HolySpirit has been whispering a theme to me for the past few weeks. His words came nicely the first time, "Talk less. Pray more." WisdomWords spoken through a Titus2 leader that hovered over my heart and seemed tangible enough for me to chew on. Simple statements speak volumes to me, and God knows me best.
I was frustrated. Tired. Worn out. Life was not being fair and I wanted people to know it. I didn't desire to spill all the beans, just enough to make me feel better.
When I didn't exactly heed those words in full embrace, HolySpirit was kind enough to deliver them again with a bit more punch, "SHUT UP and PRAY!" And sometimes simple statements have to be backed up with strength [because] God knows me best.
Do I think my God to be rude and lacking in love to say 'shut up' to me? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary, I know Him well enough by now to understand His intent. He loves me too much to [not] shout a declarative statement of safety. Wouldn't I shout at my child about to run into a street, all in the name of protection? Absolutely.
My God is protecting me while at the same time teaching me. That is what a [good] parent does.
Evening, morning and at noon will I utter my complaint and moan and sigh and He will hear my voice. ~ Psalm 55:17
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Christmas and Coffee Cups
October 31, 2011. Christmas Cheer Day. Buffalo Wild Wings. Lunch. Family. Christmas Conversation.
"What's the one thing you absolutely do not want to miss out on this Christmas season?", came the question.
She answered first, "Host a women's party (like a cookie swap)."
"Attend a candle lit Christmas Eve service", daughter chimed in next, and then snuck in a second request, "and have Luke 2 read Christmas morning like Grandpa used to do."
I paused long. One thing. ONE thing? Several options ran through my mind: The Nutcracker Ballet. Hunting for light-adorned neighborhoods. Baking cookies. Making ornaments. All memories from past Christmases. Each sounded good and could stand true, but none settled as the ONE.
Moments. Moments matter greatly to me. Individual snapshots of time that, when strung together, create a montage of one's life. BINGO!
"I don't want to let one day go by of this Christmas season without experiencing at least one moment of Christmas in that day."
Seven days have passed.
The [red] Starbucks ornament hangs from my rearview mirror.
Christmas music fills my iPod.
The sounds of Holiday and Crystal Lewis accompany me wherever I drive.
Christmas boxes are unpacked.
Walls are splashed with muted golds, greens and reds--the color theme inspired by our Christmas Cheer Day trip to Decorator's Warehouse ["60,000 sq. ft. of Christmas"].
Sounds of the Season music channel is our new daytime favorite for Christmas classics.
The magic of The Polar Express is already experienced. "I believe. I believe. I believe ... this is yours."
Twinkle lights hang on green branches.
and ...
Christmas coffee mugs have replaced the year-round staples.
A lover of order in my home, I cannot have odd-man-out dishes ... unless I'm purposely muti-coloring for theme. If one of a pair breaks, the second goes in the trash too. Evens. No odds. It is my little quirk.
... except when it comes to Christmas cups.
This is the only time you'll find one-offs in my cupboard. Each mug represents a piece of my heart. A memory. A person. A moment. Even a character of HolySpirit I was being taught that year; hence the 'joy' mugs, my 2011 favorites.
"Coffee is my favorite!", I say with the same enthusiasm of Buddy the Elf referring to smiling.
The cup I use each morning means something to me, and during the Christmas season it is no different. For two months I daily choose a Christmas cup for what it represents.
This morning I grabbed the long, thin one encircled with twinkle lights, and a cute-as-a-button stocking on the backside that you can't see in this photo. It reminded me of the very thing that I did not want to miss: a day without experiencing something Christmassy.
"It only happens once a year", the cup reads.
"Remember this moment", my heart instructs me.
To many, it is insignificant. A Christmas coffee cup is a moment. Really?
Yes. Really.
Each time I hold a particular cup, I'm reminded of who, of when, of where, and my heart smiles. And let's not forget that magical reason I'm holding the cup in the first place. Coffee! Any walk down Memory Lane is more delicious with the black elixir.
Yes. It is a moment. And moments matter to me.
Let me encourage you this season not to miss the moments. Because they can "happen once a year" or "just once".
"What's the one thing you absolutely do not want to miss out on this Christmas season?", came the question.
She answered first, "Host a women's party (like a cookie swap)."
"Attend a candle lit Christmas Eve service", daughter chimed in next, and then snuck in a second request, "and have Luke 2 read Christmas morning like Grandpa used to do."
I paused long. One thing. ONE thing? Several options ran through my mind: The Nutcracker Ballet. Hunting for light-adorned neighborhoods. Baking cookies. Making ornaments. All memories from past Christmases. Each sounded good and could stand true, but none settled as the ONE.
Moments. Moments matter greatly to me. Individual snapshots of time that, when strung together, create a montage of one's life. BINGO!
"I don't want to let one day go by of this Christmas season without experiencing at least one moment of Christmas in that day."
Seven days have passed.
The [red] Starbucks ornament hangs from my rearview mirror.
Christmas music fills my iPod.
The sounds of Holiday and Crystal Lewis accompany me wherever I drive.
Christmas boxes are unpacked.
Walls are splashed with muted golds, greens and reds--the color theme inspired by our Christmas Cheer Day trip to Decorator's Warehouse ["60,000 sq. ft. of Christmas"].
Sounds of the Season music channel is our new daytime favorite for Christmas classics.
The magic of The Polar Express is already experienced. "I believe. I believe. I believe ... this is yours."
Twinkle lights hang on green branches.
and ...
Christmas coffee mugs have replaced the year-round staples.
... except when it comes to Christmas cups.
This is the only time you'll find one-offs in my cupboard. Each mug represents a piece of my heart. A memory. A person. A moment. Even a character of HolySpirit I was being taught that year; hence the 'joy' mugs, my 2011 favorites.
"Coffee is my favorite!", I say with the same enthusiasm of Buddy the Elf referring to smiling.
The cup I use each morning means something to me, and during the Christmas season it is no different. For two months I daily choose a Christmas cup for what it represents.
This morning I grabbed the long, thin one encircled with twinkle lights, and a cute-as-a-button stocking on the backside that you can't see in this photo. It reminded me of the very thing that I did not want to miss: a day without experiencing something Christmassy.
"Remember this moment", my heart instructs me.
To many, it is insignificant. A Christmas coffee cup is a moment. Really?
Yes. Really.
Each time I hold a particular cup, I'm reminded of who, of when, of where, and my heart smiles. And let's not forget that magical reason I'm holding the cup in the first place. Coffee! Any walk down Memory Lane is more delicious with the black elixir.
Yes. It is a moment. And moments matter to me.
Let me encourage you this season not to miss the moments. Because they can "happen once a year" or "just once".
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
[PLEASE] steady my heart
JEHOVAH knew what I needed today. HOLYSPIRIT led me to this video, to this song. that's why i'm posting it.
my life is messy. it is not easy. and pain is a part of it. we are all the same in that sense.
but right perspective is a part of His plan. today, [this] was YAHWEH righting my perspective. and when i see differently, when my eyes are drawn off of me and rightly focused on Him, i am changed.
steady my heart [kari jobe]
my life is messy. it is not easy. and pain is a part of it. we are all the same in that sense.
but right perspective is a part of His plan. today, [this] was YAHWEH righting my perspective. and when i see differently, when my eyes are drawn off of me and rightly focused on Him, i am changed.
steady my heart [kari jobe]
wish it could be easy
why is life so messy
why is pain a part of us
there are days i feel like
nothing ever goes right
sometimes it just hurts so much
but you're here
you're real
i know i can trust you
even when it hurts
even when it's hard
even when it all just falls apart
i will run to you
cuz i know that you are
lover of my soul
healer of my scars
you steady my heart
you steady my heart
i'm not gonna worry
i know that you've got me
right inside the palm of your hand
each and every moment
what's good and what gets broken
happens just the way you planned
you are here…
... you steady my heart
and i will run to find refuge in your arms
and i will sing too cuz of everything you are
you steady my heart
even when it hurts...
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Am I Willing?
"This line soaked deep into me. It made me wonder how many moments we experience on a day-to-day basis are arranged by God - for us - for our refreshment and strengthening. How many do we miss? Surely He is bigger than just one interaction. We praise Him for the one. But if we were willing, would we be more overwhelmed by His care for us than our concerns?" [coli jones]
One comment to what was already written stirs a continuation of thought. Causes me to pause and ponder.
If we were habitually obedient to write for the naked eye what HolySpirit purposes to write on the flesh of our hearts, how would our sight be refocused and refined? How much more would we find ourselves in the state of partnering with the Source of Inspiration to inspire the same in others?
... if we were willing - not just to see - but to ask to be shown.
And then He stirs again. "Define. Wholly understand. Don't assume you've mastered the words I chose to whisper. Knowing will both help you recognize their worth and affect your appreciation of the 'why' behind them."
Inspire: to affect, guide or arouse by divine influence.
Habit: a recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition; an established disposition (tendency) of the mind or character.
Obey: to fulfill or carry out the command, order or instruction of.
(re)Focus: a condition in which something can be clearly seen … (re) again.
Refine: to reduce to a pure state; purify.
Can you see it? The common thread woven from the first word to the last? [divine influence. unconscious pattern. fulfill. see clearly. purify.]
Not everyone would define themselves a writer; one who writes. A lover of the written word, both to take in and pour out. I write because I listen with my fingers. But don't allow the verb to trip you up. Communication into us and out of us is the focal point; not the specific way in which it is expressed.
HolySpirit chose 'write' for me because words are, to me, like the time signature to the composer; the empty canvas to the painter; the lens to the photographer; the musical key to the singer.
Too artsy?
How about the baseball grip to the pitcher? The syllabus to the teacher? The soil to the gardener? The fabric to the designer? The wood to the carpenter?
The verb is the action of what we do naturally. The way in which we see. The language used to inspire and drive and compel. The essence of desire. The push and pull of purpose. The beginning of vision and the motivation of fruition.
It is how we communicate because it is the way in which communication was first spoken into us, creating who we are and the way we see, hear, feel, touch and sense.
"How many moments ... do we miss?", she wonders. I wonder, too.
Maybe the real question is: Am I willing?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Casting Cares
This blog showed up in my email inbox just as I was beginning to seriously feel completely overwhelmed by too much life, too many circumstances, and too many decisions ... all pouring in within the past five days. Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence.
The moment we are able to finally let go and let God work is one of the most liberating and peaceful moments we will ever find ourselves in.It's God. Knocking on my heart. Reminding me that He knows, in the midst of when the whole of who I am is beginning to feel the weight of everything.
Today as I opened my inbox, and looked at the number of questions and issues that I had to deal with, I seriously had a moment where I thought, "This is all too overwhelming, too demanding, too time consuming, and altogether too much."
Then I breathed and remembered that God was not waiting on me to do, decide, or handle it all; He wanted me to trust Him in the midst of it all. For when I am weak, He is strong, and when I am at the end of myself, I can totally lean into, trust, and rely on Him. When I don't know what to do HE DOES. When my heart is overwhelmed I am led to the rock that is Higher than I. This isn't a nice theory, but is an available reality to us all.
We can know in our heads that we can cast our care on Him for He cares for us, or we can allow it to permeate the very fabric of our being and actually believe it in our hearts...and then do it.
So today I have decided to practice what I preach and "cast my care." And you know what? I now feel that I can face any giant and scale any wall. It is not because anything externally has changed, but because I have chosen to lift my gaze off my circumstances and inadequacies and instead to "fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." He has our back.
Try casting your cares on Him today, for He does care for you. [Christine Caine]
Casting the [c]whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, [d]once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you [e]watchfully.(B)
8Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [[f]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
9Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset--rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same ([g]identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.
10And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.
11To Him be the dominion (power, authority, rule) forever and ever. Amen (so be it).
1 Peter 5:7-11
8Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [[f]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
9Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset--rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same ([g]identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.
10And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.
11To Him be the dominion (power, authority, rule) forever and ever. Amen (so be it).
1 Peter 5:7-11
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