People want real...

"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Revelation 12:11

 28When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Matthew 7:28-29

These days have me filled with a depth of understanding of how thoroughly the Lord surrounded me in this last season.  Even the moments I didn't see it.  Between how He lavishes His love upon us, no need of special event there, although there have been beautiful encounters, even without those encounters we can hold onto 1 John 3:1  See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. Another translation uses the word "lavished."

These days have had me recall to mind,  This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. Lamentations 3:21-22.  His compassions manifested in His lovingkindnesses that poured forth from Heaven and the Body. 

This afternoon as I was full of gratitude to the Lord, and as I pondered about a Facebook status I knew He wanted me to write, He began to speak upon a subject He has been speaking to me on for a while now... and we landed upon Revelation 12:11.  He tied the three statements together with three words.  Redemption, life, death.

And He began to speak.  Once again He shared His heart pouring over me the truth of how full His redemption is, how fully He longs for me to share my life, and how sincerely He longs to put self-preservation to death in me.  Not loving my life unto death is not a physical death for me while it is within the text, for me it is a laying down daily of self-preservation, a dying daily to any hindrance that would cause me to not open up  my mouth ans share from my life.

I have for a while now been very open about my life and testimony.  These days have me stepping into some of that all the more.  Between writing my story down in fiction and preparing to write, Sanctuary: The Tale of a Modern Day Gerasene Demoniac, which will be my story in a non-fiction form, I have become more convinced of things I thought I was already but now to a new degree.

I know for a fact that the things people aren't saying are the things that are killing them. I know that shame and fear keep the mouths and hearts of people closed.  I know that those things when brought to the light are granted healing and wholeness as fear and death and darkness are overcome.  People overcome when they step into the redeeming power of Christ, open their mouths and speak, and as die to self and live daily to Christ.  They overcome.

People want real.  After Jesus taught the people stood amazed, he wasn't like their scribes and pharisees, He had real authority and spoke forth with it.  He knew where He was from and He knew where He was going.  He knew who loved Him and who He loved.  

The Lord continued to speak to me regarding authority this afternoon and not shrinking back but standing.  Standing firm in an age where the love of most have grown cold.  Asking me if I would let Him lead me into places where again I would share and share as thoroughly and transparently as I know how to,  already one of the most recent posts here on my blog  have been read more than any post I have written, ( http://walkingthepassage.blogspot.com/2013/02/do-you-know-that-you-will-always-be-ok.html )

But it is the realness, it is the transparency, it is in being as real as I know how to get that people's hearts are engaged and changed. We all walk there, in those places we wish that no one would ever know about... we just don't all realize we all walk there.. While our stories are different there are foundational things that are the same.  

There are those places in each of our hearts that can cause each of us to squirm.  My dear friend once spoke to me in relationship to a thing our other friend teaches, that we all have holes (our friend teaches about our hearts and  likens them to Styrofoam cups that are meant to hold the love of God and get filled to overflowing but events and circumstances poke holes in them. We then try to fill the lack and need with all sorts of things but more than anything need Jesus to be the filler of our needs.) 

I was struggling thinking that my holes were too large.  She spoke in a moment a truth that has carried me forward for years. "Mims, we all have holes, what causes them in each of us is different but we all have holes."  It was such an amazing truth.  I'm not any more damaged than any other human being. I'm not any less damaged than any human being.  We all need the redeeming power of Christ in our lives.  

It takes us from a place of getting identity in our wounds to a place of receiving the victory that flows forth from His.

  Listen, I have two amazing churches in my life that only spur me onto this because that is the example they walk in... Renovatus Church in Charlotte, and Dwelling Place in Christiansburg,VA  ....  I have been healed and loved and shown the power of letting go of self-preservation by the examples I get to see walked out and preached in both places.  I am learning how to stand again and walk again because of the truth that gets spoken forth over me and into me.  

So open your mouths and speak, bring into the light those things that would bare down upon you the heavy weights of shame.  Let Him be the lifter of your head, and know and experience the reality of His redemption, the power of opening your mouths, and the transformation that comes as your love not your life even unto death.  

My Redemption Song... Part Two

My past was looming large. Not the things that were done to me, the things I have done. The places where I caused harm, and at times didn't even care. Then it wasn't just the past. It was where I could point to now and see lack, and how my inadequacies cause harm.

I want to share something really precious to me. For those of you who have read the blog post: http://walkingthepassage.blogspot.com/2013/02/do-you-know-that-you-will-always-be-ok.html There is a place in there where I write about how Jesus was sitting on the end of my bed and holding my left foot. The moments with the Lord in that time were some of the most full I have ever walked.

But until I would share that story with my husband the question of why He was holding onto my left foot wasn't connecting with me.

So this past Summer I had to have two surgeries on my big left toe. And some of those issues are coming up again and it looks like a third surgery is going to have to take place.

One thing about me is physical pain and I aren't friends. Well, Mims who is friends with physical pain. True. What I mean to say is there are aspects to parts of my life where the amount of physical pain I was subjected to still causes me to cringe. So when there is physical pain within my body, it can serve as a reminder of other times.

As I told Jim about how Jesus was touching my left foot and what He was saying, Jim just looked at me. As he looked at me, it dawned on me.. finally, OK I'm slow on the pick up sometimes.

Jesus was holding my left foot! Primarily Jesus had been holding my foot by my big toe. I was trying to think of all the metaphoric symbolism without just seeing it for the most amazing, majestic, kind demostration of His love that was filling out the moment at hand.

His proclaimations then of calling me to trust Him in the truth that I will always be ok, took on even more depth and I was moved to the core of my being. He was truly proclaiming into me that I would be ok. For now, for then, for always! My heart has been made so full.

Never shying away from the stories that make up my life, I feel like I am stepping into a whole new realm with them. Maybe it is in completing Book One, maybe it is just finally beginning to taste what it might mean to be emerging from this very long season of transition, whatever it is there is a sweetness in the air and a feeling of the reality that “behold, the Winter is past...” Song of Songs 2:11.

I know my story stands as a Redemption Song more than ever. I know that your stories stand as a Redemption Song more than ever, I know that my guilt is done and my sins are forgiven in ways I have never experienced. I know that your guilt is done and your sins forgiven in ways I have never known, that are birthing compassion and the capacity to hand out grace in ways I have never imagined.

I know that He is so thoroughly making all things new. I know that truth. And while accusations might still want to roar, the power of their hold has been so greatly dimished, I stand in awe of God in ways that wave after wave are pouring over me and upon under which I am brought to my knees as gratitude courses through my veins.

I was lost and now am so found. I had not known mercy but I do now more than ever, I was not part of a people and now I am called a child of God. As are you! As are you!

Burning Coals by David and Meredith Tolentino

http://renovatusworship.bandcamp.com/track/burning-coal

I was walkin' in the Carolina soil
Diggin' my toes into the earth
Watchin' the river snaking by
and there my soul was satisfied
The dragon flies were buzzing through the air
echoing the Maker's grand design
I sat at the base of that old hollow tree
and listened to Creation's melody
And the glory of the Lord filled the temple
The brightness of His glory lingered there
The sound of angels' wings rumbled through the earth
The voice of God Almighty thundered there
The angel took the coal from the altar
He placed that burnin' cinder 'pon my mouth
He said, "Your guilt is done and your sins forgiven"
I will rejoice in this redemption song
When the rain came pouring down
My soul soaked up the sound
Up from the ground sprung everlasting water
And there my soul was satisfied

My Redemption Song..... Part One

If you get in the car with me these days the first thing you will hear is music, #8 to be exact. #8 on the cd our church in Charlotte, Renovatus, put out not to long ago. The song is called Burning Coals, and it is written and sung by some amazing people.

I can't get through this song these days without weeping. I'll tell you more about why in a moment but for now here are the Lyrics and the link where you can go hear it for yourself.

I was walkin' in the Carolina soil
Diggin' my toes into the earth
Watchin' the river snaking by
and there my soul was satisfied
The dragon flies were buzzing through the air
echoing the Maker's grand design
I sat at the base of that old hollow tree
and listened to Creation's melody
And the glory of the Lord filled the temple
The brightness of His glory lingered there
The sound of angels' wings rumbled through the earth
The voice of God Almighty thundered there
The angel took the coal from the altar
He placed that burnin' cinder 'pon my mouth
He said, "Your guilt is done and your sins forgiven"
I will rejoice in this redemption song
When the rain came pouring down
My soul soaked up the sound
Up from the ground sprung everlasting water
And there my soul was satisfied

http://renovatusworship.bandcamp.com/album/the-liturgy-and-the-shout

As the month of February approached I felt the Lord calling me to write, and telling me I would write the first of this series of fictional books based on my life in one month. Now in the beginning of the month that was daunting. As I sat and saw that 20,000 words were put together but that there was still so far to go, I had no clue how it was all going to happen.

On February 27, while still much editting needs to be put into play, The Confessor Book One was done sitting currently at 100,970 words. We printed it out. I wept as I held it. I put Burning Coals on, as the lyrics are actually the last words in the book. (Thank you Meredith:) )

I wept. Currently I have one “send me the whole transcript” and one rejection as we walk out finding a book agent. Please keep that in prayer.

Moving on...

The lyrics that get me every time.. every time... if I'm not crying by this point.. I'll be weeping after they are sung are these...

“He said, "Your guilt is done and your sins forgiven"
I will rejoice in this redemption song”

Even writing them I feel the emotion. This is an emotional time. I hold over 450 pages in my hands that span my lifetime. Where I have been, where I am and where it is I am going.

You know where it says Jesus came for the sick... Mark 2:17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

You know where Paul speaks in In 1Timothy 1:15,

”This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” I feel the reality of that but more than being a chief of all sinners I feel those last words of Burning Coals,

“He said, "Your guilt is done and your sins forgiven" I will rejoice in this redemption song”

Burning deeper and deeper into me. Not just for the things I did before I knew Him but for every day. My life as a Redemption Song. It lands on my heart and takes my breath away. “He said, “Your guilt is done and your sins forgiven.” I do rejoice. I feel the aspect of redemption upon my life more and more thoroughly then ever before.

The depth of gratitude. The depth of joy. The depth of understanding that I could have never earned it. But again not for just initial salvation but for every day. Every day I need to be reminded that my guilt is done and my sins forgiven and hear the truth of my redemption song.

Thank you Tolentinos, thank you Renovatus. You have taught me this oh so very well and for you I am beyond full of gratitude.

Do you know that you will always be OK?

Knowing the days and times....

Yesterday was that kind of day... couldn't even put my finger on it. It was one of those days that makes me sit and think and pray and wonder.

It made me wonder about the times and seasons we live in, it made me wonder what was upon us, it made me sit and think and ask God about the days we live within. The weirdness of the day. The way it all felt off. While there is still so very much transition going on in our own lives, this felt larger.

There is no doubt that my heart beats, and my entire make up believes in the revelatory nature of the Kingdom of God, that being so I don't seek after words about dates, and times, and this or that happening. If God wants to tell me there is nothing stopping Him, but I walk in relationship with Him to be in relationship with Him, not to have the future told.

Interesting enough though there was a conversation He wanted to have and He started it last night and continued it all day today. When concluding our talk I felt more loved and more cherished as His daughter, more aware of His reality and more full of the understanding of what knowing the days and times is all about.

Do you love me? Was the question that He asked. I answered that I did indeed love Him, while in the moment knowing where fear, and doubt and flesh got in the way. Interesting stuff gets revealed when He asks His questions. That is after all I believe why He usually asks them, He knows the answers, maybe the real question is do we?

Do you know that you will always be ok? I looked at Him as He looked at me and I was silent. Not expecting that question. Knowing the answer. We sat there, together, me just looking at Him, He just looking at me.

“No, my Lord I don't know nor do I believe that I will always be ok”. He was going further in one moment then I wanted but I knew not to shut off the journey. Though the topic was painful and that which He was touching unpleasant, all I wanted was for Him to continue sitting with me. I know, I know .. His presence never leaves and He never forsakes. But this moment, this moment was one of those moments and I wasn't taking it for granted. I needed Him. I sat there acknowledging my need for Him.

He sat by feet. Shouldn't I be sitting by His. He just smiled. He held my left foot in His hand and spoke that I would always be ok. I just looked at Him.

What's the worse that could happen? Was the next question. Miles length of answers ran through my head and my heart while I didn't utter one of them, I didn't need to. He knew them all anyway.

So what happens then? If any or all of that happens? Are you not ok? Question upon question. What if I said you would be ok? He wasn't now just asking the questions, He was answering them. Do you trust me to make sure that you are always going to be ok?

We got to the crux of the matter. No, my Lord. I do not. Because what you say ok looks like and what I say ok looks like most times are two very different things. I'm afraid. And we were exactly where He wanted me to be. Trust, fear, doubt, faith, love, confidence....... Assurance.

In a moment the truth He was pouring over me was like Niagra Falls. I sat there soaking it all in. That in this world the trials and tribulations will come. In this world there is death and sickness and sorrow and pain. Yet while walking in this world I do have the assurances that it does not get to dictate or determine if I am ok. I am ok. Period.

Within some moments His truths are way easier to believe than at others. Especially when He is sitting at the end of your bed, telling you so. Yeah, those aren't the moments where the struggle exists.

Will you do me a favor?

Now what do you say to that? Was my first thought.

Will you be who you are. Again we just looked at one another. He had already spoken about the days and seasons and times. He had already spoken about how the love of most will grow cold, the increase of wickedness, and more.

What do you do in such a time as this?

I knew He had the answer He wanted me to hear, but I knew that He planted the answer within me as well.

I knew that I still allowed situations and circumstances to all too easily dictate to me the reality of the wellness of my soul. I knew that we had been down this road before, and all the while I knew that there was more grace for me than I even knew what to do with.

I love you, He spoke.

You'll be ok.

I knew He wanted me to look up the statement, “though the mountains be removed.” I could hear Him saying it and saying it... as I googled searched the quote.. Isaiah 54:10 came forth in the search...

For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.

Then to Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the Earth should change.

As I read on and on I knew that though that which the world dictates rings true into my ears and heart. I knew where it was that He wanted me to journey towards.

Would you be who you are? We were there again. Having so known the lack of love and having so known the agony of abandonment, I feel within myself an understanding of love that I mediate through at times. Who wants to be the sappy one? Is usually my question back to Him. Yet tonight, tonight while sitting at the foot of my bed and looking me in the eyes and touching my foot, I knew He has trained me up for love, He has loved me first with an excellence that is all powerful and amazing. How could I live any less? How could I allow fear to force me into a place where I hold at bay my capacity to love?

I looked at Him and spoke that I would try. I would try. In these moments I feel more seen, more known then ever before. Whenever He comes like this He leaves me more thoroughly His, the fears that had been upon my mind were being blown away. The reality of the fact that I am crowned with the lovingkindnesses of God filled my head instead.

What do we do upon days like yesterday when the atmosphere feels full of fear and uncertainty? We remember! We remember where we come from and where it is that we are going. We get firmly planted in the fact that our citizenship is not of this earth, and that this earth does not get to dictate or determine how it is that we walk.

I'm not there... not truly. But if I'm honest. I'm getting there more and more through His love, His affection, His mercy and His grace... I'm landing there more and more.

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.” What more does a girl need to know? What other ground does a daughter stand upon.

My heart is reavished... Reflections of a Daughter who Happens to See...

Reflections of a Daughter who Happens to See...

I don't mind at all when people ask about and desire understanding into the gift of seeing. I don't mind talking about the reality of the unseen real. I don't mind talking about the reality of the Kingdom of God as it looks like upon the Earth. These are places that while I don't take for granted I live and walk among. These are places that daily teach me and instruct me in my inheritance as it flows forth now, and as it will flow forth into all eternity.

I don't take seeing for granted because I have been blind and in my blindness my heart ached and my lack of understanding caused me to perish at times.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is when Elisha opens the eyes of his servant. Having only seen the intimidation and forces of their enemy now his eyes were open to the ever present answer of the Lord their God. How His answer to the forces of the enemy produced courage and strength.

It is one of my favorite stories because Elisha isn't saying let me see for you and tell you,it isn't about Elisha. He makes it about those that serve him. He isn't content to see for himself, he yearns that all would see.

I've thought about the people and Moses quite a bit lately. Moses tells the Lord that he will not go forward if the Lord doesn't go forward with him, but then allows the people to let him, Moses, go forward into the deep darknesses of God without them.

He goes and brings back.

I want that day to be done more than I want anything. I want to say to the people I will personally always go into the deep darknesses of our God because I know that I emerge more his; more his daughter, more bearing his image, more like him. But no longer can I be satisfied to only bring it back. I will go for me, but I will ask that no one says go for us.

I want to see the reality of Ephesians 4:11-16, those that are gifted not operating for themselves but for the benefit of the body, so that we can all.. ALL, “attain to the unity of faith,” and be built up. I want to propel people who would be satisfied to drink of the breast of another to move forward into eating meat. And I would love to compel any leader to see the heart of Elisha, to see the heart of Father God and as they walk, walk in a depth of compassion for the people like Christ.

I have sadly seen too much of the opposite.

Why this morning? Why write this this morning?

I was on Facebook, and I saw a picture of a dear old friend. In their eyes was death and it made me sad. Before you go thinking was it me, was it me... Ask yourself, is it me... Don't worry if I saw something, what do I matter, my opinion means nothing. I saw death in their eyes because they have made service and ministry their god, put things upon their person that our God isn't, and it is crushing their soul. That makes me sad.

I see. It is my heart's cry that while all might not intrinsically be seers in the sense of gifting or of the word or experience that all would have their hearts, ears, and eyes open to the reality of the Kingdom of God as it pulsates and thrives around them, at it exists at hand. That all would see and know their God and be known by Him. That as hard upon the flesh and the natural life the deep darknesses of God are there is nothing more life giving and propelling into the truest nature of what reality really is about.

Let's walk together, let's equip together and not ever step into foolish competition or one man up manship (such things should never find their way into the expression of Christ and His family), let's have hearts that desire above all things to see the body built up, so that we will no longer be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness in deceitful scheming. Let's speak the truth in love and grow up into all aspects into Him who is the head.

He is who I love, and I am loved by Him more thoroughly then I could ever comprehend, as are you. That love and exposure to the deep darknesses of who He is is fundamentally changing me, I don't even pretend to understand it all, and it is more brutal and more difficult at times then I know to speak. But I know His whispers as if they are a roar more and more, and I have learned the posture of leaning that now I can not walk alone.

Walk into the deep darknesses, open your Eyes and behold your God, His affections will ravish you and leave you altered forever.

Men slept while God battled for their souls... and at times still do...

Those moments are more and more upon my thoughts. I think of the soil of Gethsemane that received his tears, his blood... his cry. The weight and heaviness of that moment upon creation. Upon Christ.

I think of Moses and the deep darkness how he invited the people to join Him.

These pictures and images and words and ideas are all floating around my head creating within me thoughts that are forever changing me and wooing my heart deeper into His ways and further focused towards the place where my truest citizenship resides.

Leaders... people... God.....

Twenty years of ministry and the hunger to not only not ever step back onto a hamster wheel but demolish the hamster wheel is upon me.... Carefully walking these waters because judgment can be oh so tricky and we can call a cow a cow but not see with the eyes of Christ and step into a place of harsh terrain that I long to avoid.

I am glued back to the simplicity of the words of love.. Simple and yet profound... they will rock your world up one side and down the other if you let them.. Love does not seek it's own... love is patient.. kind.. not boasting... it is not easily provoked... does not take into account a wrong suffered... it is not arrogant.... bears all things.. believes all things... hopes all things .. endures all things...

I do not love... I long to love.. but I do not love with full measure... this is the calling..This is your calling.. it is my calling.... this is the pursuit.. this is all that will go forward into eternity... all else will pass away but love moves beyond time and kisses the eternal...

Self preservation must cease … a deep trust taking its place...

What does this have to do with the Garden... with the deep darkness...

Times of transition.... times where battling of the flesh and human nature and deep darkness are upon all.....

Christ stepped into that moment and we know His proclamation of the will of the Father be done not His own... we see the agony of such times upon our Savior as He aches for the fellowship and comfort and prayers of friends anguishing in the moment of the cup that is at hand as His soul battles face to face with Father.. alone in a moment of monumental weight ..... Christ and Father... Father and Son...

Men slept while God battled for their souls... and at times still do...

Moses' invitation into the deep unknown.. He emerges altered forever but the people have been satisfied with a golden image instead of the image of the indestructible God.

Moments liken unto those are all around us.... the hunger for kings still fills the hearts of man.. the longing for the proverbial meat but only wanting to drink the milk to get to it … leaders all too willing to accommodate the people so that their thrones don't get tossed...

Haven't we exhausted ourselves yet.... haven't we seen too much.. let me put it this way.. I have seen too much and I'm sad... I have exhausted myself ... and I'm exhausted and sad and disgusted …

This season.. this season of relentless moments over the course of the last few years has positioned my eyes to different places and upon Him all the more...

I remember years ago when I wanted to listen to a tape series on a subject I was pursuing and Father asked me not to... telling me that He was teaching me and He was laying instruction into my heart.. but lacking confidence in that place and trusting in men more than my God I listened... He was right.. there wasn't anything on that tape series that He Himself hadn't taught me and what followed was truly sad...

He gave me what I wanted and expressed His heart that He would not instruct me like He had been doing for the next season.. I had trusted in Chariots .. I had trusted in other men's revelation more than the heart beat of God as it had poured out upon my heart and mind. It isn't that there are never to be teachers and leaders it is that we need to have our hearts and eyes focused rightly.

This is no longer about ugliness seen upon men and leaders and ministry.. nor is it about the ugliness seen upon myself... This is about how do we then live...

The deep darknesses and the gardens are horrible places for the flesh and tear upon the soul in ways that I have not the words for.... but they truly are one of the most magnificent and horrifying places to be... to encounter God....

Elisha's servant's heart was frail and afraid... seeing only the schemes and plans of the enemy the servant did not know the answer of the Kingdom.. the answer of God... But Elisha in that moment didn't create a cripple unto himself... He empowered the servant's eyes to see...

Empowering others... empowering any and all who hunger and thirst.. empowering myself away from some corrupted horrific puny version of religious truths into life.... Into the deep darkness and into the garden.. into the wilderness because the promise is that when I emerge.. I will emerge leaning on my beloved.... and then whatever it took to land me there is where I need to walk...