Distractions

Do not let your circumstances distract you from My presence, says the LORD. I AM with you. I surround you with My love. My holy angels encamp around you. I Am a wall of fire around you and My glory is in the midst of you. Look above and beyond what you see in the physical realm. Look up above what your natural eyes see and you will see Me. Listen to MY voice, and squelch out the voice of the enemy and the opinions of others. Shut off your own opinions and HEAR ME! As you do, you will know that nothing in the natural can superintend your life and destiny. I DO. I AM! I AM your GOD! I AM your destiny. I AM your life. I AM the Sovereign and there is nothing that can defeat you as you look past the natural and see My supernatural presence at work in your life at all times, says the LORD.

I AM not short handed! My angels move at my command. I Am LORD of all. You need not fall short of My glory as I stand in the gap for you and have received you into My kingdom because of your faith in My shed blood and broken body for you on the tree. I stand with you now to fight your battles for you. STAND UP and LOOK UP, says the LORD, for you are in My kingdom that is without end. You are royalty. You are empowered by My Spirit to overcome, not to be overwhelmed. Everything is subject to Me and you are MINE. Let this mind be in you that I have never failed you, cannot fail, and will never fail. With Me, you cannot ever fail or fall, for I will undergird you, overshadow you, embrace you and HOLD YOU UP. LOOK UP and be what I have called you to Be as you stand, straight and tall in My presence, proclaiming that I Am the Almighty GOD in the midst of you and you will never be defeated and you will not quit, as your victory in Me is undeniable and assured, says the LORD.

Infusion

In times of weakness, torment, tiredness, questioning….may God strengthen us with power through HIS Spirit in our INNER beings.

God’s strength running thru our intellectual, emotional and moral veins. His strength is never lacking. It is ABUNDANT strength for our hearts, minds and souls!!

Take courage weary soul.

He is ABLE to do more than you can ask for or even imagine!

Ephesians 3

He Cares

God cares for you. Do you believe that? Really.

God cares. He’s very much aware of everything you’re going through.

God hears. He hears every unsaid prayer in your heart. Even those times when you’re hurting too much and you can’t utter any word and all you can do is cry.

God sees. He sees the pain you’ve been hiding behind that forced smile in the middle of the crowd. He sees every drop of your tears that fell on that pillow.

God comforts. He’s not just aware of your struggles, but He’s willing to take away all the burden and give you rest. He doesn’t just see your tears but He’ll wipe them and replace them with overflowing joy. He doesn’t just know your heart is broken but He’s willing to make it whole again. And even in the midst of our miserable moments when you feel alone, He was with you.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” — Jesus // Matt.11:28

He’s always waiting for you to come to Him.

Credit Reshaen C.

Mercy Triumphs Judgement…

God does not ignore our broken hearts when he invites us to consider mercy. He isn’t even telling us to choose mercy instead of justice. But where we are often geared toward revenge and payback in regard to our version of justice, God is always working toward restoration. Moving from the seat of justice and into the seat of mercy has the power to short-circuit hatred, hostility, and hopelessness. Choosing to view a person or a situation through the lens of compassion (which is another way of talking about mercy) makes space for the possibility of oneness and unity.

Messages

Don’t suppress the Spirit. Don’t brush off Spirit-inspired messages,
1 Thessalonians 5:19‭-‬20 CEB

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Don’t Give In!!

Resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear of the future, guilt of the past, grief over loss, insecurity, and a lack of confidence are all emotions that Satan sends to torment the believer. Do not give in! You are a child of the King, you are royalty, you are loved by God. You are unique, so refuse to let Satan make you feel insignificant, because that is just the opposite of what you are.

If Anything Matters Then Everything…

…if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplihed and nothing will be the same again.

Wm. Paul Young, The Shack

Restless Heart

Life is scary, at best unpredictable. People come and people go. Death takes those we love. Our hearts are battered and sometimes broken. We have somehow inhaled and things have gone down the wrong pipe. You know the feeling? You can’t breathe. We find ourselves engulfed and choking. We loose our breath trying to inhale the grief and thousands of mismatched pieces from the hurt of betrayal, divorce and other situations we cannot swallow. The pain knocks the breath out of us. Oh how we tighten our grip….clinging to the illusion that it just can’t be so… hoping it isn’t. And asking WHY?

Then we eventually exhale. Catch our breath.

No matter the situation we can choose to remind ourselves and each other that God is still God. God is a good God. We can trust Him.

EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING is in HIS control. He is not tired or weary. He knows and HE sees all of our situations. Whatever concerns us, concerns Him.

My prayer for this very moment…and it can be your prayer too..

God,

Help my heart to remain calm ( not shakey, not anxious or worried). Help me to be CONFIDENT (sure, positive and settled) that YOU are working EVERYTHING out.
Help me to be brave and NOT be AFRAID (Terror stricken, panicked, anxious, apprehensive or filled with regrets). You do not want me to fear the possibility of being left or abandoned. Fear carries elements of torment. Just for tonight God, let me lean in to you moment by moment in this dark place. May I know you are next to me helping me to take my next breath. Send me your peace and may it illuminate my mind. Grant me grace and mercy. May I rest in your promises.

Thank you God for being good to me.

Help me to exhale. Breathe. Trust. Please let me hear you. Feel you. Help me most of all to simply believe you.
PSALMS 112:6‭-‬8

Something Bumped Me

Have you ever gotten comfortable holding on to something and then unexpectedly dropped it? You see it tumble in slow motion right out of your hands and you watch helplessly as it breaks into a million shattered pieces on the ground.

Sometimes that is us.  We hold ourselves together only to realize that life can come along and bump us so hard that it knocks things loose. Knocks us loose. We drop it all and watch as our thoughts, emotions, and the most precious things to us fall to the ground in a million pieces.

Life has it’s own way of shaking us until we drop things. God has HIS way molding us and shaping us into who we were created to be.  Sometimes that feels like a stretching that pulls us so hard and in so many directions that we feel as if we will surely snap.  We do not snap. We push thru. Growing pains.

Desperation, despire, depression and even defeat lurk in the backdrop and drip off our cheeks in the form of red hot tears.  Questions pound and slush around in our brains but mostly we just want to know why?

Yet in the quietness while sitting and bleeding among  all the broken pieces we can still hear it if we listen with our hearts. God. There HE is. Waiting. He knows. He hears. He understands. He is there. He sees it all.

Do you hear Him I wonder?

Sometimes just like that He sends an angel, or a person, a friend or a perfect stranger to offer a hand, a word , a smile, or just a presence to sit with us.  To be beside us in our pain and discomfort. Messengers sent to help us not so much to help us make sense of the pieces … because  nothing feels like it will ever make sense again. But they help us by meeting Him there. He is already there you know. He is in that deep wound. He is in the cut scraped places. He is in the blood that trickles out. He is in the ache.  You know the kind? The deep heartache.  The ones you think nobody could ever really know about. He does. He knows. He sends what we need, who we need when we need it the most.

Endings and beginnings. The backdrop for everyday miracles and new doors. 

But the growing pains, they seem unbearable.

We are not alone.

You are not alone.

Get quiet and listen as your heart beats thru the pain. Do you hear Him? He is in there, waiting. Waiting for you, waiting for me, waiting for us…to go be angels to someone who is still holding it all together for now but in a swift movement of life  and in one split second of time…they get bumped. You know the feeling? When life knocks you loose?

We are all pieces to each other’s puzzles. Look around.  Look within. Look to Him.

We are all messengers.

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If we can just get quiet.

 

 

 

On Fire…..

Flames! Flames! Flames! Red hot flames of fire burning in my front yard.

What was on fire?  Why was there a fire in our front yard?

I must have been in the third grade and maybe not even that old.  I was a little girl who lived in a house with a monster.  You know what a monster is? One who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character, a threatening force.   A person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.

The monster in my life was actually supposed to be the person who loved me the most.  He was supposed to care for me, protect me, and provide for me.  My dad was the monster. He existed it seemed to torment us. And he was quite successful at doing so I must say.

On this sunny day I was a little girl who was coming home from school.  I should have been anxious to get home to Barbie dolls, play houses and imaginary friends.  Not the case. The monster went off in to a familiar fit of rage.  He took a baseball bat and went through our house and beat in every wall.   Smashed every light and chandelier.  Broke everything that could be broken.  His rage was powerful and full of destruction.  He took our furniture, every bit of it…the couches, the chairs, the tables and the beds and he carried it all out in to the front yard and dosed them with gasoline and set them on fire.

When I got off the school bus and walked a short way to my house I could see the flames in the distance.  I could feel the knot turning deep in my gut.  The fear blinding me and overtaking me as my heart pounded.  I wanted to run.  I wanted to hide.  I wanted to escape desperately to a safe place but no such place existed.

When you are a little girl and you are coming home from school you really need to be able to have a place to retreat to that is safe, secure, and full of love.  A safe shelter.  I did not have that.  My siblings did not have that.  I never knew what would be waiting behind the doors.  On this day the terror was not behind a door but on public display for the entire neighborhood.  Our front lawn was on fire and in the fire were the things that belonged to us. Where would we live?  How would we live? My bed was in that fire and I wondered where would I be able to sleep now?

Flames that burned all of our furniture that day ignited within me even more fear.  Fear for my life.  Would he kill me?  Would he kill the people dearest to me, my mom, my little brother or big sister?  What would he do next?  The thought of death was on my mind.  Staying alive.  Breathing.  Those were top priority.

That day was lived out in paralyzing fear of the unknown just like most of the other days.  It was no different. There was no stability.  There was no consistency.  There was no rhyme or reason.  There was no hope of it getting better.  There was no protection.  No place to hide.  Torment growing in my stomach, worrisome thoughts eating away at my peace of mind.  Eating away my childhood and creating horrific memories and later as an adult some unwanted flashbacks.  One day things would get better…….but not on this day.

Thank God for HIS protection and HIS angels that kept me and the rest of my family alive that day and many other days that we had to endure tormenting rage.  Thank God.

Thank God for a sound mind.  Thank God this is just a memory, a part of my story.  The story has a great ending.  I am so grateful for life.  My life has been recreated.  What was intended to kill me or harm me in any way…God has used to make me a stronger healthier person.