I hope you have a lovely day seeking and finding all the hidden joys, blessings, and sweet moments with Jesus that are carefully placed along your path today.
How He loves to delight you with Creation!
Peace be with you. You are so loved.
I have just started reading this devotional by a fellow author and am liking it immensely!
I wonder how often we find ourselves in this trap of making our relationship with Jesus a to-do list?
*Read the Bible for a certain amount of time in the morning only – check.
*Pray for 30 minutes following a script of what to say, when, and how – check
*Listen to worship music ONLY in the car – check
and our lists go on…
I love the author’s reminder that Jesus doesn’t expect checklists, routines, or disciplines that take away from us just BEING with Him. Isn’t His presence far better and more deeply healing than our disciplines, routines, and lists? He knows us, sees our hearts, and delights when we choose just to be with Him.
It’s ok to take a hike, enjoy the silence of creation, and find Him right there with us. It’s ok to sip our coffee and allow Him to sift and sort our thoughts, fears, and schedules.
Maybe this week, we can just be with Jesus without lists, schedules, and expectations, and see what He has to say to us and how He heals us. You are deeply loved. Peace be with you.
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Isn’t it wonderful that God knows us so well, loves us so deeply, and covers us so completely with His grace and mercy? He knows what it’s like to be human – perfectly imperfect, but so loved!
“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” Matthew 6:26 NLT
I believe that God greatly cares for and loves all of His Creation. Imagine the joy and delight when He created each living thing. We are His masterpiece, created in His image!
Whatever need you have today talk to Him. Ask Him to help you and provide for you. He hears you. He loves you. You are safe with Him. Peace be with you.
“Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” Proverbs 16:24 NLT
The words that we speak have a profound impact on the hearer. Our words literally hold the power of life and death. What we say to others and to ourselves creates eternal ripples with consequences that we will have to answer for. How we use our words will come back to us, as is said in Proverbs 18:21 NLT “… those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”
Some of the words I read and hear on social media are heartbreaking. The way certain groups of people are spoken about, the names they are called, and the things assumed about them are deeply disturbing. Those words and names are not from God, but directly from the father of lies, the enemy of our souls. God created these exact humans in His image and called them masterpiece and beautiful. His breath was breathed into their lungs exactly the way it was breathed into mine and into yours. How He must feel when mere humans in pride, fear, and arrogance speak hate, judgement, and terrible things about those He took time to create in His image.
Don’t we understand by now that God is not on one side of man- made political parties? Isn’t He so much more than that? He is King of Kings. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Son of Righteousness. He is the beginning and the end. Vengeance in His. Isn’t it His job to convict of sin and bring forgiveness and healing? It isn’t my job and it isn’t yours. He said to take the log out of our own eyes.
It is holy, beautiful, and so healing to witness someone speaking kindness to another – spreading healing, love, acceptance, and acknowledging their existence as one so loved by God that He sent Jesus to die for them. One act of kindness, one kind word, one selfless decision to help another, stand up for another, and love another simply because Jesus told us to, sends ripples of hope, healing, and belief that there is still good here. I want to be on the side of good, of healing, of hope. I want to be on Jesus’ side.
Lord, help me put kindness at the forefront of how I act and speak. Help me to understand the full impact of the words I choose and how I treat those I cross paths with today by your divine plan. Forgive me for the times I wasn’t kind and my words wounded one that You deeply love. Holy Spirit, guard my mouth and fill me with Your words and actions so that I uplift and heal rather than divide and wound. Keep judgment from my heart and blanket me with peace as I walk with humanity today. Please let Your presence and love be the things I leave with those I come in contact with today and each day. Amen.
Hello everyone! These are the current 3 books that I have published on Amazon as Kindle, eBook, and paperback. They are also available from other online retailers.
I would love for you to check them out! In each book, I firmly believe that God has something for each of you that will speak to you right where you are in whatever circumstances and life season you may be in at the moment. He loves you and wants you to know Him on a deeper, intimate level. He speaks to everyone in such a unique and beautiful way that I am confident there is something in each book for everyone.
I will soon have book #4 Divine Presence…launched and published. I’m so very excited to get this 4th book into everyone’s hands and see what God has tucked into the pages for you all.
You are loved, be blessed, peace be with you.
Good morning, everyone! My book Divine Encounters…Kindle version though Amazon is now FREE today through March 5th. Please head on over with the link provided and grab a copy while the promo is on and feel free to re blog and share. Happy reading and have a beautiful and blessed day!
I had the privilege of attending an amazing concert over the weekend with my family, our church’s youth pastors and their wives and many others from my local church. The concert was wonderful; full of excitement, dancing and shouting; a spirit-filled energy that infused my bones and awakened a deeper intimacy with Jesus. Music has always been a strong source of life, energy and spirituality for me. Music awakens and fulfills at the same time, a deep place in my soul; through times that have been so crushing and devastating to times of such victory I can hardly stand it. Music and Jesus are deeply interconnected for me.
As I stood with the thousands of others on Saturday night, listening to praises rising to God, I was filled with awe and brought to tears at the way all of us were united for one purpose – to praise and love Jesus; to receive healing, love, acceptance and joy from our Father. Our Father. I love the sound of that. I was struck that at the very moment of praise; turning our focus on Him in communion with the spirit, we were united. It didn’t matter who we were planning to vote for, the color of our skin, our past, our present or our future, our socio economic status or our dress size; all that mattered was that we love God and He loves us deeply; no shame, sin, guilt, habit or hang-up could separate us from His love. He was right there in our midst and His presence was so potent and powerful that it raised the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck. The Creator of the universe, and of you and I, joined us Saturday night at the Concord Pavilion and lavished us with so much love. I know healing took place that night; lives were saved, hope restored, relationships healed and grace! Oh so much grace!
At one point during the concert, I turned around to look next to me and behind me and was overwhelmed at the sight of arms, hands, faces raised up to heaven; smiles, laughter, songs, tears; all directed upward to our Father. I thought, “Wow! This must be a tiny glimpse of what heaven will be like; all races, all nations, all backgrounds standing, kneeling, bowing in the presence of the Most High God. I tell you, it was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen.
There it is again. I feel it rising up from somewhere deep inside. It is difficult to describe, but there it is all the same. I want it to have a name. Somehow that will make it seem safe and predictable, possibly even controllable. However, it is anything but safe and predictable, most certainly not controllable. It is pressure that builds and needs a release; a cry from the deep that can only be satisfied by an answering calm, a gentling of the urgency; a whispered word, saying “Peace, be still child; how very close I am to you.” It is birthed in quiet moments of meditation and worship, where time ceases to exist and I know I have Your undivided attention. It is a place where my voice, my love and the groaning of Your Spirit, mix and intertwine in the Heavenlies, bringing delight to Your heart; setting into motion things I could never comprehend. It is so beautiful, yet not safe and certainly not predictable; uncontrollable. This it comes surging up as I fall to my knees in awe of all that You are; knowing that the small bit I know of You is almost more than I can bear. To know that there is more, that You are richer and more brilliant than my most vivid dreams frightens me, because that, too, is not safe, is not predictable and cannot be contained. No, it is holy, a consuming fire, pure and wild; it’s more fierce and passionate than I can handle on my own.
At times, it swells up when my fingers finally release their death grip on what I knew all along I could never control or hold onto, yet almost died in the trying. I hear it in the sound of chains falling and walls crumbling, as another stronghold tumbles to the ground; the scent of victory overcoming the stench of defeat. It comes as a wave, a pounding of the heart, as Your anointing falls when obedience calls and is answered with “Yes Lord, here I am.” It is there when the howling loneliness calls out for filling, clawing in desperation until Your presence is given permission to enfold and permeate the void. I sense it’s presence when joy unspeakable and peace that passes all understanding snaps like a banner in the wind, high above the circumstances and distractions of life, proclaiming that Jehovah Nissi is my covering and victory, shielding me with love.
As I wait in Your presence, I am beginning to understand what it is. It is desire for You so indescribable it hurts, a needy emptiness that can only be filled by all that You are. It is the craving my spirit discerns can only be satisfied when I am forever in Your presence for all eternity. It is an obsession that keeps me hungry and thirsty for revelation and wisdom; for truth and a startling intimacy found only with You. No, it isn’t safe or predictable; it’s certainly not controllable, but I know it will be with me until I see You face to face. I am learning to love it, not fear it, to embrace the wildness and fierceness of it. I will welcome it with open arms and tender heart. Its name is yearning.
Extravagant Hope 