So my day yesterday was full of grace moments but it wasn't full of time at home... I left the house before 8am and didn't return until close to 10pm.... What did that mean? Well, for me it meant that I didn't have my laptop with me. I hadn't anticipated not being back to the house and throughout the day kept trying to fit in an hour to get home as to post and get some other work done...
Except my 7 year old son wanted these new rubber bands that he just had to have. (first window at 4pm to go home was thwarted because sometimes a kid just needs to have to know that he is what takes priority.) It wasn't the rubber bands it was the fact that I knew it would matter to his heart (as the youngest boy and number 5 ) that what he wanted would take precedent.
This morning when I came to begin this post I felt a deep understanding to what one of the truest points of joy is... GRACE....
I had more that 3 moments of JOY yesterday.
I had felt the importance to the Lord's heart that His people would be given sustenance to sustain them through the wildernesses of life, that His forgiveness was so very real and that He calls us by a new name. I understood that the "names" we often call ourselves fall far short of the reality of the NAMES He calls us ... I felt His hunger and His passion for His people throughout the day....
I had sat with good friends, I laughed and joked.. I watched my children do the same... (There is nothing really more joyful than to see your children full of joy and delight.)
I had a friend save my heart.. ok probably my kid's hearts and potentially lives.. (Not really BUT uuuhhhmmm close.) I was truly tired. Looking forward to the banquet but not at the same time. Jim's been traveling quite a bit these days and so as 6pm approached yesterday, ie the football banquet, and it looked like I was taking the 4 and 7 year old along with me, the lack of sleep and the pace of the last few days was catching up with me.
I pulled into the church parking lot to pick up Gideon and before I was pulling out heading off to the banquet, the immense and truly life saving offer to watch the younger two of the Driscoll tribe had been spoken. Driving off I touched grace... It permeated my soul. I held back the tears. I just sat in the reality of grace.
This morning when I came to my laptop and thought of having not posted concerning three moments of joy, the larger lesson came full circle. GRACE!
November 4th.... 4 Moments of Joy...
1) The moment I learned that the reality of giving myself grace equated to joy! Be gracious and kind towards yourself.. I rarely am. I was talking to a friend yesterday and I said that I actually don't mind my critics. I have realized that there truly aren't many people out there that would be more critical of myself than I am already being.... I recognize all too often and all to easily where I miss the mark on a regular basis. It matters to me... It needs to matter less. Those that understand will thoroughly understand.
2) Sleeping in... Jim who has been away took up the responsibilities of the morning and I slept in.. Matter of fact I am still in pajamas and still sitting upon my bed. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.... NICE... GRACE!
3) In praying about a fast my church is doing.. I felt the Lord explain to me the reasons behind what He was asking of me... and in hearing His heart my own heart was moved..... "Take better care of yourself." He said. Instead of saying "fast diet coke." He spoke... "take better care of yourself." Here I am supposed to be fasting and the Lord is caring for my heart. I knew He wanted me to only drink water but He spoke it in such a way that didn't communicate lack but spoke LIFE. He didn't say fast media and don't watch netflix. He said that He wanted me to have rest. (I knew and understood the other. Don't stay up late watching shows.) Instead of saying what not to eat... He spoke of what I could eat... In each and every asking of His was the heart beat.. "Take better care of yourself." Be diligent with your life and take care of yourself.. Take those vitamins Jim lays out for me.. get rest... drink water.. eat raw vegetables... GRACE
4) Sitting with my youngest son and playing with those rubber bands that he so desperately wanted and sitting with him and spending the quiet moments before the day takes off.
YES... Today's lessons about JOY are full of grace...
Be kind to yourself today and realize that God's grace flows in abundance. Be diligent with yourself today and know that it matters to the Lord that you take good care of yourself. Enjoy grace today! What does it look like to enjoy the reality of God as He transforms our lives from glory to glory. Walking with Him and being pulled into His likeness. Grace isn't cheap! Grace comes with a huge price tag.. But He supplied all that we had need of...
Today's JOY is the deeper realization of GRACE and then it isn't four moments it is every moment....
Monday, November 4, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
I come from Laughter... November 2..... Day 2 of The Joy Challenge
So in the light of the joy challenge my mind and thoughts and heart started to think about the things that matter.... My son loves this tree that is in the front yard... My son loves when I sit on the stoop with him and just watch him play.... there aren't better moments .. or could there be....
I love the way this tree has arrived this Fall... It brings me great joy when I drive up towards our home.. and see it's amazing colors.
And I love words and quotes and expressions that make you pause and wonder.. Noteworthy sayings and truths that one feels richer after meditating upon the phrase....
So today.. November 2.. My two joys are 1)celebrating Fall and my youngest two kids by laying on the grass and gazing up at the sky and 2) looking at words that cause my soul to be stretched and grown...
Because as I said we are not ever limited to the moments of joy created.. I have to admit there have been more moments of joy in the last two hours of this morning than I think my heart can contain... This goes into proving a thought that I had.... That as one plants one seed of joy one thousand pop up and two seeds of joy created ten thousands of moments..... They begin to create a flow of life and atmosphere where Holy Spirit can come and dwell... Gratitude and joy begin to overflow and amidst whatever the day may or may not bring we are made strong... For the joy of our God.. the joy of our Lord will carry us and lift us up into a life of strength and beauty and wonder and awe....
3) Hearing Greg and Elizabeth's voice early in the morning as they talk to one another and giggle and converse upon matters to great for adults..
5) You would have to know my son, Gregory's passion for all things office supplies to appreciate this but this morning as he came and sat down upon the sofa right next to me, he was holding two pens. "Do you want one mom?" He asked... I looked at him, knowing that to him he was offering me pure gold. "You really want me to have one?' I asked. "Yes, mom." Was his reply. Pure gold. Pure joy.
6) Having felt distant from our 13 year old daughter I pushed into the early morning and opened her door and got into bed with her... As she awoke her expression was concerning the beauty of the surprise of my presence. I expressed that I had missed her. And we laid in bed together and I got to hear all about her school and her friends and I got to pray over her and thank God for her.
7)Being me... Today I am just taking a moment of joy to be glad to get to be me.. with all my insanity.. and all my lack.. all my inability to keep a clean house or order the days the way I would want...Today I am taking a moment to take joy in the fact that I am overcoming fear in ways that I never thought I would... Today I am taking a moment to agree with God that I am all together beautiful without spot or blemish and in me there is a good thing found. Yes... Today.. I take the joy challenge and it begins in my home.. with me.. with the kids.. with creation.. with beauty.. with Jesus (I got accused recently of not saying His name enough... ) Lol... Hey, I can hear all sorts of feedback and glean that which I am supposed to glean... Today I am joyful not based on circumstances or situations.. My joy is not birthed forth from this world... I will make expressions of joy into the world but the world will not dictate to me the reality of my joy.....
Be joyful today... I pray for purposeful moments of joy into your day.. At least two of them for today.. but may they flow deep and in abundance....
Friday, November 1, 2013
I come from Laughter... November 1, 2013.. She thinks the orange smells more like a lemon.. No, this isn't some spiritual exercise happening early in the Driscoll household...
The challenge to find joy....
Let November be a month were you find that joy comes in the morning....
Here is the Challenge....
For each day that is in November and corresponding to the number that is the date.. will be the number of intentional moments of joy that you must find within the 24 hours....
Now in these lower days you MAY and DEFINITELY should try to FIND and TAKE more... But let everyday in November be a journey further into JOY....
Journal about it... Whether it be list on your phone.. or in a journal... Grasp a hold of JOY and take pictures of those moments....
By November 30th you will see ever more that the JOY of the LORD IS INDEED your strength....
My November 1st moment of JOY.... I picked a really simple one to show that what I mean by joy filled moments can be small, intentionally filled moments of interaction and participation...
It started with Elizabeth walking into the room with a knife and an orange. I pulled her into me and showed her that a knife wasn't needed. We peeled it together. We smelled it.. She thinks the orange smells more like a lemon.. Hhhhmmm interesting... NOTE to self.. go to store and buy a lemon and cut them both up and let her compare...
Joy was the real fruit.. no, I didn't pick a fruit on purpose so that I could say that...
We also looked at the most majestic tree in our front yard.. It has erupted in color and both Greg and Lizzie love it....
When I enter into joy on purpose a life force enters my being... There is something about being intentional about joy that fills the soul...
1) Moment with Lizzie and an orange that smelled more like a lemon to her....
SHARE yours.... Can't wait for November 30th.... What a joy filled day that will be....
Let November be a month were you find that joy comes in the morning....
Here is the Challenge....
For each day that is in November and corresponding to the number that is the date.. will be the number of intentional moments of joy that you must find within the 24 hours....
Now in these lower days you MAY and DEFINITELY should try to FIND and TAKE more... But let everyday in November be a journey further into JOY....
Journal about it... Whether it be list on your phone.. or in a journal... Grasp a hold of JOY and take pictures of those moments....
By November 30th you will see ever more that the JOY of the LORD IS INDEED your strength....
My November 1st moment of JOY.... I picked a really simple one to show that what I mean by joy filled moments can be small, intentionally filled moments of interaction and participation...
It started with Elizabeth walking into the room with a knife and an orange. I pulled her into me and showed her that a knife wasn't needed. We peeled it together. We smelled it.. She thinks the orange smells more like a lemon.. Hhhhmmm interesting... NOTE to self.. go to store and buy a lemon and cut them both up and let her compare...
Joy was the real fruit.. no, I didn't pick a fruit on purpose so that I could say that...
We also looked at the most majestic tree in our front yard.. It has erupted in color and both Greg and Lizzie love it....
When I enter into joy on purpose a life force enters my being... There is something about being intentional about joy that fills the soul...
1) Moment with Lizzie and an orange that smelled more like a lemon to her....
SHARE yours.... Can't wait for November 30th.... What a joy filled day that will be....
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Good little Christian... My rant for the day..
I sit on my butt and stare out my picture window... my laptop cradled against my knees as my fingers begin the journey of finding the keys that will form the words that are on my heart... My heart hurts and my head is full... My thoughts collapse one upon the other as do pictures of other times and other places and years gone by and too much experience and too many relationships and knowing too much and not knowing enough....
I sit on my butt with my legs crossed and listen to the rain pouring down upon the roof and watch as the leaves sprinkle down as they will in the Fall... And I pause.. And I pray for courage because on days like today and posts like today... I need courage...
These days words feel more like a pile of jumbled letters not at all coherent ... But I think it is because I want to back off of the coherent... But I will find the way to pick through the pile and I will find the ones I want...
I stared at the picture of all those letters and I stared and I stared at them over and over...
Which ones will I pick up? Which ones will I put together? Which ones go together? What are the words I really want to say?
And when I have found them will I be able to put them together.....
I'm not going to be culturally relevant and I am going to battle my way through this.. I am not going to be coherent... But I am going to say what I believe needs to be said...
You see I have found my letters... there are five of them... And there is actually even a cutesy kid song that spells them out for you... J... E..... S..... U..... S
Not emerging church... it's been emerging for over 2000 years
Not" I feel left out as a girl because when you call the Lord Father it feels too masculine".. get over it....
I love poetry.. I love words.. I love expression...
I love Jesus more
I have been mentally ill, I have fought depression.... There are days I live that feel more like those days and there are days they feel a far off memory.. I get emotions.. .Just ask my husband.
I know Jesus would go to the fringes of our society and pull forward the widow and the orphan and the ones left behind...
I know this today those fringes are just as religious in moments as the establishment they curse...
I have lived through the third wave, and genX and this and that.. I have seen worship from denominations and those that wouldn't call themselves denominations for years.... I and you will live through more and more and more of these
ONE THING REMAINS
It pissed me off the other day when I was listening to a christian female speaker talk about how God being refereed to as male made her feel left out.... I am a Christian female speaker and to know God is to know God... I am confident of my voice, I am confident in my Father's kingdom of my voice as daughter... I am confident that in who He is He is Spirit and I am known and I am not ever left out...
I have thought about things I have read recently and things I have listened to and again I will say this JESUS...
I am confident of this... I stand convinced...
It won't be in following some culturally current trend in the church be it mega or not that will propel you into finding rest for your soul....
There is rest for your soul....
I'm not going to be a good little Christian... I can't perform my way through the traditional sense of the words of church and sign up for this and that and do this and that and the other things any more.. But I can't perform my way through the emerging churches trends either.... I believe in grace and forgiveness but sin is sin and while there is forgiveness more than we could fully understand, grace becomes cheapened if we don't understand the cost...
Christ and Father are the place where I go when I need comfort and Holy Spirit is my comforter and counselor... BUT Father is also where I go when I need to hear the "go and sin no more." I receive His discipline because He is an immense and loving Father and I will live .. REALLY LIVE.. when I follow His ways.. I will thrive.. REALLY thrive when I follow the beat of His heart.
I am simplifying... I am on pause... I am on quiet... I am cleaning my house and purging my soul... I am sitting long hours in solitude and silence...
Those who know their God will display strength and take action... To know Him is to know Him as He is .. Not as we or our culture would make Him out to be... But and so we must know Him as He is .... Know His heart and His affections for us.. Know His mercy, His grace, His truth, His righteousness, His justice, His holiness, His beauty, His and Him! We must know Him and know that we know Him so that when something is being said even in His name our hearts can either arise and stand under His banner or call forth NO.. that is NOT the Lord, God... Father.. Abba .. My God and My Lord and The Savior.
I just leave this post with this.. Know God... Discern... Practice discernment..
Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:11-14
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Let the games begin.. or maybe I should call it the sharks in the water...sadly the blood is that of the body of Christ...
I can just hear it.. It's Sunday morning.... Racers take your mark.. Are our back stage show hands ready with their production clip boards? The pomp and circumstance.. the lights, the smoke.. the music.. ACTION... Let the games begin.. Let the smiles be worn .. Let the hearts be dressed up all pretty... It is the opening of a Sunday in Christendom and racers are you ready?
The first sentence HAS to be I am guilty and excavation of the pole is in process (I hope).... so all anyone else needs to think about is the speck of dust ... so consider this a letter to myself.... and you just get to read a page in my diary...
(Coming back to read this after it is done I need to apologize for the sarcasm within the title.. apologize but not change... maybe I shouldn't apoligize then.. but I'm in process and there are places where my heart is angry.. and places my heart is grieving and places where I don't know but grace how to continue to love and continue to walk and continue to hope against hope.... So grateful for that grace...)
In my journey with the Lord I reminisce upon the days when I just knew Him.. before the days my feet stepped into "ministry," before my ears and eyes and heart knew "politics." I think about the days when what I knew was Him. Those are the days I look back to as to be empowered to move forward.
One man who I knew many years ago and has walked a long time in "ministry," is writing these series of articles on how he has survived the decades of service to the Body, including what have been the practices that have kept him in it for the long haul. The points he brings up are important ones... the ones I land back on time and time again are the ones about relationships.
As I began to write this the presence of the Lord filled out the room and my awareness of Jesus became very heightened.... I began to feel as if He wanted me to write a letter and while it is intimate and very personal... (I did say in the beginning you would be reading a page in my diary) I share it with you...
My letter to Him...
I read recently that Manning called you the "Abba of Jesus," and I loved it.. I loved it instantly. There was something so right about that phrase and it caught my heart and captivated my attentions. You are the "Abba of Jesus," you then, are also, the "Abba of Mims." And again my heart explodes deeply within the reality of those words.
I crawl into you this morning. I crawl into the hiding place. I crawl into you and away ... away from the expressions of you upon the earth amidst my brothers and sisters... ( For a moment, only for a moment.. I know I will back for you call us not to escape but to remain.). Father.... Abba.. my heart is grieving... And my feet need to transverse the great and yet nothing space that separates us... You are upon your throne and I am earth bound and yet we meet time and time and time again... This is one of those times.... This is one of those times that need only You.. This is one of those moments where only you can satisfy.
My eyes see both ugly and beauty... the ugly stabs at my heart. The beauty brings healing into my eyes. I am called to Your body, Your son's bride, I am a part and can't say that I don't need any other part... I will by Your grace not speak ill about her.. But, oh Father.. the greed, the juxtapositioning for places of importance, the timeless regard for those who would be deemed not as important.. certainly no greater places of honor for them... The placement of relationship only for what can be gained or for what others can see... The right hand knowing what the left hand is doing... The seeking out of the best seats in the sanctuary... The selfish ambition... That is the ugly...
I need more of the beauty... I need more of the highways and byways.. I need more of the raw need of you ... I need less of the pharisee that is within me, I need more of the confession of the publican within and without and less and less of the Pharisee...
I am grieved for I am the worst offender.. in this world of "ministry," where your heart beat gets lost in the noise of the clanging gongs and the turning of cogs.. where the money of the people is more sought after then their hearts and their growth... Those places where spectacular displays of light and color and noise drown out the essential beauty of the essence of You. I don't know how to walk in the midst of the temple with such money changers... I lack wisdom.. I lack compassion... In these places where beauty fades and ugly soars.. I lack and I know not how to walk.. what tables are you over turning in me? What is it all suppose to look like anyway? Empower my eyes to see beyond the pig slop and see me underneath it all and see Yours underneath it all....
I am not lost in the depths of this.. I want to be lost in the depths of You, I am not hopeless in the midst of this.. for I hope against hope in the depths of you.... I am exhausted but upon the rising and riding of your wings I will be brought forward... I am a revelatory expression of Your Kingdom in need of a display of Your heart beat upon which I can anchor into and pulsate within. You... Your beauty... Your transformative power... You are what is needed ... To you and in You and with You I remain...
My greatest need is of You...
I entitled this, "Let the games begin.." I referred to "sharks in the water... " and the "blood of the Body," but more than anything I need the redemptive qualities of Your blood and the water that came forth from Your side... Pour over me Lord.. Pour over me.... This is so not a game...
Yours,
M
One of His responses................
See with the eyes I have given you. It does not take them to see what you see naturally.
Fight with the courage I have given you. You can not do it in your own strength.
Stand in the places I have empowered you to. You know not to build towers.
The first sentence HAS to be I am guilty and excavation of the pole is in process (I hope).... so all anyone else needs to think about is the speck of dust ... so consider this a letter to myself.... and you just get to read a page in my diary...
(Coming back to read this after it is done I need to apologize for the sarcasm within the title.. apologize but not change... maybe I shouldn't apoligize then.. but I'm in process and there are places where my heart is angry.. and places my heart is grieving and places where I don't know but grace how to continue to love and continue to walk and continue to hope against hope.... So grateful for that grace...)
In my journey with the Lord I reminisce upon the days when I just knew Him.. before the days my feet stepped into "ministry," before my ears and eyes and heart knew "politics." I think about the days when what I knew was Him. Those are the days I look back to as to be empowered to move forward.
One man who I knew many years ago and has walked a long time in "ministry," is writing these series of articles on how he has survived the decades of service to the Body, including what have been the practices that have kept him in it for the long haul. The points he brings up are important ones... the ones I land back on time and time again are the ones about relationships.
As I began to write this the presence of the Lord filled out the room and my awareness of Jesus became very heightened.... I began to feel as if He wanted me to write a letter and while it is intimate and very personal... (I did say in the beginning you would be reading a page in my diary) I share it with you...
My letter to Him...
I read recently that Manning called you the "Abba of Jesus," and I loved it.. I loved it instantly. There was something so right about that phrase and it caught my heart and captivated my attentions. You are the "Abba of Jesus," you then, are also, the "Abba of Mims." And again my heart explodes deeply within the reality of those words.
I crawl into you this morning. I crawl into the hiding place. I crawl into you and away ... away from the expressions of you upon the earth amidst my brothers and sisters... ( For a moment, only for a moment.. I know I will back for you call us not to escape but to remain.). Father.... Abba.. my heart is grieving... And my feet need to transverse the great and yet nothing space that separates us... You are upon your throne and I am earth bound and yet we meet time and time and time again... This is one of those times.... This is one of those times that need only You.. This is one of those moments where only you can satisfy.
My eyes see both ugly and beauty... the ugly stabs at my heart. The beauty brings healing into my eyes. I am called to Your body, Your son's bride, I am a part and can't say that I don't need any other part... I will by Your grace not speak ill about her.. But, oh Father.. the greed, the juxtapositioning for places of importance, the timeless regard for those who would be deemed not as important.. certainly no greater places of honor for them... The placement of relationship only for what can be gained or for what others can see... The right hand knowing what the left hand is doing... The seeking out of the best seats in the sanctuary... The selfish ambition... That is the ugly...
I need more of the beauty... I need more of the highways and byways.. I need more of the raw need of you ... I need less of the pharisee that is within me, I need more of the confession of the publican within and without and less and less of the Pharisee...
I am grieved for I am the worst offender.. in this world of "ministry," where your heart beat gets lost in the noise of the clanging gongs and the turning of cogs.. where the money of the people is more sought after then their hearts and their growth... Those places where spectacular displays of light and color and noise drown out the essential beauty of the essence of You. I don't know how to walk in the midst of the temple with such money changers... I lack wisdom.. I lack compassion... In these places where beauty fades and ugly soars.. I lack and I know not how to walk.. what tables are you over turning in me? What is it all suppose to look like anyway? Empower my eyes to see beyond the pig slop and see me underneath it all and see Yours underneath it all....
I am not lost in the depths of this.. I want to be lost in the depths of You, I am not hopeless in the midst of this.. for I hope against hope in the depths of you.... I am exhausted but upon the rising and riding of your wings I will be brought forward... I am a revelatory expression of Your Kingdom in need of a display of Your heart beat upon which I can anchor into and pulsate within. You... Your beauty... Your transformative power... You are what is needed ... To you and in You and with You I remain...
My greatest need is of You...
I entitled this, "Let the games begin.." I referred to "sharks in the water... " and the "blood of the Body," but more than anything I need the redemptive qualities of Your blood and the water that came forth from Your side... Pour over me Lord.. Pour over me.... This is so not a game...
Yours,
M
One of His responses................
See with the eyes I have given you. It does not take them to see what you see naturally.
Fight with the courage I have given you. You can not do it in your own strength.
Stand in the places I have empowered you to. You know not to build towers.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
I come from Laughter... October 26
It is actually my birthday today.. Today I celebrate my life... I think upon
How the Lord knew me before the foundations of the earth were laid...
How He knit me together
How He wonderfully and fearfully made me
How He thinks upon me more thoughts than I could ever imagine
How He has numbered the hairs upon my head
How He has set a path before me of lovingkindness
How He pursues me with lovingkindness
Today I celebrate
Today I discover
Today I stand in wonderment of all that the Lord calls forth as very good...
I do so today... I will do so tomorrow...
I have set my heart and mind and being upon Him.. I have come to embrace that He is who He is and what He has to say about me is true... It is a revolution of discovery...
Today... Today.. step up.. step in... Revolt against all that would say anything contrary... and Discover the beauty and majesty of what He displays forth in your life....
Today... Journal prompt...
How the Lord knew me before the foundations of the earth were laid...
How He knit me together
How He wonderfully and fearfully made me
How He thinks upon me more thoughts than I could ever imagine
How He has numbered the hairs upon my head
How He has set a path before me of lovingkindness
How He pursues me with lovingkindness
Today I celebrate
Today I discover
Today I stand in wonderment of all that the Lord calls forth as very good...
I do so today... I will do so tomorrow...
I have set my heart and mind and being upon Him.. I have come to embrace that He is who He is and what He has to say about me is true... It is a revolution of discovery...
Today... Today.. step up.. step in... Revolt against all that would say anything contrary... and Discover the beauty and majesty of what He displays forth in your life....
Today... Journal prompt...
God speaks to the Soul
And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected
HOW THE SOUL SPEAKS TO THE SOUL
Lord, you are my lover,
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection.
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection.
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longin that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
For I am love itself.
It is my longin that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
You are desired.... Spend time on those three words ... let the reality of those three words penetrate and permeate your soul.
Discover.................
While still walking through hard seasons there was something that felt like it was coming forward. Nothing about circumstances was shifting but I was.. I was shifting.. I was finding my feet upon the waves.. Upon the rocky times I was arising quicker, not being taken off course as long... Circumstances and situations still came and came and came but as they did and as they do I was stirring towards the realization that they don't get to dictate nor determine the wellness of my soul nor should they... My reality has been dictated and determined... Delight is that which I put my feet upon and what fills me.. It is the joy of the Lord that strengthens me... It is in connecting in Him and with Him and His body that serves to bring the realities of Heaven coursing into my daily life...
While it isn't the huge ah ha moments that really fill in life and the days and times we live, I did wake up to an ah ha moment... Pictures of the man at the pool of Bethesda filled out my mind...
John 5:1-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
So many of the things I have been processing through and lifting up to prayer and beginning to step in made sense...
There are many people just hanging out at the pool.. So many people "hoping" that they are the ones or the one to be put into the waters when they are stirred... So many people just "waiting" for the moving of the water.... So many people waiting and hoping for the waters to be stirred. So many people with the testimony, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool..."
I've been hanging out at the pool, stuck.... but stuck no longer....
So maybe I wasn't saying that there was no one to put me in the pool but maybe I WAS saying...Sir.. these circumstances and situations aren't what I need them to be...
These thoughts and the realities of them have been circulating within my heart... people wanting a place, people wanting a person to put them there.... Then comes the question.. The timeless question, "Do you want to be made well?"
Do I want to be made well? And what does that fully mean?
All would think the answer would be an inequitably YES! EXCEPT .. it isn't a "yes," it is a response that puts the need and effort of another as what is needed...
Then Jesus speaks.. He speaks the words, ARISE.... ARISE... ARISE AND WALK....
Yes.. We need each other, Yes.. We need each other and we also need to arise and walk....
So many people hanging out at the pools of water.. hoping that the waters get stirred... While I wonder about the command to go.. go into the highways and byways.. GO AND LIVE... Go and Arise.... The waters are stirred... Arise and walk... The circumstances.. The situations.. the reality around the pool doesn't get to dictate nor does it get to determine the wellness of my soul....
Last Sunday I wouldn't have gotten "Mom of the day award." I wouldn't have.. There was an abundance of attitude in the car as we headed towards church.. Yup! I wasn't off our street and I put my foot on the brake in a way that wasn't completely safe and brought the car to an abrupt and complete stand still.
And I began to speak... I began to say that life does suck at times, and most of the time we can not control that which crosses our paths... we can not control if sickness, trials or death cross our path, we can not control whether we face disappointment, sorrow and confusion.. We can not control what comes our way... BUT we can control our response.. We CAN control how we will respond when whatever crosses our path crosses our path... We CAN lean all the harder into Him, who we call Lord.. We can sit and grieve and mourn and we can let His comfort flow, we can arise and walk... WE CAN ARISE AND WALK.....
What I saw in my kids, let me be honest.. What I have seen in myself is that circumstances and situations have whooped my butt at times... And last Sunday their opportunity was to see how are they going to respond. How am I?
As a Co-Director of a small ministry, Stir The Water.. I have been praying for quite some time for vision and clarity... What do people need? I mean.. what do people really need?
What do I need...
Daily... Daily I need to be reminded that I am beloved... That I can arise, that I can arise and walk.. That the waters of my life have been stirred... that they are being stirred.. That now, right now, right now in this very moment... regardless of circumstances.. regardless of situations.. I have one who is thoroughly making intercession for me, that cares for me, that thinks upon me, that is ravished over one look of my eye towards Him, that I matter...
To discover you matter.. daily.. you matter...
Discover that You Matter.. that you are needed, wanted... Daily discover and stand in wonder that you are a creature who is loved and delighted in...
Let the waters of your life be stirred by the Holy One daily and daily arise and stand and walk.. as one who is discovering the wonderment of what it means to be delighted in... Celebrate your life.. Celebrate you... Discover and Celebrate and KNOW.. KNOW .. That you matter... That it matters that you walk the face of the Earth.. It matters that you walk.. It matters that you dream.. It matters...
Discover that you matter and then go and walk and call forth to the highways and byways and the people you meet there that they matter.. Daily... Daily
Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another day after day
Day after day we will jump into Discover.. We will discover dreams, we will discover vision and visions, we will discover Him and we will be discovered.... We will discover the joy that exists within each one of us as we each display the wonder and awe of reflecting His image.... It is a time to discover..
It is a time to be stirred up into all that you are...
It is a time to stir the water and arise and walk...
Stir The Water.............. Discover!
Discovering that there comes a day when the waters are stirred and healing arrives......... This is the day to arise and walk and to dream, to envision, to discover!
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