I was never disciplined.... How a whisper and a kiss brought forth life

I woke up early this morning and my mind began to think upon so very many things... and as I thought through and prayed a little through .. Father's affections took center stage... and my heart and mind stilled as He spoke.. and spoke and spoke....

Relationship with the One who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and Alpha and Omega and Creator is truly an awe inspiring thing....

He spoke ever so clearly at one point and it was like a kiss upon my check... The Lord of Hosts, The Almighty, The Everlasting One... knowing every hair upon my head and every moment of every beat of my heart .. whispered instruction and kissed my check as I would as I tucked my children into bed..

And then some keys for this season were upon my heart in a new way... "my people perish for lack of understanding."  and I have perished throughout my life because I did not have instruction... I did not have understanding....

The whisper came ... and I knew the truth in it .. I was never disciplined....  now before going any further let me share that a good friend of mine.. shares that discipline is to teach ... to instruct... and while I went through school and was told don't to this or yes to that... I knew that in my heart there was never a connection...  I remember years of living with very little conscience and very little remorse... little to none....  In being healed and having those attributes of life miraculously added to me I pray to the Lord I do not take those things for granted....

In hearing that I was never disciplined... what I heard was this... as a parent I instruct our children I do the majority of it thinking of that child's personality.. We teach and direct and correct because we love our children and we want them to be prepared for the world and for life and to be empowered to thrive... I come alongside the children and walk with them and while we are doing life together I add instruction here or there .. as we chat about everything or nothing ... I'm looking them in the eyes... speaking with them ... compassion says this child who will one day be walking in the world needs to have the capacity within themselves to do so... We see so much of this in the voice of proverbs... care and concern for instruction...edification.. rebuke.. encouragement...

I lacked in those departments personally and I know what it was like to hit 17 and to be expected to thrive and go off into the world and do what was expected without any interior resources on which to stand....

Tonight I heard in my heart a voice of mercy.. compassion... instruction... and deep love... The Lord only disciplines those He loves....  hhhhmmmm....  so very glad.. so beyond very glad....

I began to see this season in life with different lens and the sight was beautiful....  a pressure cooker is that a pressure cooker but the intensity of it cooks the ingredients at a much faster rate.... 

Discipline can be a gift under the hands of tenderness.. instruction is a powerful tool when wielded in love...  situations and scenarios arise and if we know how to conduct ourselves in a way that brings forth life not death and understanding instead of perishing then there is growth and beauty and maturity...

When I was a child .. I thought as a child... but now... That is a process of growth and maturity...

I realized that within the intensity of this season it was an opportunity to lay a hold of the Lord's instruction.. His discipline.. His ways and to flourish...  daily.. hourly.. moment by moment opportunities exist where we can walk with Him through the most crazy of situations and have peace and have patience and have kindness..

1 Peter 2:20-21
20For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
Christ Is Our Example
      21For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; 23and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

To be instructed and to know how to live... That is a gift.. One I do pray I do not take for granted.... a gift .. a treasure.. as proverbs tells us it is liken to jewels to have wisdom and live a life full of the instruction of God....

For me this is not a religious action upon the outside of my person....  for me this beats within my heart... He loves me so much that He instructs me how I can prosper....  how I can find favor with Him... How I can live a life where within it I do not perish but live and even amidst times that can be described as a pressure cooker I can thrive because I know what to ask grace to empower me towards.. Kindness... gentleness.... self - control...

I hear often these times are hard.... whether people are talking about finances or events in the world.. or the spiritual climate... they are right... but what I heard tonight as my Father dwelt with me was in these hard times is the offering of discipline and maturity....  to mature in Christ and no longer be babes tossed here and there but through His instruction.. through His kindness... through His empowerment.. through His example... we can be "returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls".....

As one who was never disciplined and was left to their own devises I see these gifts as treasures that the world's wealth could never compare....  He cares so thoroughly about me that He actively loves and instructs me so that I will not perish but have a life that is truly worth living... That is the Lord's discipline... and I am blown away and stand in awe of the journey of this evening... His wondrous and strong love course through my being and I desire (not because I must.. because I want) His ways....