Rooted in Grace: Intuitive Gardening for Christian Women

40 | Rooted Moment - Grace in Progress: How God Works in the Middle Seasons

Rooted Moment: Grace in Progress
🌾 Episode Summary
In this short, tender Rooted Moment devotional, Sanda invites you to pause and breathe deeply in the “in-between” spaces of your life — the places where hope has been planted but the harvest hasn’t arrived yet.
Through Scripture, reflection, and a fresh story from her garden, she explores what it means to live Grounded in Gratitude while everything is still in progress.From clearing a small tree to make way for her new pottager garden, to tending ministry soil all weekend long, this episode reminds us of a healing truth:
God is present not just at the finish line, but in every unfinished moment.He delights in our participation, not our perfection.
This episode is a soft landing, a gentle whisper, and a holy pause for your soul.
🌸 What You’ll Hear
A moving reflection on the spiritual meaning of “clearing space”
Why progress — not completion — is often where grace does its best work
A guided visualization for recognizing God’s presence in your unfinished places
Simple garden + soul practices for the week
A grounding, hope-filled prayer
A warm invitation into the Advent in the Garden devotional journey
🌿 Key Scriptures
Ecclesiastes 3:1 — “There is a time for everything.”
Philippians 1:6 — “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”
🌾 Garden & Soul Practice
Garden: Visit a space you recently cleared and thank God for what’s beginning there.Soul: Write a short gratitude litany:
“Thank You for what is planted.Thank You for what is growing.Thank You for what is still becoming.”
✨ Rooted Moment Challenge
1️⃣ Capture a photo of something “in progress” this week2️⃣ Add 1–2 lines to your gratitude list3️⃣ Light a candle and pray for peace in your unfinished places
🌟 Advent Invitation — A Gift from My Garden to Yours
If your heart is longing for quiet, connection, and meaning this season, I’d love to invite you to join me for Advent in the Garden — a 25-day devotional of hope, peace, joy, and love.
You’ll receive:🌿 Short daily videos🌿 A printable Advent journal🌿 Garden-inspired practices🌿 Saturday live gatherings
This year, it’s my gift to you:✨ Just $5 — or whatever you can give.
We begin December 1.Come plant hope with me.👉 rootedingrace.me/advent
🌾 Key Quote from This Episode
“Grace is not waiting at the finish line — it’s living in the middle, shaping us in every unfinished place.”

39 | Planting Hope When the Season Shifts: Finding Gratitude and Grace in the Garden

As autumn fades and Advent approaches, Sanda invites you into a conversation about progress, purpose, and planting hope in the middle of change.
From chopping down an old tree to make space for a new pottager garden to building four raised beds with a circular one at the center, she shares how clearing, planning, and preparing the soil mirror the spiritual work of faith and surrender.
This episode launches the new G.R.A.C.E. Framework—a five-part rhythm for spiritual and practical growth—and begins with the first step: G = Grounded in Gratitude.Through stories from her garden and her ministry, Sanda reminds us that hope isn’t found in perfection but in progress, and that God redeems time “in the minutes we have, not in the hours we don’t.”
🌸 What You’ll Learn
How to stay grounded in gratitude when everything is “in progress.”
Why clearing space (in soil or soul) is often the first act of hope.
The power of recognizing God’s hand in unfinished places.
Simple garden + spiritual practices to anchor your week: planting herbs, leaving one task unfinished, lighting a candle of expectancy.
How gratitude becomes grace when it moves outward in generosity.
🌿 Key Scriptures
Psalm 65:9-11 (NIV) — “You crown the year with Your bounty.”
Romans 15:13 (NIV) — “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.”
🌾 Rooted Practice Challenge
1️⃣ Plant something small—indoors or out—as a symbol of hope.2️⃣ Name three areas of your life that are still “in progress,” and thank God for each one.3️⃣ Leave one thing unfinished this week on purpose; let grace fill the middle.4️⃣ Light a candle each night and pray, “Redeem my minutes, Lord.”5️⃣ Share one word of encouragement with someone waiting for their own harvest.
✨ Invitation — Advent in the Garden ($5 / Pay What You Can)
If your soul is craving stillness and beauty this season, join Sanda for Advent in the Garden—a 25-day devotional journey through Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
You’ll receive:🌿 Daily short videos + reflections🌿 A printable Advent journal🌿 Saturday live gatherings to reflect and pray
It’s Sanda’s Advent gift to you—offered for only $5 or whatever you can give.Come plant hope with her this December and discover how tending your soil can help you tend your soul.
👉 Sign-up link coming soon!
🌾 Key Quote
“I’m learning that time is redeemed in the minutes I have, not the hours I don’t. Progress is holy ground.”

38 | Rooted Moment - When Rest Becomes Prayer: A November Garden Devotional on Psalm 119 and Psalm 65

In this Rooted Moment, Sanda slows us down for a simple yet sacred truth: rest itself can become prayer.
Drawing from Psalm 65:9–11 and Psalm 119:169–170, she invites you to see your quiet garden—and your quiet soul—as places where the Gardener is still at work. Beneath South Texas soil, peas climb, collards stretch, onions strengthen, and God listens to every unspoken cry of the heart.
Through three gentle movements—Soften the Furrows, Feed the Roots, and Lift the Leaves—you’ll learn how rest, prayer, and growth intertwine as Advent approaches.
This short devotional companion to Episode 37 (The November Garden Examen) will help you breathe, listen, and let the soil of your spirit stay soft before the coming Light.
🌸 Key Takeaways & Highlights
Psalm 65 reminds us: God still waters and blesses even resting soil.
Psalm 119 shows us: prayer is often a cry for understanding, not perfection.
How “holy hush” and gentle work coexist in the late-fall garden.
Three Rooted Movements:1️⃣ Soften the Furrows – let prayer loosen hard ground.2️⃣ Feed the Roots – nourish hidden strength with Scripture.3️⃣ Lift the Leaves – turn toward Light and promise.
Practical garden + soul practices you can try this week.
🌿 Rooted Challenge
1️⃣ Read Psalm 119:169–170 each morning or night.2️⃣ Spend 10 quiet minutes outdoors—listen, don’t plan.3️⃣ Journal two lines: “Lord, this is my cry…” and “This is Your promise.”
🌟 Invitation to Advent in the Garden
Advent is almost here — and so is our 25-day journey of hope, peace, joy, and love.🌿 Join Sanda for daily videos, reflections, and simple garden practices that will help you root deeply in God’s presence this season.
👉Advent in the Garden Devotional - link coming soon! 
✨ Key Quote for Show Notes
“Rest isn’t silence; it’s conversation—the soil breathing prayers you can’t yet put into words.”

37 | The November Garden Examen: How to Reset Your Soul and Soil Before Advent

🌿 Summary / Episode Description
In this gentle transition between seasons, Sanda invites you into a November Garden Examen — a quiet, 5-pillar reflection for your soil and your soul.
While the garden rests (at least in theory), there’s still life stirring under the South Texas sky — peas and collards stretching, onions thickening, sage standing strong. Beneath it all, the Gardener is preparing the way for new birth.
Through the five pillars — Remember, Release, Restore, Root, and Rejoice — Sanda helps you look back with gratitude, let go with grace, and lean forward with vision. This episode is both a sacred pause and a soft preparation for what’s coming next: Advent in the Garden, a 25-day devotional experience of hope, peace, joy, and love.
Come walk the garden paths of reflection, rest, and renewal. The year may be closing, but God’s work in you is just beginning.
🪴 Episode Highlights
Psalm 65:9–11 — “You crown the year with Your bounty.”
The quiet tension between rest and readiness
What the South Texas garden teaches about faith that keeps working underground
How to practice a personal “Garden Examen” before Advent begins
Why work can be a form of holy rest when done with vision and grace
Five Pillars for your November Reset:🌾 Remember | Look back with gratitude🌾 Release | Let go of what’s done🌾 Restore | Let God refresh the ground🌾 Root | Reconnect with the Source🌾 Rejoice | Celebrate the faithfulness
🌸 Rooted Practice Challenge
1️⃣ Remember — Write one gratitude line for every month of this year.2️⃣ Release — Compost one plant, one worry, or one perfectionist thought.3️⃣ Restore — Take one true Sabbath hour outdoors.4️⃣ Root — Write your 2026 “Vision & Values” page in your journal.5️⃣ Rejoice — Light a garden candle and thank God aloud for sustaining you.
🌟 Coming Soon: Advent in the Garden
Beginning December 1, join Sanda for a 25-day devotional experience that weaves daily videos, Scripture reflections, and simple garden-inspired practices around the four themes of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
Each day will help you slow down, notice beauty, and rediscover God’s gentle presence in your own backyard.
🌿 Sign up to the email list to be the first one to get the regisration link! Subscribers get a FREE Yearly Garden Calendar!
🎁 Includes a free “Day One” sample download when you join!
🌾 Key Quote from the Episode
“Even rest, for a gardener, is never idle; it’s intention in disguise. Work is an essential part of rest when the heart stays in rhythm with the Creator.”
🙏 Closing Prayer
“Lord of the Harvest, teach us to remember Your mercy,release what’s finished without fear,and let every plan we draw and every bed we widenbe an act of worship — a vision written plainly in faith.”

36 | Rooted Moment - Even Here, I Will Rejoice: Finding Peace, Presence, and Growth in the Winter Garden

📖 Scripture Anchor
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” — Habakkuk 3:17–19
🌿 Episode Summary
The harvest is over, the beds are quiet, and the air has turned cool—but God’s work in the soil (and in our souls) never stops. 🌾
In this tender Rooted Moment, Sanda invites you to pause between seasons, breathe deeply, and rediscover the quiet joy that grows in waiting.
Rooted in Habakkuk 3:17–19, this guided reflection and prayer will help you find peace in the “in-between” and recognize that even when the garden looks bare, God’s grace is still alive beneath the surface.
You’ll hear stories of peas, violas, and herbs pushing through cool soil in South Texas, and receive gentle encouragement for your own winter garden—inside and out.
🌾 In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
🌿 The spiritual meaning of “Even here, I will rejoice” from Habakkuk’s prayer
💧 How to find God’s presence in seasons of rest and waiting
🌸 Practical late-fall and winter gardening tips for hope-filled hands
🪴 A breath prayer and journaling reflection to nurture inner peace
✨ How hidden roots and quiet faith sustain new growth in your life
📖 Supporting Scriptures
Habakkuk 3:17–19 — Joy that defies circumstance
Psalm 126:5 — “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.”
Isaiah 30:15 — “In quietness and trust is your strength.”
Matthew 6:28–29 — “Consider the lilies…”
💛 Continue Growing
🌱 Visit the garden online: southernsoilsunshine.com — explore devotionals, garden guides, and printable reflections for your season of growth.
💬 Join the community: Share your faith and gardening journey with kindred spirits inside the Rooted Jesus Girls Facebook group.👉 Join here
🌾 Favorite Quote from the Episode
“The fig tree may not bud, but faith still blooms. God’s grace is alive beneath the surface—quietly, faithfully, beautifully.”

35 | Harvest & Heal: How to Find Grace, Gratitude, and Growth in Every Season

When the harvest looks smaller than you hoped and your heart feels tired, God still invites you to rejoice.In this deeply reflective episode, Sanda closes the Fall Growth Arch with the H-step — Harvest & Heal.
Standing in her South Texas garden after long rains, she watches new seedlings of peas, parsley, dill, violas, sage, and collards push through the soil and remembers: the cycle of grace never ends. From pickled green tomatoes saved from a garden long left behind to compost that feeds unseen life, every story in this episode mirrors the truth of Habakkuk 3 — even when nothing seems to bloom, the Gardener is still good.
You’ll learn to gather joy and healing through five spiritual pillars: Gratitude, Growth, Grace, Generosity, and Glory.Each one weaves practical gardening wisdom with soul-restoring truth so you can celebrate the fruit you see and trust God for the work still hidden underground.
🌾 In This Episode You’ll Discover
🌿 Why gratitude is the first harvest of a healed heart
💧 How unseen growth—like composting soil—mirrors God’s quiet renewal
✨ The peace of grace: releasing control and trusting divine timing
🪴 How generosity multiplies both joy and healing
🌸 How to turn every season—barren or blooming—into glory and worship
🌱 Rooted Practice for the Week
Create your Harvest & Heal Inventory:
1️⃣ Column one – Harvest: What blessings or breakthroughs grew this season?2️⃣ Column two – Heal: What still needs God’s restoration?
Draw arrows between them — notice how your harvest and healing often grow from the same soil.Close with a simple prayer:
“Lord, thank You for the fruit I can see and the grace still unfolding beneath the surface.”
📖 Supporting Scriptures
Habakkuk 3:17-19 — Joy in barren seasons
1 Corinthians 3:7 — God makes things grow
2 Corinthians 12:9 — His grace is sufficient
Matthew 11:28 — Rest for the weary
Luke 6:38 — Giving that overflows
💛 Continue Growing
🌱 Visit the garden online: southernsoilsunshine.com — find devotionals, garden guides, and printable reflections for every season.💬 Join the community: Share your own harvest stories inside the Rooted Jesus Girls Facebook group
🌾 Favorite Quote from the Episode
“The garden and the soul share one truth: when something dies down, something else rises up. God’s grace never stops growing.”

34 | Rooted Moment - The Gentle Art of Tending Grace, A Christian Meditation for Weary Hearts

🎧 Listen Now
“I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.” — Psalm 119:58
When the season feels dry and your spirit feels weary, this Rooted Moment offers a quiet invitation to rest, breathe, and receive grace.
In this guided reflection, Sanda leads you through a meditative pause inspired by Psalm 119:58 — helping you release striving and rediscover the slow, healing rhythm of tending grace.
You’ll walk through a spiritual visualization rooted in the five pillars of tending: Presence, Protection, Pruning, Repurposing, and Perseverance.Each one becomes a prayer, a breath, and a small act of surrender — reminding you that God’s grace is already at work beneath the surface.
🌾 In This Episode, You’ll Experience:
🌿 A peaceful guided meditation anchored in Psalm 119:58
💧 How to find stillness and spiritual renewal when life feels dry
🪴 A reflective practice to align your heart with God’s presence and promises
☀️ Encouragement for weary gardeners and women of faith learning to rest in grace
🌱 Rooted Practice for the Week
Set aside 10 quiet minutes in your day.Breathe deeply, and pray:
“Lord, teach me to tend with grace, not striving.To water slowly. To trust deeply. To rest in Your promise.”
Then, write this question in your journal:
“Where in my life am I seeking God’s face — and where am I resisting His grace?”
Let your honest answer become your prayer this week. 🌿
📖 Scripture Anchors
Psalm 119:58 — “I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”Psalm 63:1 — “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land.”Psalm 121:5 — “The Lord watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.”
💛 Continue Growing
🌱 Visit the garden online: southernsoilsunshine.com — explore devotionals, garden guides, and printable reflections for your faith journey.
💬 Join the community: Come connect with other women cultivating faith and peace in every season inside the Rooted in Grace Facebook group.👉 Join here
🌾 Favorite Quote from the Episode
“You don’t have to be perfect to tend well. You just have to stay soft enough for grace to reach your roots.”

33 | Tend: How to Nurture Your Faith and Garden in Dry Seasons

🎧 Listen Now
“I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.” — Psalm 119:58
When the season feels too hot, too dry, or too demanding, how do you keep tending what God has entrusted to you?
In this powerful new episode of the Rooted in Grace Podcast, Sanda invites you into a conversation about tending — the sacred middle ground between neglect and burnout. Through Scripture, story, and soul-deep reflection, she shares how to keep seeking God’s grace even when the ground feels cracked and your energy is running low.
From a dry Texas October to the lessons hidden in basil seeds and tomato vines, this episode will remind you that tending isn’t about perfection — it’s about presence, protection, pruning, repurposing, and perseverance.
🌾 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
🌿 The heart behind Psalm 119:58 and what it means to seek God’s face in weary seasons
💧 How tending begins with presence — showing up and slowing down
☀️ Why protection (boundaries and rest) is a spiritual discipline, not a luxury
✂️ How pruning frees us to bear more fruit, both in our gardens and our hearts
🪴 The power of repurposing — reimagining what God can do with old spaces and dreams
🌾 How perseverance transforms exhaustion into trust
🌿 Rooted Practice for the Week
Create your Tending Inventory — a journal page divided into five small “garden beds”:Presence • Protection • Pruning • Repurposing • Perseverance
In each one, ask:
What’s thriving here?
What’s thirsty or neglected?
What needs pruning or rest?
Spend a few minutes in prayer, asking God to water the areas that need grace the most.
📖 Scripture Anchors
Psalm 119:58 — “I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”John 15:2 — “Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”Galatians 6:9 — “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
💛 Continue Growing
🌱 Visit the garden online: southernsoilsunshine.com — explore devotionals, garden guides, and faith-based reflections.
💬 Join the community: Connect with other women learning to cultivate peace and purpose in every season inside the Rooted in Grace Facebook group.👉 Join here
🌾 Favorite Quote from the Episode
“Tending isn’t about fixing everything — it’s about loving what’s already in your care.”
✨ Listen & Share
If this episode spoke to your heart, share it with a friend who’s feeling weary in her season of tending.And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a moment of grace. 🌿
#RootedInGrace #FaithAndGardening #ChristianGardening #GrowInGrace #TendYourGarden #PeaceInTheProcess #SpiritualGrowth #ChristianWomen

32 | Rooted Moment - Planting Peace in Present Soil

🎧 Listen Now
Peace isn’t waiting at the end of the road — it’s being planted under your feet right now.
In this week’s Rooted Moment, you are invited to pause, breathe, and plant peace in the soil you already have — your home, your relationships, and your daily rhythms.
🌾 Episode Overview
This gentle reflection pairs with Episode 31: Work What You’ve Got in the Fall Growth Arch.
It’s a guided moment to slow down and recognize that the soil you have today is holy ground — the place where God’s peace is already growing.
🌱 You’ll Experience
A meditation on Jeremiah 29:5–7
A reminder to plant peace and speak life where you are
One simple journaling prompt to cultivate gratitude and calm
A closing prayer for rooted peace
📖 Scripture
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Seek the peace of the place where I have carried you…”— Jeremiah 29:5–7 (NIV)
💛 Rooted Practice
Take 10 quiet minutes outside or by a window.Notice something alive — a leaf, a breeze, a bird — and whisper:
“Lord, this is the soil You’ve given me. Teach me to plant peace here.”
🌿 Favorite Line
“Peace is not waiting for you at the end of the road — it’s being planted under your feet right now.”
✨ Inspired by Rooted in Grace: A Christian Guide to Intuitive Gardening.Keep tending the soil beneath your feet and the soul within your heart —and stay rooted in grace. 🌱
🌾 Continue Growing
🌱 Visit the garden online: rootedingrace.me — explore devotionals, garden guides, and free resources that nurture both faith and soil.
💛 Join the community: Come connect with other women walking this same journey in the Rooted Jesus Girls Facebook group — a quiet corner for encouragement, prayer, and soulful gardening.👉 Join here
 

31 | Work What You’ve Got: Garden Tips for Spiritual Growth & Stewardship

🎧 Listen Now
Even when the garden feels tired and the season isn’t what you imagined, God is still calling you to grow. In this week’s episode, we step into the “W” of our Fall Growth Arch — Work What You’ve Got — and learn how to find peace, purpose, and beauty right where we are.
🌾 Episode Overview
By mid-fall, the garden looks weary: vines are fading, the soil feels dry, and energy runs low. But this is exactly when God invites us to keep showing up — to harvest faithfully, compost what’s fading, and replant hope for what’s ahead.
In this tender, practical, and reflective episode, Sanda shares her own journey of learning to thrive in unexpected soil — from suburban clay beds and small harvests to deeper lessons of contentment and stewardship.
Through Scripture, soil, and soul work, you’ll discover that “working what you’ve got” is not about striving — it’s about sacred sustainability.
🌱 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
🌿 How Jeremiah 29:5–11 calls us to plant and prosper even in imperfect circumstances
🌾 The power of gratitude in harvesting what’s left, even when yields are small
🪱 Why composting teaches us that nothing surrendered to God is wasted
🌸 How to replant hope through fall gardening — sowing greens, garlic, and cover crops
🕊️ Practical ways to make peace with limits and embrace the grace of “enough”
✨ Three Rooted Practices you can start this week to cultivate both garden and soul
🧺 Rooted Practice Challenge
This week, try the three steps from today’s episode:
Harvest Faithfully — Gather what’s still growing and give thanks.
Compost What’s Spent — Turn what’s fading into future nourishment.
Replant Hope — Sow one small act of trust, in your soil or your heart.
Write this declaration somewhere you’ll see it often:
“Here, in this soil, I will work what I’ve got.”
📖 Scripture Anchor
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city where I have carried you… For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord.— Jeremiah 29:5–11
🪴 Garden Notes from the Episode
Practical tips you can try this week:
Clip herbs early in the day and dry them for winter teas.
Save seeds from your healthiest plants and store them in envelopes.
Layer “greens” and “browns” in your compost pile for healthy decomposition.
Sow fall crops: spinach, mustard greens, kale, or clover as a cover crop.
Add a layer of mulch to rest your soil for the coming season.
✍️ Journal Prompts
What’s still growing in my life or garden that I can give thanks for?
What am I holding onto that God might be inviting me to compost — to release and renew?
Where is He asking me to plant a new seed of hope?
🌸 Rooted in Grace Connection
This episode ties into Part II: Faithful Response of Rooted in Grace: An Intuitive Gardening Journey.It’s about choosing what to cultivate, letting go of what’s fading, and trusting that the Gardener is still at work beneath the surface.
If you’d like to go deeper, grab your copy of the Rooted in Grace eBook — your companion for spiritual and seasonal growth.
👉 Download or order Rooted in Grace here.
💛 Favorite Quote from the Episode
“Compost is resurrection in slow motion. The garden doesn’t waste what’s broken — and neither does God.”
🕊️ On Friday...
Join us for Episode 32: “Tend — The Sacred Middle Ground Between Neglect and Burnout.”We’ll talk about how small, consistent acts of care — watering, weeding, praying — become a form of worship.
✨ Stay Rooted
If this episode blessed you, take a moment to share it with a friend who’s learning to grow in grace.Subscribe wherever you listen, leave a short review, and join the conversation in the Rooted in Grace community.
Until next time —Keep tending the soil beneath your feet and the soul within your heart.And stay rooted in grace. 🌿