episode we saw that when we grow closer to Jesus, we better understand our value as women. So, how do we grow closer to Jesus? 

Dannah Gresh will help us find the answer to that question. Dannah and her husband, Bob, wrote a book titled 8 Great Dates for Dads and Daughters. At the end of today’s episode, Bob will invite you and your dad on one of those dates. To get all the details on how to make the most of that time, get a copy of 8 Great Dates for Dads and Daughters. 

Let’s get moving for season 2, episode 6, titled, “How Does Your Garden Grow?”

Here’s the cohost of True Girl, Staci Rudolph.

Staci Rudolph: Hey true girls, we have a really strange fun fact to share with you today. 

Dannah Gresh: That’s right. Today we’re talking about trees and water. You probably don’t know this, but I’m kind of obsessed with trees. So, I know a lot of random facts. I thought today I’d share one. 

Staci: Spill it. 

Dannah: Okay, trees can talk.

Staci: Dannah, you’re a woman I trust a lot so I’m not going to tune you out, but you’ve got some proving to do. 

Dannah: Understood. Let me bring in the experts. Meet Alex Metcalf, artist, inventor, and tree listener. Alex isn’t the only one trying to hear what’s going on inside of trees. Greg Hill from Maple Hill Tree Services has been listening for years. 

Staci: That’s something I’d like to hear some day. 

Dannah: Me, too. 

Staci: It would be super fun to hear them drink water. 

Dannah: Yes, but they also make a different sound when they don’t have enough water to drink. Trees don’t like running out of water. New research reveals that they make noise when they’re running out of water, and it’s a different one. It kind of sounds like a human gasping for breath. 

Staci: That’s so sad.

Dannah: What we’re really hearing is popping sounds inside the tree. They begin to occur when a tree’s desperately trying to lift water out of the ground. Now, I’d play it for you, but it’s pretty hard for the naked ear to hear. So, listen to this instead.

Staci: Ah, that’s refreshing. This reminds me of today’s power verses. Psalm chapter 1, verses 1–3, 

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

This verse tells us that we can be like trees planted by streams of water.

Dannah: That is so good, Staci. But what exactly does it mean to plant yourself by the water?

Staci: Well, a tree needs good soil and life-giving water, right? And when it has those things, it produces delicious things to eat. It’s fruitful. One of the best ways I’ve planted myself by the stream is by spending time reading the Bible in devotion to God. In fact, those verses in Psalms say we should delight in and meditate on God’s Word. That’s when we become fruitful, like a tree by a stream of water. 

Dannah: Which means?

Staci: Fruitful can mean that you’re not afraid to share your faith in Jesus with others or that others respond when you do share it. Or it could mean that you have the fruit of God’s Spirit in your life, like: gentleness, kindness, love, patience, those types of things. 

Dannah: Yeah, those things come more natural to me when I am spending time reading my Bible and asking God for help. In fact, we just did a one-month kindness challenge with our True Girl family a couple months ago. We spent a lot of time in God’s Word learning, “What does God’s Word say about being kind?” 

And you know what, Staci? The fruit of kindness grew in me during that time, it really did. 

Staci: That’s awesome, Dannah. I think most people find that the Lord uses the Word the most to train us and to change us. So, opening the Bible and just simply reading gives God a great opportunity to grow good fruit in us. 

Dannah: Yeah and our spirits won’t be like those thirsty trees, gasping for breath. 

Staci: Exactly.

Dannah: And we’ll keep growing. We’ve just got to be in God’s Word and it’s a little more than that, I have to say, because usually when the Bible mentions Living Water, it’s referring to Jesus Himself, or the Holy Spirit of God. In John 4, Jesus said that “those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (v. 14). 

Staci: So, if you want to be a well-watered tree that bears a lot of fruit, you have to have an active relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Dannah: Yes. It’s all about Jesus. We can read the Bible all we want, but unless we talk to Jesus about it and ask Him to help us understand it and help us grow from it, it won’t be that fresh bubbling spring of life-giving energy within us. 

Staci: Exactly, when I start reading my Bible I always pray. That’s the first thing I do. I want God’s Spirit to get me ready to read it, to reveal things to me, and help me understand what I am reading. 

I like the fact that when we’re in the Word, we’re getting to know about God. That’s like hanging out with Him and knowing Him deeper and becoming His friend. 

Dannah: That is so cool. Staci, when I don’t read my Bible and don’t talk to Jesus in prayer, I’m grumpier. I feel less excited about life, and I think people around me can feel that. But when I spend time with Jesus, I’m energetic. I have a lot of ideas about how to spend my day and my time in a way that honors Jesus . . . and I think people can feel that. 

Bob Gresh: Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. 

Dannah: Hello Bob, how are ya?

Bob: I’m back, and I want to just comment on that, because I can tell a big difference in you when you’re in the Word. It’s a big difference in our marriage. 

Dannah: Yeah. I’m not grumpy on the days I’m in the Word. 

Staci: Well, what’s the dad/daughter challenge today, Bob? 

Bob: Well, our dad/daughter challenge today is planting. We’re going to plant something. Your dad will help you to decide what and where, but the thing is what you’re planting is just meant to be a symbol and a reminder to feed yourself with God’s Word in prayer. 

Dannah: Yeah, whether it's planting a sunflower seed outside to watch it grow or planting an Amaryllis bulb in a pot for your kitchen—something I like to do every winter—get planting! 

Bob: Talk to Jesus, the Living Water, every single day. And watch what happens as you grow. 

Dannah: Yeah. I’m so excited to see and hear what they grow. In March we sent sunflower seeds to over 1,000 true girls and their moms, and it was so fun to get photographs of those flowers blooming. Send us pictures of what you plant. Your mom and dad can help you. Email them to us through our website, MyTrueGirl.com or they can post them to our social media pages. 

Bob: Our yard is full of sunflowers right now.

Dannah: Yeah, it’s from those same sunflower packets. 

Bob: Oh really?

Dannah: Yeah. 

Bob: And there’s other flowers, trees, bushes, peacocks. 

Staci: What do peacocks have to do with anything right now? 

Bob: Nothing. I just like bringing them up. 

Dannah: Happy planting, true girl.

Staci: And happy watering. Above all else, don’t forget the Living Water.

Claire: Well, true girl I hope you’re excited to start growing. If you want to learn more ways to feed yourself with God’s Word, check out the book 8 Great Dates for Dads and Daughters, by Bob and Dannah Gresh. It contains father/daughter devotionals to help you kickstart a daily habit of being in your Bible and praying to Jesus. 

You can learn more about it at MyTrueGirl.com. When you’re there you can learn more about our True Girl subscription program. When you join, we’ll send you devos each month, along with a lot of other tools to help you and your mom grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. 

Again, you’ll find that at MyTrueGirl.com. Join us next time for the True Girl podcast when we start to learn to rely on Jesus for guidance. 

True Girl is produced in partnership with Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to know Jesus, the Living Water. 

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.