What brings me hope
Spending time in the Garden of Hope
By Rosalind Tompkins
Special to the Outlook
Turning Point International Church is celebrating 25 years this year. The official kick-off is the third Sunday of July, but we celebrate all the way through September. This year in honor of our 25th anniversary, we officially opened Mother Louise’s Garden of Hope. It was a particularly moving memorial in honor of my mother, the late Louise Clark.
We named the garden after my mother because she was truly a gardener at heart. She had a “green thumb” and could make plants and flowers blossom and grow beautifully. I would often try and grow plants like she did, and they would all die a slow and painful death. I would then shake my head and say, “Well, I guess I didn’t get that gene from her.”
When we decided to grow a garden with grass, flowers, trees, and shrubs we had to start over from the vegetable and herb garden that we planted right before the COVID-19 pandemic. We partnered with the University of Florida and planted greens and broccoli with radish and a few other vegetables in hopes of someday becoming a community garden. We actually produced a good crop and distributed it among our people.
It was hard work and when the pandemic came there wasn’t anyone who could keep it running smoothly so we decided not to plant anymore. I knew that we should do something with the land behind the chapel, but I did not have the anointing to maintain the vegetable garden. One day when I was sitting outside in the back of the church, I experienced a profound feeling of peace over me and I began to cry.
I looked around at the beautiful trees and that’s when I saw in my mind’s eye the garden of hope. I thought about Genesis 3:8 in the Bible how God would meet with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. I shared the vision with TPIC members, and they could see it too. A garden where people could come and sit with nature and experience peace and the presence of God.
Everything came together and we established Mother Louise’s Garden of Hope and surprisingly, I caught my mother’s gardening spirit. I thoroughly enjoy taking care of the flowers, plants, shrubs, grass, and trees as well as spending time in the garden. As TPIC celebrates our 25th anniversary there is still time to come and sit and have tea in the garden of hope with us. To schedule a time or to make a donation please call (850) 580-7743 or visit www.tpicchurch.net.
Rosalind Tompkins, Ph.D., is author of “As Long As There Is Breath In Your Body, There Is Still Hope,” and other inspirational books. Tompkins is also founder of Turning Point International Church, the Chapel of Mothers In Crisis. She’s also founder of Turning Point International Alliance with ministries and churches in Pakistan, Nepal, Eswatini, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, and St. Vincent in the West Indies.
