Daughter of the King

Poetry by Dee Armes- Hartmann

Wings Hang Low

Oh, little psalm angel, sitting in my garden faire, always reminding me, how much our Father cares! Tho, there are times when sorrow rains down and the clouds gather dark, our Father never leaves us, for He is in our heart! We have learned to cry, yet then rejoice, just as the Psalmist did in past, knowing that our storm will not last. That's the secret we daughters must know, that He is still with us, even when our wings hang low.


Daughter of the King


I took my eyes off Heaven, fell and broke my wing, trapped inside a thorney bush, the lies began to sting.


You're of no use anymore with that broken wing. Who could bear to look at you or need you for anything.


Tears burned my cheeks as my soul became cold. The One who loved me would never say such things so I sang till my prayers were bold!


His heart revealed like lighting, brought forth to me the proof. He said, "There's nothing here distorted, except the lack of truth!


The vines of lies reached up, an attempt to pull me back. But, Heavens song annointed me, lying vines had lost their grip.


In my mind epiphany, God's Spirit brought to me. Even with a broken wing, I'm still the Daughter of the King!

Puzzle

When you have the One True God, your life is never falling apart, it's falling into place.

If You Got It, He Gave It

John 15:13, There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend.

Proverbs 17:17, A friend loves at all times...

The theme that God has been revealing in my life lately is, remembrance. Laying upon my heart to recall His goodness, faithfulness, kindness... Along side this is also the thoughts of how blessed I've been with wonderful friends. From my husband to the stranger who prayed over me when I was sick to my long-time dear friends and including my new-found kindred spirits! What a blessing it is to be loved, thought-of and cared for!

Friendship is not an entity to itself, it's a reflection in every aspect. Without God's love which is ever-present there would be no fruits of love in any one's life. Many people who are unbelievers think that their goodness, thoughtfulness and love is enough. yet, they don't realize that any love or fruit of love they have is a gift from our Father in Heaven. It comes not from their hearts but flow from His. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in this world that blesses us with God's grace and mercy. Apart from the heart of God, none of us would even know love.

I saw a bumper sticker once that read, "If you have it, then a truck brought it." The more I thought about it I was profoundly hit how true that is! Products are shipped all over the world but it is the trucks that bring EVERYTHING to the stores! The same goes for love, "If you have it, then God brought it to you." The book of John says, "In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. (The Word is Jesus). Through Him God made all things; not one thing in creation was made without Him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to humanity. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out." That scripture confirms that whatever love we have to give comes from God.

Can there be good friends who do not know God as their Savior? Of course people can love and serve with beautiful hearts while not knowing Christ as their Savior. They are gracious, generous, loving people that God uses in this world to serve others in need. The only difference between a secular servant and an anointed servant is that one has eternal salvation and the other hasn't recognized Christ as their life-flow and Savior. One knows where their source of love comes from and the other believes they are the source. One gives all the glory to God and the other coddles the recognition.

I know no other joy as over-whelming as someone who cares for and serves someone in need! Praise be to God for these precious souls that express tenderness and put their love into action. They share their time, resources, energy and talents in acts of sacrificial service. My old pastor used to call them "Jesus with skin on." What a beautiful thought! That we can surrender our selfish desires and let the God of all creation move us to love and serve as He did when He walked the earth!

I have had the extreme privilege to have become a part of a group of women recently that are the epitome of Christ's love in action! I am overwhelmed by their commitments to let God flow freely through them in all area's of their lives! I also have the honor of having a couple women in my life that are tremendous friends who love with an unwavering grace! Their unconditional love has touched me and I can't imagine life without them. Imagine a world with no love, no tenderness or kindness. Being loved is a gift that each of us should shout praise for daily!

Being moved to remembrance not only fills our spirit, soul, body and mind with reminders and memories of love that was shown to us. It gives us hope in lonely times, courage when we are unable and strength to go on. Recalling the kindnesses of servant-hearted people warms our hearts, comforts our minds, settles our souls and lifts our spirits! Knowing that God sent us such sweet souls to comfort and help us in our times of need reminds us that He will send them again. He knows when we need arms to hold us, eyes to understand and hands to serve and His grace will always provide!

I encourage you to remember a few times in your life when God's grace overwhelmed you because He sent His love to you through a friend. Then smile and give God thanks.

Luke 10:27, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself."

Psalm 77:11, I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago!

Seek and You Will Find

I am so grateful for the sweet souls that seek out God's messages through my writings. The bible tells us to ask, knock and seek (Matthew 7:7), and if we do, we will find Him! I can't help but be joyful in knowing that you are being blessed in so many ways because you stayed attached to the Vine, which is Christ our Lord! The days I don't seek Him out, I later look back on as days I didn't receive the gifts He wanted me to have! What a terrible loss. So, blessings and peace to you who follow Him closely and receive all His goodness! Remain in Him and He shall remain in you! Read the Gospel of John 15:1-17. He is the Vine, we are the branches, apart from Him we can do nothing.

In line with today's title, I would like to ask, "Where are my lemons Lord!" Last December I was decorating my back porch and as I put out the Christmas decorations I took these twenty or so fake lemons out of a wire basket and put them somewhere till I needed them for Spring. Well, Spring is here and I cannot for the life of me find those lemons! I feel like I've looked everywhere! I know God is talking about seeking "Him" in the above scripture but I am convinced that He knows where those lemons are! If He knows the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:7), then He certainly is aware of their hiding place. My focus today has been on lemons, yet, the truth is, I need to focus on God!

There have been many times that God has blessed me with His gestures of love by revealing some lost item, sending a beautiful bird to my window sill, the phone rings and it's a dear friend or maybe a rainbow shoots across the sky when life felt stormy. The true lesson here is this, if we seek Him first then, we have all we need. Jesus is all we need. He promised that if we seek Him first He will take care of the rest. So, instead of looking around for some thing in our life, let's look unto Him, The Author and Perfecter of our faith! (Hebrews 12:2). The enemy wants us focused on anything but God and whatever we as people choose to focus on, there will always be a result to that choice. Choose material things or earthly circumstances and most likely frustration will be there to accompany them. Something will break or get lost, we'll be put on hold to long or we may bump another car ( which happened to me yesterday). Choose to focus on Jesus and I can promise  you will have a heart and mind filled with hope! You will begin to see Him in everything and you will begin to choose him over busyness which will lead to more peace. Putting this into action is not easy but it's neccessary in order to have joy.

Matthew 6:21, But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So often we get distracted and obsessed by things of this world. The enemy loves when he gets our eyes off Jesus! Christ calls us to come to Him and while we either slumber in His lap or keep busy in His service, He works everything out (Romans 8:28) in His perfect timing. I know this because EVERY TIME I choose Jesus, the frustration disipates and His peace covers and fills me! (I'm smiling right now :) Thank you Lord.

Don't let the enemy get your eyes off Jesus. Why look for lemons when you can find your Lord.

Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added to you." 

Too Full to Fill

Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and then all those other things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33

Before delving into God's Word I need to be sure that it's going to be about Him and not me. So, I first begin by worshipping Him and giving Him praise for who He is! Then, I ask Him to examine my heart as I confess to Him matters of my thoughts and actions. After believing that I have repented for known sins, I go on to thank Him for everything which puts my heart in a posture of gratitude. In closing my prayer I place my petitions before Him, interceding for others and myself. The crowning glory to the prayer is the AMEN, which means, Let it be, the proclamation of hope!

PRAYER is the process of emptying ourselves for God to fill.

While doing my bible study on Psalm 77 this morning, I clearly saw that Asaph, the author of the Psalm, was so full of his own self-pity and doubt that there was no room for God's hope and joy. Asaph whined with discouragement as his thoughts had overtaken his whole being. Ever been there? I have on many occasions. So full of me, me, me that there was no room for Him, Him, Him! I can recall such severe pity-parties that I dug my feet in and refused to believe He loved me until He actually stopped my pain. Unfortunately, it took years of temper tantrums and conversations with my Master to realize that my pain was magnified because of my bad attitude and doubt. The inflammation that my mind, body, soul and spirit were battling was like a wound that was being defended and healed by an immune system. God was using every situation to heal me, but I fought Him by doubting Him for so long. So, I remained weak and ineffective with hopelessness as my thorn.

But, praise be to God that His pursuing love captured my heart! I surrendered my will to Him and accepted His tender love, finally believing that I had tremendous worth to Him! As He swept over my life and filled it with Himself, I became less inflamed and the fruits of His Spirit began to grow in my life! His love had allowed me to become so sick of my own stink from wallowing in my own childish, immature behavior that I was overwhelmed that He stayed with me through that. What God sits with sin? What kind of love is that? He let me have my childish ways until my desires changed by simply being touched by His presence. All I wanted was to draw near to Him after that. My heart belonged to Him.

Drawing near to God can come in many shapes. We can crawl because we have exhausted ourselves in our own efforts. We can come in a posture of worthlessness as if He will let us around but not near Him. There are those who shimmy up with intentions of wanting something or someone and they are imploring God to give them what they want. Others draw near in sweetness, desiring to lay their head upon the Saviors breast. I was the unworthy one who just wanted to be behind a curtain somewhere yet, still close to Him. I loved Him but didn't believe He loved me. It took years of counseling, being in the Word, having Christian friends...but it was the times I surrendered to Him where I truly learned how much He loved me! His love changed me and my life!

Surrendering is the act of laying down our will, our weapons, our plans, our pride, our time, our resources ... and submitting to His love and His will. Not surrendering comes with many masks such as, avoidance, busyness, laziness, mindlessness, extreme socializing, shopping, distractions, sports, television, chatter... One leads to a purposeful life which is rich in blessings and the other offers a deep sense of loneliness, anxiety, hopelessness and a gnawing inner feeling similar to that of putting something off too long that you need to do.

Asaph also got sick of his attitude and in verse 10 he says, "But then, I thought, I will purposefully and intentionally seek Gods right hand of power and authority, I will REMEMBER the Lord's good deeds and miracles! I will consider those deeds and meditate on those miracles!" He then goes on in a new spirit, a Spirit of remembrance and praise! Recalling God's miracles and goodness and then closing by now calling God his Shepard. Asaph went from a pity-party to The Glory Celebration of God! His speech went from despair to praise because he made the choice to empty himself and let God fill his mind instead!

Are you full of your own selfish needs, desires and wants? Or maybe your heart is filled with anger, resentment and bitterness? Do you believe God is unfair? Do you think He would allow some kind of pain in your life that you couldn't bear? Have you blamed God for something that happened or someone you lost? (That was mine. I was so angry at God for taking my mom.). We either carry our baggage or we let God carry us. Like Asaph, we can go through life with a self-centered heart or a heart that purposes itself to see God for who He truly is. I remember the day when I realized that I was blaming God for all the evil in the world when in reality it was Satan who was the destroyer! God is the Healer and Comforter! What a day of liberation that was for me!

I could go on and on about this topic but let me close with this thought. When you don't believe in God, He still believes in you. When you turn your back on Him, He's got your back. Faith can be a  dichotomy of self or God, doubt or hope, negative or positive. Our minds can be filled with either. Which will you choose?

Just so you know, I don't just write about these topics without living them. Let me tell you about this morning. I woke up and it was dreary outside, the cold weather returned and my battle with depression was looming over me. I got up and I couldn't shake it off. I thought of Asaph and decided to challenge myself. Instead of letting my negative thoughts determine my day, I rose my hands to the sky and started praising God. I asked Him to bring to my mind memories of His goodness and times of joy from my life and in His faithfulness He did just that. The state of my mind changed from sadness to joy and I ended up having a day filled with accomplishments and creativity! God is good, He is faithful and worthy to be praised! So, again I ask you, "What will you choose to fill your mind with this day? Yourself and your power or God and His power.

God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind! 2 Timothy 1:7

Where My Soul Breathes

Where My Soul Breathes
by Dee Hartmann (For Penny and Abe)


My soul is alive and here,
wrapped in it all that is dear.
Much to lose, more to embrace,
It seeks a peaceful place.


Apart from You my source of life,
Succulent fruits fall of strife.
The brittle branch can not reach out,
remaining leaves of troubled doubt.


Infuse my spirit's fruit
with your spices, My Vine.
Bow my limbs to You in desire,
Within the earth, Your love divine.


Let no child find your sweet
offerings amiss,
but gathering as they pass,
The fruit of life in their laps.


Once gone to where the soul breathes,
what's left are only seeds.
Gather them and tend them,
unlike shadows who disappear from view,
Let them cling with desperate cries,
looking deeply in Your eyes, only unto You.

Spring

I want to see the color green, to hear the birds begin to sing; to see a bulb push through the ground, and gaze upon my God's profound.
Unleash the Spring my Mighty King! Draw the sun closer to my face and change this place! Lay with me upon the grass as we watch the clouds pass. Unleash the Spring!

By Dee Hartmann

Backwards isn't Bad

While I've had friends visit recently, I'm also going to visit friends and that leaves me little time to write. So, I want to encourage my readers to go to the side bar and open some older posts from the archives to read! You will find such wonderful insights there that the Holy Spirit has spoke through me! I would love to come back and find some comments on the blog too! Blessings and courage, Dee