My Fluid Friend

I dream of the sound that water makes when it taps timely against my window pane... during a rain. The rhythmic surge of the ebb and flow of the sea and how it calls to me. In my dreams I dangle my feet in the crisp waters of the mountain stream. I stare at the falling water that rushes without hindrance to keep her full and flowing for me. His power gives me comfort and peace. My dream always takes me to where the rivers flow. Why? I think I know....

I love the living waters, where they come from and where they go. How they cut their path through mighty mountains and find a way to flow. The hot springs bring their healing, the mountain springs refresh. The gentle waters cleanse us, all attest. We conceive , grow and come from it. It's secrets I've promised to keep. I've been fooled though to think, it was my choice to float or go deep.

I've wondered at the rainbow and ran from the rain, knowing rainbows were a promise and rain causes no pain. My boots have splashed the puddles and my hands have splashed my friends, water always blesses me, it's source never ends.

I remember wet grass as it tickled my toes and sandy beaches and hidden coves, where we found and touched anemones while the tide rose, and only darkness drove us home.

Sprinklers and pricker bushes causing me to hop, squirting the hose in the air and dodging all the drops. The summer sun shot prisms through the water as it sprayed. We'd run and laugh till suppertime came and robbed our day.

The water rescued us from a sun so hot it made the air wavy. Keds kicking up dirt, throwing stones, seeing drips of sweat clear the dirt on our legs and arms. Then, jumping into that liquid relief head first!  Ice cold water! Submerged, drenched, washed! All was new! Laughing and yelling! The water gave its permission that we could exhale and just be kids.

You also let the winter freeze you. Perfect crystals ~ snowflakes ~ each designed by His hand ~ each unique and brilliant just like us! I loved when the moon lied upon you and you drew me in with your purples! As a child you let me skate on you, dig tunnels through you, build snowmen and make angels in you. Then, as a young woman I kissed while you fell around me. Today, I chase my grandchildren around in you.

My life has been beautified by you! Our God gave you to me and I have felt you. I have been playful in you and let you fall upon me whether warm, chilled or frozen. You have healed me, revived me and lulled me. My wounds have been washed by you. You have fallen from my eyes in joy and in pain. You have made my garden grow. My child was held by you and later, his children. I have been saved from you and baptised in you. You fell from my mother at my birth and you fell from the clouds when she died. You have brought and you have taken. I long for you always...your sound, your touch and even the clouds you bring are a cover for me when I feel exposed and tender. And, I am sure that it will be in you that I will be carried home.

Revelation 22:2

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God..

The Courtesy Gate

It's called being proper, a gentlemen or a lady will practice it. Some call it restraint, politeness or self-control. It is all of these things and more. Most of us stand behind it and do our dealings toward others, while holding back the deep truths of our hearts so as to not cause emotional injury. It can also be used as a platform to conjure up desired results through subtle manipulations. The courtesy gate serves many objectives besides its original purposes of generosity and humility.

Another abuse of the courtesy gate is the unabashed attacker who flings it wide open to lambaste those who defy them. They hurl a slew of unattractive verbal maladies intended to cause injury because they lack the beautiful fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some through no fault of their own were never taught and had vicious examples. Others freely choose the fight. Those types have never chosen or practiced self-restraint because of their immaturity, lack of humility, strong pride and ignorance.

The courtesy gate is not a fickle thing, it is us, the humans, who use it to our benefit. How easy it is to manipulate others with it by either taunting them over it or simply telling lies over it because of our inability to be honest in a kind and thoughtful way. Of course we will turn that around to serve us in the end by blaming them for not responding to our requests or hints. We then enter the judgement phase!

Judging others is like playing in a toxic waste dump. We will get sick eventually as we continually choose to go play there. We miss out on most of life's beauty because instead of being present in life we are off to the side playing with our toxins. They aren't even the toxins of the realistic situation! The toxic playground we are at is the one we have filled up with our bitterness, jealousy, resentment, anger, etc... We choose it all day as a place to wallow as the inflamed accusations swell and pierce deeper. Our only goal at that point is a chronic state of selfishness where we make our bed in the stench and refuse to rise till the others change first!

Thinking only of ourselves and our comfort will always lead to tantrums, internal and external, conscious and unconscious. Kicking, yelling and flailing as we make sure that no one else around us can be happy either. "Suffer with me!", our gut screams! "Make my inconveniences go away! Make everything comfortable for me!" We become embedded in the quicksand of poisons spitting out cries for help. But our idea of relief and God's is very different!

It is a slippery slope into the evil behaviors of self-preservation. There are a few who dive straight in but most start with a dipping of the toe. Slowly, one dissatisfaction, one misunderstanding, one infraction, and before we know it we are over our heads in self-focused behavior. (I could go very, very deep into this subject touching on personalities and temperaments but I will leave that up to you. I will make recommendations at the bottom for books referrals.) God gave me an insight years ago that has helped me tremendously with handling my struggles with spiritual growth. He told me to always be aware of intensity and quantity. To ask myself on a regular basis if I am doing a bad behavior less and with less vigor. If we make ourselves aware of those two things we will see if we are growing spiritually or not. Do we do our selfish behaviors on a lower intensity level and less frequent? Do we see this pattern set on an upward trajectory? Then there is evidence of our surrender and the Spirit's work! All God asks is that we provide Him with a willing heart.

God is able and our growth would be exponentially faster if we would just let go of our pride and desire for control. I don't know about you but I have put way more energy into taking my stance than praying for a kinder heart and less self comfort. Most of us have a courtesy gate that we use and on the outside we appear to be so thoughtful and so Christian but it is what lies in our hearts that God cares about. In the book of Hosea 6:6, God says, "I don't want your sacrifices, I want your hearts!" (read Hosea ch.6 for full context). What does that mean for us?

Basically, God is saying that we should always start by looking not only in the mirror first but also even deeper, into our own hearts. Just as a mountain climber carries a pick and is always prepared to use it, we should always have God's Word poised and ready to wield as our sword to stop us instantly from sliding down the slippery slope of self. Let us all desire for our courtesies to be an overflow of our heart and not just a show for others as we are stewing inside.

From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12;34b

Let your character speak for itself. (Mat 5:37, Jam 5:12)

Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but do not take notice of the log in your own?! Matthew 7:3

...the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God... Ephesians 6:17

Book references:

The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman

The Four Temperaments, by Tim LaHaye

The DNA of Relationships, by Gary Smalley 

Surrender Dorothy

"With acceptance comes relief, and relief allows the body, mind and soul to heal." D.A.H.

Shackled and tied to my defiant attitude, I pulled at the rusty metal bounds. Twisting and writhing my angry thoughts till my mind passed-out from exhaustion and weariness. Unconsciousness was my only peace. If I try to pull myself together then everyone will assume that all is well and my martyrdom will float away as swiftly as it came. Things are happening in my life and I have no control. There is no way out and no hope. I hate it, I hate it all and I want it to end now!

That's how I felt for a long time. The somewhat carefree days of innocence were hidden away now and reality came with it's teeth showing. Whether my circumstances or yours, it doesn't matter. Hopelessness is a dark and oppressive state where isolation and crushing loneliness bring pain in many forms. Few understand and our worse enemy is not the people who come to cheer us up, but ourselves. We build a nest of pride, stubbornness and defiance and each day we fluff our bed till the change we want comes. I crossed my arms, planted my feet and basically told everyone including God, that I wanted what I wanted and I wanted it now! I was not happy and I didn't like it! Enough has happened and I refuse any more!

Needless to say, the clouds did not open up with Jesus himself coming down. My visions of Him coming to remove all the discomforts of my life never happened. And, no one in my life had any power to change my circumstances. So, I added all that rejection to my stubborn stance and dug in even deeper! But....still nothing. No angels, no Nicholas Cage in a limo, no army of supporters with "We're here to save Dorothy" signs....just me and my bitterness and it was eating me alive. My health crumbled, my attitude was not suitable for company, I retreated from church and developed a negative inner dialog. God allowed me to remain there until I FINALLY got sick of myself! So much so, that I became worse than the original circumstance!

Just as God stayed with me even while I acted like a complete jerk, He was right there with me when I surrendered. Brothers and sisters, even when life is horrible...God is good! The blessings, lessons, endurance, strength, patience, courage and love that I emerged from this with are jewels in my crown that I will flaunt to His glory! My prayer is that our first instinct would always be to crawl to Him first and not to our prickly nest. My selfishness made me waste too much precious time! Acceptance of my situation has already begun its good work...my body is healing, my mind, spirit and soul are rejuvenated and I'm a part of life again!

Praise God for the light and the darkness, for even darkness is light to Him!

It's not how much you do, but with how much love you do it with. Mother Theresa

God likes it when we work for Him, but He loves it when we sing while doing it!

Surrender to God, not to the enemy!

Geek Squad

I often think about how sad it will be for the people who live life by reason rather than by faith. I'll be watching a show and some scientist will be claiming that they need proof in order to believe in something. They exist in such a small realm, only in the framed  knowledge that they have chosen to dwell in. What a tiny and insignificant world they choose to study and be confined by. They see only the surface of life...only the topical magic that exists to the human eye.

God's majesty and wonder goes far into the infinite. It has no beginning and no end. As a Christian I have a hope forefront in my mind and heart that after this physical life I will have an eternity with the Creator of all things. He will reveal to me the secrets of all life as we travel through the heavens and He introduces me to each star. He will expose the atom and how it works, we will defy gravity, understand the power of the sun and travel through the intricacies of a rain forest! I'm not a scientist and the thought of this makes me ecstatic! So I can't even imagine how a student or professor of science could resist this offer!

I recently went to Best Buy and the Geek Squad technician removed the hard drive from my antiquated laptop. He asked me if I wanted him to recycle my old piece of technology and I said, "Yes." It made me think of our human bodies and how God designed us with a removable hard drive. Our bodies are just the monitors and keyboards but our souls are our hard drives. All that we are...our personalities, temperaments, talents, emotions...are hard drives that will move on into the next realm. God will take our cases which are our bodies and recycle them into new ones that will meet us in heaven to again house our souls one day. Yet, in the next world we will not be limited by earthly flesh but we will be in heavenly bodies that will not know gravity or limits!

What scientist wouldn't love this thought! People of reason...I plead with you to stop limiting yourself! This is not all there is and you will never discover the limitless wonders of creation if you continue to confine yourself in the prison of reason! You have an opportunity to be able to soar through galaxies and see into and beyond anything your mind could imagine! God loves your inquisitiveness and explorer spirit! He designed it and gave it to you! He wants to spend eternity with you and blow your mind with wonder! The reason you were created was to have a relationship with Him! You think so big yet so small at the same time! Do you really think that the purpose of your life is solely for you to dwell in your world of limits?

There are so many reasons why people choose to reject God but I'm asking you to open your heart and mind and consider some reasons to accept Him! Give Him a chance...He died for the opportunity you know. He suffered a torturous death and took upon Himself all the sins of all mankind so that we would not have to suffer the consequences of our own sin. He did that for you! He died in your place so that you could live in the light for eternity rather than in darkness! Think about that...think about what light reveals! The fascinations of life are a gift from Him and He wants to show you all of them!

Put aside all your fears and doubts, all your anger and hurt, and face the Lover of your Soul. Stop trying to contain Him in your reason and quit trying to bury Him in your unbelief! He is real, He is historic, He is the Creator of all things you study, and He loves you. Ask Him into your heart, tell Him you're sorry for rejecting Him for so long, surrender yourself into the safety of His love for you. Start living with the excitement of eternity! This world is wracked with sin, decay and rejection. This life we live now is not all there is! We are here for a very specific reason and that is to tell as many people that will listen about the love of Christ and the hope that is set before us! Step out of your small world and open your eyes to the bigger picture! Stop using your small excuses to keep from knowing your bigger God!

How sad it would be...to miss out on eternity simply because you chose the false safety of the confinements of this world.

Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities...His eternal power and divine nature...have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

Sunday at church our Pastor told us about an article he read that said when one small butterfly flaps their wing in South America, it effects the weather across the planet! Wouldn't you like to know if that's true and how it works? Well, there's only one way to find out :) That's what awaits us in Heaven!

Scales of Mediocrity

Have you wondered lately what ever happened to your dreams? Today has been one of those mediocre days where everything I've done has been monotonous. I have taken all the almost empty bottles of hand soap, conditioner, shampoo....and combined them in one bottle. All our med and vitamin cabby's were empty and had to be refilled for the week. I had to do my weekly scrub down of all the handles in the house with Clorox wipes and not to mention the uncooked chicken in the frig that I had to make soup out of. The list goes on and on and never seems to end! One of the thoughts that always consumes my mind as I do all this is, "How do people that work and raise children do all this and still get some personal time!?" There's laundry, repairs, errands, shopping, care-giving, cooking, commitments, service...

As my husband sits at the dining room table with all our paperwork spread out before him, I see that even he is inundated with personal and family tasks that go beyond his regular work week! He has a full time job just keeping the paperwork and making the phone calls that need to be done for his handicapped brother's needs. I haven't even mentioned the work that needs to be done outside to prepare for winter or the mess in the basement that constantly calls out to us! It seems like when we do stop, it's just to collapse rather than to have fun.

So what might the answer be to this point at issue of what seems like a futile existence of exhaustion? How about a counterpoise. The only way to balance something is to place an opposing weight or opposing force. What does Christ say about this? In Matthew 11:30, He says to take off the yoke of slavery and take on His yoke, which is light and easy. Actually, if we break down the verses it gives us step by step instructions on how to solve our dilemma. Verse 28, He openly gives an open invitation to EVERYONE who feels weary and burdened to COME TO HIM! He offers a soft place for us to fall. A safe place for us to rest! I don't know about you but when I am troubled and exhausted, I fantasize that someone safe and loving would come to me and take me to a safe home where they make me soup and show me kindness until I feel I can continue on again. Here my friends, is the God of the universe offering that to us! So, His first instruction to us is to COME TO HIM.

Verse 29, then shows us that He is offering us a respite for our souls. You see how the tasks are still there for us to do but He is offering a new way for us to do them! He tells us to TAKE His yoke upon us and to learn from Him (a better way/a balanced way). Sometimes when we get too wrapped up in our lives and wear ourselves down, we lose sight of wisdom and get angry at how cruel and exhausting life seems. In this verse He makes it very clear where He wants us to free-fall our weary selves. He tells us that He is gentle and humble in heart. Basically He is telling us that, "It's okay to let go and collapse into Me. I'm kind and you're safe with Me. I have everything covered and you can rest. Let Me catch you, comfort you, replenish you. Allow Me to take that cumbersome yoke off of you and replace it with Mine, which is light and easy. Let Me love you." The verse ends with, "You will find rest for your soul." It's so profound really, that it isn't so much our physical exhaustion that takes us down, but the state of our soul. Probably because our soul was not created to house and carry worry and stress but to be a well for God's living water of hope and joy.

Verse 30 really speaks to me as to what yoke we choose everyday to throw around our neck! His yoke, He says is easy, and His burden, light. How many of us charge into our day without consulting Jesus? We just roll out of bed and hit the floor running! Picture yourself jumping out of bed and grabbing the cumbersome yoke of self off the hook on the door and throwing it over your shoulders as you race hunched-over to the bathroom or kitchen. When all the while, the loving, perfect yoke of your friend Jesus is laying right there in your bed, next to where you were laying, but you ignored it and chose your own way instead. That one act, that one choice will set the pace and weight of your entire day and most likely define your attitude toward every one and every thing! Is it a wonder my brothers and sisters, that we are so tired and irritable?

So, let's start our days with Jesus. Let's begin seeing our mediocre acts as service unto Him. Each toothbrush you replace with a new one, each thing you fix around your home, each bed you make or load of laundry you do. Every day you go to work, every counter you clean, every bill you pay, is an act of service not only to your family but to the Lord! And, most importantly, give and serve God's children everywhere! Help an elderly person load their groceries in their car. Give someone your seat at the doctors office when it's busy. Pull out a grocery cart for someone. Go help your neighbor rake his leaves. Watch someones kids for a couple hours. The list goes on and on of how we can wear a different yoke throughout our day. A yoke that revives our weary souls of selfish monotony. We must get out of ourselves and start seeing the bigger picture that God is painting. It's a painting of out-stretched arms rather that clenched fists. A painting of Christ within all we see!

The point of life is not to wear ourselves out but to counterpoise our duties with Christ-like service. Balance is healthy. Do some, give some, get some, rest some. See God in everything and everyone, and, let everyone see God in you. Christ be glorified!

Food for thought: What list would you rather have? The insurmountable list of things you need to get done each day or the infinite list of acts of kindness that Christ puts before you each day? One of those lists will wear you out and the other one will charge you up! Trust me, I have chosen God's way many times and He always takes care of not only what He wants me to do but also what I needed to get done! He just rearranges our schedules and works everything out for good in His perfect timing!

Scriptures for thought:

Matthew 25:40, "I tell you that if you so much as give a cup of cold water to one of My children, you have done it unto Me."

Matthew 11:30, "For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

James1:5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God and He will give it to you generously."

James 1:22, "Do not merely listen to the Word, but be doers of the Word."

Child of God ... Your dreams are not lost in this life of duty ... they are being kept by God and you will sing, dance, create, build, design, give, share ... for eternity! What God has for you there is so much bigger than you could ever imagine!

Ratmunks

Why do we think chipmunks are acceptable but rats are disgusting? I was just sitting outside on my porch and this chipmunk was meandering just a few feet from me. All I could think was, "How adorable! He is so cute!" It reminded me of a time my husband and I were up in the Sierra Mountains sitting by a lake having lunch. These chipmunks were surrounding us and playing in our lunch boxes and we thought it was the cutest thing. But just a few feet from us was a sign that read, "Do not get near the chipmunks...they carry disease." We disregarded the warning because the event was bringing us so much pleasure.  We knew we were doing something wrong yet we continued because it was what we wanted . Deep down I knew the chipmunks were just cute rats but I chose to play with them anyway!

How often do we choose our own will over God's? We basically tell God that we know better than Him what is best for us! God wants to protect us but we turn our backs to Him and choose what we want instead. We squeeze God into our agenda because that gives us more freedom to do what pleases us. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we are no different than possums who think if they can't see something then it isn't there! It's much more civilized to avoid God than to tell Him outwardly to leave us alone.

The Lord gave me this vision one time and He showed me that He desires to be in front of me, facing me, looking into my eyes as He encourages me on to be in His will. I had choices though, of whether I would allow His Holy Spirit to fill me and move me in the direction Christ was leading or to look away and go my own way. Many times I knew where He wanted me to go but I chose to play with the ratmunks instead and there were consequences that resulted. Christ, my loving Savior, tried to coax me with His love to go "the better way", but I would not release my grasp on the way I wanted to go. I thought I knew better than Him and thus my sin led me onto roads that caused me pain and undo-hardship.

How many times do we cry out to God about our circumstances and demand an answer to our "whys"? If we would just sit quietly and trace our steps backward, asking Him for wisdom, He would show us exactly where we made the wrong turn that led us to our pain. But many times we don't take the time to ask Him for that insight, so He uses our painful circumstance to teach us what He wanted to show us in the first place. I'm not saying that all loss and pain are a result of our disobedience but much of it is. There are times where in God's sovereignty that He allows desperate circumstances to happen so that He can be glorified in it. He is God and He can do that. That's when we must humble ourselves to His will knowing that He has a bigger plan. We must adopt the scriptures that call us to share in His sufferings and keep our eyes focused on eternal things.

Yesterday was a monumental day for me. God spoke directly to me through my Pastor. When I told him what God had said through him, he told me that he didn't know why God was telling him to say it, but he claimed obedience and spoke it out in faith. He spoke a prophesy and said, "I don't know who this is for but God is telling me to tell you, "Let go! Release your grip and let go!". It was God right there before me, looking into my eyes and encouraging me to follow Him into freedom!

For many years I have used my pain to define me. My physical pain from Fibro Myalgia and Multiple Sclerosis, and the emotional pain from nasty events that have happened in my life. Also, the pain that was self-inflicted by all my choices to play with the ratmunks. It wasn't the infirmities or the events that held me in bondage as much as it was the emotions that were attached to them. Those emotions of anger, regret, resentment, bitterness, envy...were firmly in my grip and I was not letting go! Basically what I chose to do was glorify my pain over God. Not only in my own heart but that is what I proclaimed to the world too! My choice to play with the ratmunks in my mind took precedence over playing with God. Christ wanted to see me free and He wanted to be the object of my heart and attention but I chose to focus on my pain and all its dangerous associates.

The dangerous emotions that are attached to our pain are the ratmunks of the spiritual world. They may seem quite harmless as we coddle them and use them in our quest for martyrdom and self-definition, but their little voices tell us lies! They are like a cheering squad telling us we deserve to feel all those ugly feelings because we're victims! They tell us to demand from others the attention and audience we need to display our crosses. They scream, "Who would you be if not for us! We "are" you! The loudest ratmunk voice though, is the one that tells you that if you surrender your current identity to Christ, then He will call you to be joyful and then no one will know how much you hurt!

Our pain is to be shared, not only to receive comfort but to comfort others. What our pain is not meant to be is displayed. We are called to give Christ the highest glory by displaying Him above all other things! Our pain should never trump our God. Our pain should be held in a position of surrender to the Almighty for Him to use to His glory! Pain is a gift whether we like it or not. It makes us run to our Savior's feet for help and comfort. It makes us empathetic and kind. It softens our opinions and demeanor. It brings us to deeper understanding and knowledge. It strengthens us and produces perseverance and endurance and patience. It produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It puts grace and mercy in our eyes. It draws people together. It brings about repentance and salvation! Pain is a blessing but the ratmunks that try to attach themselves to it are not! We must LET GO of our affection for them and the negative attention we seek through them!

My experience at church Sunday was profound and personal. God challenged me to tell my unhealthy companions to get lost. He asked me to trust Him that He has something better for me. He assured me that His love would be better than my cries for love. He asked me to let go and let Him prove His love to me! As I sat there He also showed me all the doors in the periphery of my life that I bang on, seeking and demanding love at. One was my spouse, another a friend, some were family and some were strangers, but all of them were unable to give me what I truly needed! God spoke and told me that ALL I need is at His door. None other could satisfy or fill me. He asked me to stop going to those other doors and to just seek Him. He is the Way, the Truth and the Light.

He asked one more thing of me though, and it was a tough one. He asked me to begin being joyful instead of discouraged. Sounds ridiculous that that would be a hard request but discouragement was my long-time companion and I wasn't sure who I would be without it. But, I jumped out in faith and watched a scenario play out in my mind of me opening my hand and letting go of all my ratmunks. I then went down the corridors and closed all the doors where I sought love. Then, I looked up and met the eyes of the Lover of my Soul, Jesus, and said, "Show me who you want me to be."

Upon completion of this blog-post I asked the Lord, "Where exactly did I go astray? "What made me not choose you Lord? What enticed me to follow the ratmunks? His reply, "When you took your eyes off mine." I chose for years to worship and live my life at the alter of self-pity! Only God knows how much of life I missed out on, how many people I shared my grief with rather than the gospel and how much glory I denied The Worthy One! How much joy, health, abundance, laughter, and blessings were passed by because I was looking in all the wrong places for what was right in front of me! Yes, right in front of me, Jesus! With His arms reached out to me, telling me about His endless love toward me and encouraging me to draw closer to Him so I could receive ALL He has for me! Let's start encouring ourselves to stop knocking on those doors of false love and to just simply look into the eyes of our Lover, Jesus. Children of God, let go and stop playing with ratmunks.

"Where sin increased, grace increased all the more." Romans 5:20

Blanket Marks

This morning I did not want to get up and go anywhere! As I layed in bed still exhausted from not sleeping well I asked God to rise me to the occasion because I was not able to do it on my own. I knew that if I just took the first action step toward being obedient to God that He would encourage me on with each step and He did. At one point I looked into my make-up mirror and I had blanket marks pressed into my left cheek and I knew no amount of cover-up would resolve it. I wanted to go back to bed so bad but my heart knew that if I pressed on and drew near to Him that He would have blessings for me. I kept putting one foot in front of the other and made it to church, where the blessings were waiting.

How many blessings do we miss because we fail in our obedience? I truly believe that when we get to heaven, Jesus will take us to a room where all the unclaimed blessings will be on display. We will gaze upon them and the sheer power of His love will overwhelm us. We will see that He was always there through our lives just waiting to speak to us. I held a silent retreat at my house a few years ago and several woman showed up to spend an afternoon in silence before the Lord. Each woman found a cozy spot and just read her bible and let the Lord speak to her. The stories afterward were amazing! Ever since that retreat I find myself contemplating the thought of how much I have missed that God has wanted to say to me. In my busyness or neglect I choose as Martha did to "get things done" rather than have a Mary heart where my priority would have been to "get to Him".

There is nothing "outside of us" that can satisfy and fill us like the Savior who is "inside of us". This world we live in is hectic and overwhelming to say the least but the times I have chose to turn away from a task and turn to Him instead...I was NEVER SORRY! We have to stop being afraid of stillness, for it is in the stillness that He meets us in the most special ways.

*Seek first the kingdom of God and all the other things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

*I set before you...a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 11:26,27

*If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love. John 15:10

*The Holy Spirit...given to them that obey God. Acts 5:32

*You have purified your souls by obeying the truth. 1 Peter 1:22

This morning God wiped the sleep from my eyes and rubbed the blanket marks from my cheeks so that I could go and receive His blessings. What a wonderful Father.

Clearly Defined

What defines you? Your past? Your children? Your pain? Your success? A degrading experience? A failure?......I often do a systems check on myself because my environment or condition can make my core definition fluctuate. There are times when my pain triggers my past emotions and I find my inner dialog speaking from a place of sadness or fear. These thoughts take on a life of their own and before I know it my core definition is skewed!

Above all things I am a child of God who is loved, adored and pursued by The Lover of my Soul, Jesus. Any definition that tries to trump that is an invader of that truth! I am not unworthy, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "Christ became sin on my behalf that I might become the righteousness of God in Him! I am not condemned, Romans 8:1 says, "Because I am in Christ, there is no condemnation." I am not alone, Matthew 28:20 and Hebrews 13:5 say, "He is with me always, He will never leave me or forsake me." I am not a failure, Romans 8:37 clearly states, "I am a conqueror in all things through Christ Jesus!" These scriptures clearly define who I am in Christ.

Scripture so precisely demonstrates God's lavish love for us and we must weld ourselves to  those truths! The circumstances of life are like waves that can toss us about and rock our identity. James 1:6 speaks to that, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." Ephesians 4:14 also says, "Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine..." Children of God, I encourage you to plant yourself in God's Word and grow there! Be defined by the One who loves you! Fight the lies that surface from false definitions!

When the enemy whispers to you in your pain that you must have done something pretty bad to have God pour such a bitter cup over your life, you must yell back at that lie! Claim your scriptures and chop those lies up! Refuse to entertain them or support them! Take your scriptures and saturate your mind with them. Let them be a healing and protective balm. Learn bible verses, bible stories, bible context. Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Even in our darkness, He is our light! Lies cannot exist in the presence of God's light. The light of His truth burns them up!

I have found that a clearly defined Personal Life Statement written down and memorized is very helpful. At the bottom write some scripture verses that support it. When we are clearly defined, we not only live in a posture of security but those around us know exactly where they stand with us. Co-workers, spouses, children, friends....will all know who we are and what we expect from ourselves and them. If we are not clearly defined then we are victims of the storms of life and not living to our full potential. Doing a T-list is also a great confirmation. On one side write down what your feelings tell you that you are and on the other side write down what God tells you you are. Obviously one side will reflect vacillating emotions and the other cemented truth! Another exercise I like is to make it a habit that every time you take a sip of water throughout the day, tell yourself one wonderful truth about how much God loves you! Example: I love the scripture in Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save you. He takes great delight in you; with His love He will calm your fears. He will rejoice over you with singing." Wow! Look how many affirmations of His love for me I can get just from that one scripture! After one sip I will say, "God sings over me!" Later, after another sip I'll say, "God delights in me!" You'll be surprised at how fast your inner dialog will change!

Scripture suggestions:

Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armor of God