Saying Yes

Today, in fact, right now, embrace the concept that God is the God of second chances.

What’s that one thing God asked you to do, and you wish you had a second chance to do it, or do it right?

Maybe He asked you to do something really big and you just couldn’t “see” it.

Maybe He asked you to step out in faith and in your excitement to be obedient, you forgot to ask God how to proceed. And things didn’t go as you thought they were supposed to.  So you gave up.

Or maybe you were lazy.  Or afraid.  Or discouraged.  Or lacking resources, or trust. Or couldn’t let go of what you knew.  Or you procrastinated and over time, the excitement and inspiration faded, and eventually you forgot about it.  Until now.

But somewhere, deep inside of you, you know this truth.  That request of God, it’s still out there. Calling you to try again.

In 2001, I sat with the Lord and prayed all my talents back to Him. At that time, I was working on a book, I had been self-employed as a marketing writer for 5 years and I was pursuing being an artist. “Lord you’ve given me so many creative talents. I’m not sure I’m doing any of them well because I’m focused on them all.  Show me what to focus on and I will do it.”

That night Jesus came to me in a dream.  He was standing behind me with his hand on my head, looking at me with such love.  I was sitting at a table “making” something.  When I woke, I was so filled with joy I nearly leapt out of bed. “I’m a maker! [artist] I’m a maker!” I can still remember it so clearly. I called my best friend and told her all about it.  My writing clients commented that I sounded so happy on the phone, even though they had no idea why.

And guess what I did?  I chased my writing business and I chased it hard.  Here Jesus had answered my prayer and told me what to focus on and instead of following where He pointed, I went in the direction of what I could “see”.  Well, that dream turned out to be a prophetic word, because nine months later the bottom fell out of my business, and after a number of poor financial decisions in attempt to keep things going, I ended up draining my roll-over 401K to settle my accounts and start fresh.

And guess what I did? I chased writing again.  And again.  And again.  And in between I tried other things, like network marketing. And working at a gallery. And telecommuting as a personal assistant. Oh sure, I dabbled in my artistic pursuits, but it also didn’t take much to discourage me and block that word Jesus gave me from view.  Now that’s not to say I didn’t want to be an artist. I did, truly. But I didn’t have the belief and faith inside of me yet to be that artist.

Three years ago, Jesus came to me in another dream and told me He was restoring me to who I’ve never been.  Well, who I’ve never been – fully, intentionally – is an artist.  And in the time since, bit by bit, Jesus has been waking up my artist self and making her strong and courageous.  And hungry.  So hungry to create the things He’s shows me in my mind.  And when I do, rewards and favor come…hints and signposts for me to see, and remember.

Last year was the first year my writing business did consistently well since the bottom fell out all those years ago.  It was also the best year financially since 2001.  In September, while away for a six-week vacation to make art (up until then, my art was made primarily on location outdoors during the warmer months), God started telling me I was coming into a “new season”, a season of abundance.  At the same time, I landed a 40-page brochure project. My client also hired a new strategic agency and had me work directly with them, in hopes they might give me additional projects, beyond the scope of my own client.  All evidence of abundance. After the solid writing year I’d already had, could this be the new season God was talking about?

You know the expression, “things aren’t always as they seem”?  Ah, indeed. By the end of last year, my client had changed their brand strategy globally, completely reorganized the company, and all my contacts had moved on to greener pastures. Plus, the projects on the books when this year started were cancelled by February.

And there hasn’t been one bit of new business since.  Hmmmm.

But wait, hadn’t God told me I was coming into a new season?  Yes.  In fact, it was just a few months before He asked me to let this year, 2015, be a year of surrender.  No plans, no goals, no lists.  Something like this…”The Lord is my Shepard. Thy Will be done. I surrender.”  

Instead of a year of “doing” (oh I’m so good at that!), God was asking me to live at rest and to simply “be”.  Start each day with Him and do what He asked.

Which is why, when Jesus reminded me March 14th was the date He had invited me into a three-year healing journey “to restore you to who you’ve never been” – and it was now three years later and that particular journey was complete, and I was ready – I said yes.

Fifty-six cents in my checking account and I said yes to Jesus calling me to be the artist I was created to be.  Fully, completely, authentically.  Yes.

“What do you do?”

“I am a full-time artist.”

Yes. Yes. Yes!

I have no idea how this is going to work.  I don’t even have any idea where the next bag of groceries is coming from or gas for the car.  But it’s amazingly, wonderfully okay.  Because I do know with absolute certainty that this yes is my second chance.  That my new season is coming.  And God will take of the rest.  Just like He will take all the years of delay and false starts and not being able do what I couldn’t see and mix it together with all the growth and faith and trust He’s developed in me since Jesus first told me I was an artist…and He’ll make it all into something really, really good.

That’s who He is.  That’s what He does.

Whatever it is for you, ask God for a second chance.  And when He gives you that chance to say yes, that glimpse of what to do first – and how – do it.  Do it in faith, do in gratitude and do it with the understanding that this is your second chance.  The one you asked for.  And then watch the divine order of His favor pour out to guide you and help you go the way He’s already prepared.

The blessing is in the yes.  The rest is already lined up, waiting for you.

And waiting for me too.

Yes.

___

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

Reflection

I am amazed at how long it’s been since I’ve been here.

But not really.

Do you know what I mean?

 

And God is drawing me back.  Not with regret, but with renewal and refreshment.

And reflection.

Happy Anniversary to me.

For The Benefit Of Others

Recently, while reading the well-known tale of Elijah and the widow of Zarapeth found in I Kings 17, God showed me a new and interesting perspective on this story. Shortly after, He seemed to be prompting me to share that new view with a business associate via a letter. Done. Since then, it seems God is pressing on me to post it here. Okay, will do Lord. Happily. Thank you for the privilege.

In 1 Kings 17, Elijah the prophet is introduced by his pronouncement from the Lord that there will be “neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” Then the Lord told him to go away and hide by the brook Cherith.

“It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” (v. 4, NASB)

So trusting the Lord, Elijah went there, and drank from the brook, and ate the bread and meat the Lord provided through the ravens. Until the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land, as Elijah had prophesied for the Lord.

Though another might begin to question the Lord when the brook dried up after He had said He would provide, Elijah trusted God again when He spoke to him and sent Elijah to go get His next provision from the widow of Zarepath.

“Arise and go to Zarepath…I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (v.9, NASB)

What’s interesting about this is that God was sending Elijah to the lowest of lows, the poorest of poor to receive provision. In ancient times, widows and orphans were “throw away” people of pity, because they no longer had a name and one’s name was one’s value. A wife was someone because she had her husband’s name, a son or a daughter was someone because they had their father’s name. And whatever privilege that name carried was also theirs. A slave often had the same privilege, if granted by his master, according to the master’s name. The stamp of a signet ring, the family name, was the same as currency. But once widowed or orphaned, those individuals were no longer under the currency of a name and were without privilege. In other words, without a name, they were no one.

So first God tells Elijah to pronounce the land will be without rain, then He sends Him to a brook to be provided for by ravens, then that brook dries up because of the very prophecy Elijah spoke, and then God tells Elijah to go get provision from a widow, a nobody, likely in need herself, because she was regarded as nothing by the society she lived in.

But Elijah trusts again and goes to Zarepath, obeying what the Lord asked of him. When he arrives, Elijah asks the widow for a drink and some bread. But the widow tells him she only has enough for her and her son to have one more meal and then they will eat it and die.

I’m trying to imagine my reaction to this in the same situation. “Okay, Lord, you sent me here for my provision, but she has none.” And in my own human logic, because I couldn’t “see” the provision, I probably would have questioned whether I heard the Lord correctly and would have moved on, or maybe asked for confirmation or maybe even gone back to the river, the first place the Lord had provided for me. But instead, Elijah confidently says to the widow,

“Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.” (v.13-14, NASB)

That same prophecy pronounced by Elijah at the beginning of 1 Kings 17, the one that dried up the very river God sent him to, is again being used in connection to another portion of God’s provision. And surprisingly, the widow went and did as Elijah said, trusting him, and indeed her flour and oil did not run out “and she and he and her household ate for many days“. (v.15 NASB) In fact, we know from the story that the land was dry until the rain came three years later. Her flour and oil did not run out in all that time! Given her circumstances, Elijah must have spoken with certain authority and confidence for her to risk her one “for sure” meal to possibly gain so many; confidence that could only have been built from experiencing God’s provision previously.

What I love about this story is that though Elijah was going to the widow to get his provision, God was using Elijah to make sure the widow got hers. If Elijah had questioned God and refused to go, instead perhaps waiting for the rain to come and the river to fill so he could drink – because Elijah knew the rain would come again, he just didn’t know when – maybe even thinking the ravens would come back, the widow and her son would have starved to death. To some, staying by the river would have seemed like more of sure thing than to go to a poor, lowly, nobody widow in another region and ask for food. Imagine the unquestioning humility required on Elijah’s part!

Elijah, having trusted and been provided for in the past (and not by normal human means either…ravens bringing meat and bread?), was now able to go against human reasoning, and journey to where the Lord was telling him to go for His next provision. God had taught him to trust. And in doing so, not only did the widow receive her provision, and Elijah his, but Elijah was also given shelter in the woman’s home. As a result, later, when the widow’s son got sick and stopped breathing, Elijah was there to stretch himself out on the child three times and call to the Lord in confidence to heal the child. And the Lord did. When Elijah brought the child back down to mother, she said

“Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” (v.24 NASB)

Elijah was obedient. The widow was obedient. Both got what they needed, and far more than either expected or what God had openly declared. In fact, there was a famine everywhere and it was very severe. But Elijah and the widow and her son were fed, housed and protected for three years under God’s provision. And best of all, God got the glory.

But, and I believe this is key…based on the story as told, neither would have received their provision from the Lord if the other had not listened, trusted and obeyed.

I like to believe that if Elijah had said no and not traveled to Zarepath, God would have still provided for the widow another way, perhaps through another He chose for obedience. The Bible tells us that God’s plans always come to pass. But Elijah would have missed out on the awesome provision of food as promised by God – AND the unexpected provision of shelter that God had not even declared to Elijah – had Elijah refused to go and instead, logically stayed by the river, the place that provision had come to him in the past. The place that had once been safe and maybe even felt safer in its dried out state, than traveling to a new region to ask a poor widow for food. And if the widow had been the one to say no, she would have missed out on an unending supply of flour and oil during a severe famine – AND seeing her son miraculously healed by direct prayer to God, something also not declared by God to her previously.

Of course, when we read the entire story of Elijah, we also learn that God used him to demonstrate His glory in some really powerful ways, including ending the very famine the prophetic word at the beginning of 1 Kings 17 had created. Yet it was through the widow, and her one act of obedience in sharing with Elijah what she believed was the last meal for herself and her son, that God prepared Elijah and fed and protected them all, until it was time for Elijah to declare the rain was coming and the famine to end.

Had either disobeyed, they would have missed out on seeing the glory of God at work so personally in their lives.

Sometimes God works things out in our lives by calling another to be obedient, and the reverse is true. He works things out in the life of another by asking us to be obedient. This new perspective on the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarapeth makes me take pause and consider what provision and blessing God may be bringing to another through my seemingly unrelated act of obedience. Just what benefit for others might be woven into my own obedience? Especially when that obedience looks to be for my own gain. For Elijah, he was being told to go get some food. But it turned out to be so much more!

We may not know what blessing will come, or how God will use us, when we obediently step into the request He is making of us. And indeed, just like with Elijah and the widow, that blessing may turn out to be multiple blessings that are “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Eph 3:20 NASB) But one thing is certain, the Bible shows us over and over that God always blesses obedience. And based on the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarapeth, God may very well be requiring obedience of us to bring about the provision of another – and glory to Himself.

I pray you are blessed by whatever God is sharing with you through this story of Elijah and the widow of Zarepath. To God be all the glory.

To Stand

     Have you ever noticed or wondered about the first thing Satan said to Eve to lure her into wrong doing? It was “Has God said…”, like, Really? Did He say that? Are you sure?

     One of the enemy’s most subtle and dangerous snares is DOUBT.  Doubt attacks our faith and our confidence in the One who provides all we need physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.  The very moment I begin to agree with that doubt, I begin to choose and trust mySELF, and usually because somewhere inside, that doubt is rooted in FEAR.

     Often that fear is the fear that God won’t really live up to who He says He is.  Or fulfill what I know He has promised.  But who God says He is, is right in His Word, which gives us Numbers 23:19…that God is not human, that He should lie (NIV). When Satan tried to tempt Jesus – which he did after Jesus had fasted in the desert for 40 days – how did Jesus shut him down? Jesus shut the enemy down with TRUTH, the WORD OF GOD.  Even in His very weak and hungry state, His strength was in the Word.

     In March of last year, I endured a weekend of the worst spiritual warfare I’d ever encountered in my walk with the Lord.  The enemy launched an attack that went right to my weakest points and deepest insecurities.  I was just at the exploration stage of a very special relationship and the enemy hurled lie after lie after lie my way – about me, the new person in my life, my worth (or lack thereof, in his book) and all my past relationship wounds as proof.  When I reflect on that weekend, all I can see is darkness and anxiety.  By the end of the weekend, I was emotionally spent and exhausted.  So much so that when my new friend called on Monday morning, I couldn’t even take the call for fear of everything I’d been through tumbling out into our phone call, and I was too unsure of how that might be received (another lie at work of course).

     In one of my devotionals, written by a very well-respected and well-known pastor, I had learned that every discouraging thought is from the enemy.  So I had no doubt about the source.  When the internal tension eased the next day, I turned to God in prayer and asked Him straight out, why had He allowed the warfare.  And in response, that’s when He sent Jesus to me in a dream to launch me into the spiritual journey I mentioned in my last post.  During my conversation with Jesus early that morning, He reminded me that I’d already learned what to do when warfare mounts.  He’d already taught me to surrender it the minute I became aware of an enemy attack.  Before anything had the slightest opportunity to gain even a toehold, all I had to do is simply pray

     “Jesus I surrender this to you.  Please take these thoughts captive.”

     And each and every time, He has taken it and given me His peace to replace the turmoil inside.

     It was a valuable reminder, timed perfectly at the start of that journey.  I used that defense tool often, while Jesus was bringing me along to a place of wholeness and restoration, the enemy fighting Him every step of the way.

    Currently, God is revisiting some of the truths He showed me during that journey, especially about some actions He wants me to take towards the future, and how He has already laid the foundation for me to stand on – even if right now, things looks so far removed from what He’s revealed to me, and frankly, rather scary. But He’s opening the gate, asking me to act in faith, and I’ve been waiting for that gate for over a year.  Is doubt trying to creep into my mind? Yep.  Have I doubted?  Sure. I’m human.  But God is not.

          God is not human, that he should lie,

               not a human being that he should change his mind.

          Does he speak and then not act?

          Does he promise and not fulfill?  (Num 23:19 NIV)

     Why is it sometimes so much easier to believe the voice of doubt than the Voice of Truth, and to react to that doubt with fear and insecurity than to stand with faith and confidence? The minute we hear the voice of doubt whispering, just like Jesus, we can stand in the truth of the Word, strong in who it says God is, who it says we are and how very much we are loved, and rebuke the enemy and his lies right in his tracks.  Doubt and fear may be among the enemy’s strongest weapons, but our sword to cut both of those to shreds is the Word.  All the testimonies and promises contained in the Word are gifts God uses to build our faith, while He develops personal testimonies of our own, to recall whenever we need to be reminded of what He has already done and can do again.  Testimonies to share with others when they need them too.  Even if our heart is breaking, our knees are wobbling and panic is setting in, God will always live up to His Word.  Numbers 23:19 assures us of that.

     Testimony faith, at it’s best.

I Am Restoring You to Who You’ve Never Been

     “I am restoring you to who you’ve never been.”

That’s what He told me.

Jesus.

He came to me in an early morning dream, before the sun was fully up, on March 14, 2012, and invited me to a take a journey with Him, in answer to a specific prayer lifted before bed the night before.

     “I have breakthrough for you.  But I can’t bring it unless you do this.  Take this journey.”

     “Okay.”

     “I’m restoring you to who you’ve never been, so you can be the authentic version of who you were created to be.”

And so began the most spiritually and physically transformational journey of my life.  Though the totality of that journey isn’t the topic for this post, one specific event that occurred during it is.

Get ready, this particular testimony is apt to blow your hair back just a bit.

One year ago today, in fact, just about this time of night, I was at a gathering on the front lawn of the home of the Director of Prayer ministry for the church I attend. He had invited members of the prayer team to come hear about his cousin’s ministry at a church out West.  On the way over, I lifted a prayer to God.

“Lord, you’ve been talking to me about a lot of things, shown me things that I thought were true, and everything is so messed up.  Would you touch me in a really personal way tonight, so I know everything is on track and okay?”

The gathering was beautiful.  About 30 of us had come out and we sat there on the front yard, looking out over the lake.  The sun was low in the sky, painting it with shades of pink and amber, and it reflected in the mirror-flat water below. As the guitarist and worship leader began to lead us in songs, I was filled with such gratitude to be there.  Up until that point, the journey I was on with Jesus had consisted mostly of Him taking me to the depths of every wound that had scarred my heart, wounds that I now know had altered the course of my life and who I was within that life.  At times the grief was so intense and unspecified, had I not known I was on a journey with Jesus, I would have been quite worried about myself.  It was as if He was using a spiritual scalpel to scrape my heart clean, and make it new.  Looking back, I think I was grieving for the very loss of myself that had occurred over the course of my life.  At the time of this gathering, I sensed my period of grief was transitioning, though to where I wasn’t sure.  But in that moment, having some peaceful lake time and worshipping God under the sunset sky was such a blessing.

After our time of worship, Chuck (our host’s cousin) shared some incredible testimonies of different healing miracles God had performed, both over the course of Chuck’s life and in his current ministry. I’ve always been encouraged by testimony and hearing about God at work, and this was no different.  But when Chuck said, “Let’s see if God wants to do some healing tonight,” I remember wondering what the two pastors in our small crowd were thinking. I’d never seen any healing before.  I’d never even been to a healing service, and I’d been walking with the Lord a long time.  Then Chuck introduced a young man named Chris, who was gifted in Words of Knowledge.  He spoke about injuries so detailed and so specific, it could only be God talking through him.  As someone would come forward with that particular injury or ailment, a few of us would gather around that person, pray simple prayers and God would heal.  It was absolutely amazing to witness!

Then Chris asked for a woman whose left leg was shorter than her right and had back issues and had to go to the chiropractor.  No one raised a hand or came forward.  As I was standing there listening, I physically felt a nudge in the small of my back, almost like “Get ready.” 

No one was standing behind me.

Chris asked again and still, no one.  And then he said –

“Is there a woman here with one leg shorter than the other and has back issues?”  I tentatively raised my hand.

“I have one leg shorter than the other…”, I said quietly, my voice trailing off.

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure it’s my right leg and I don’t go to the chiropractor. But when my shoes wear uneven, my hips will clunk when I walk and my back does bother me.”

“It’s you.”

“It’s me what?”, I asked nervously.

“It’s you God wants to heal.”

No one in this crowd knew I was on the journey with Jesus, nor did they know about my intense grieving process since mid-March.  No one.

Chris asked me to sit in a chair and make sure my hips were square against the back.  Then he asked me to lift my legs straight up.  When I did, everyone could see that my right leg was about an inch and a half shorter than my left.  I was surprised at the difference. I didn’t realize it was that significant.  I was also a bit freaked out at what might be happening.  At first I was going to keep my eyes closed, thinking “What if this doesn’t…” and then I stopped myself.  “It doesn’t matter what happens, you keep your eyes open – that’s an act of faith!”  All year long, God had been speaking to me about acting in faith and leaving the rest up to Him.  So I kept my eyes open, even though I was nervous.  Then Chris said to Dave (the host),

“Dave, all I want you to do is just hold your hands right about here [about six inches above my shins] and say ‘leg grow’.”

And Dave did and we all watched my right leg grow, right there and keep growing until it was even with my left!  It was pretty wild to watch…kind of surreal and almost like I wasn’t watching my own feet, but someone else’s.  To think I would have missed seeing that if I had closed my eyes!  When I was asked later what it felt like, what I could remember was the feeling of little butterfly wings gently fluttering along my lower right leg, coaxing it to grow longer.  It was incredible!  I kept looking down at my feet smiling and being amazed at what God had done and how He had answered my prayer to “touch me in a really personal way” and assure me things were on track.  And because everyone else saw it too, it can never be denied or forgotten. I can never doubt that it happened.  Praise God!!!

I asked Chris later about God being specific, calling out for a woman with her left leg shorter than the other.  He told me that she probably was among us, but might have been nervous to come forward.

“It’s okay.  Even though she didn’t come forward, God may have still healed her.  She’ll just discover that later.”

The next day, I kept looking down at my feet and I couldn’t stop laughing, and smiling, and thanking God.  Funny thing is, if someone had asked me if I had anything that needed physical healing, I would have said no.  I never thought about my leg and that it was uneven.  It wasn’t anything I focused on, I just knew that it was.

Two days later, Dave sent me a scripture that he said he had read the day before, and felt he was supposed to send it to me:

          But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;

          Redeem me, and be gracious to me. 

          My foot stands on a level place;

          In the congregations I shall bless the Lord.  (Psalm 26:11-12)

Dave shared with me later that up until he saw my leg grow, he had kind of been “doubting” the healings that night.  How awesome that God prompted Chris to ask Dave to be the one to hold his hands above my leg and tell it go grow.  That’s so like God, working both sides of the fence like that, and targeting Dave’s doubt in the process.

I told my cousin about my leg growing the day after it happened.  When he came to visit a few weeks later, he asked me if I remembered the time he had commented to me in homeroom in high school that I “walked funny” and how it had hurt my feelings.  I had.

“You don’t walk funny anymore.  You always had an odd gait, but you don’t now.”

I’ve had only one backache since then, ironically after praying for someone else’s back.  I’ve learned now that sometimes that can be a word of knowledge too, and so I prayed for that person’s back again.  It was voting day and I had to walk to the polls.  My back was so seized up (like this other person’s), I couldn’t walk and it had come out of nowhere.  So later in the day I prayed

“Jesus, you already healed this.  My legs are even.  I need to go vote and can’t.  Would you please heal my back?”

Just like that, the pain was instantly gone! And my back has been great ever since.

The day after the healing, while walking my dog around the neighborhood, I asked God about my leg and what did it mean.

“Lord, when I think of you healing my leg and what happened, I keep seeing a solid white wall on beautiful green grass. Why?”

This wall was about 6 feet long, just there in an open span of gorgeous green grass.  He revealed to me the wall is a spiritual marker, a symbol, of my spiritual healing.  God growing my leg was the physical marker, the evidence, that the grieving part of my spiritual journey was done and breakthrough was coming.  I learned later that white is the biblical color of righteousness, and green often symbolizes new beginnings and growth.

God also helped me understand that He grew my leg so everyone there would know that He could do the impossible.  We’d all seen it, and all the other incredible healings that night, with our own eyes.

And that dream I referenced at the beginning of this post? When Jesus asked me to go on the journey with Him?  He told me breakthrough was coming and that He was restoring me to who I’d never been.  Well, I’d never been someone with two even legs.

I’ll always have this encounter with God.  An encounter that forever changed my perspective of Him, and our relationship, and showed me there is so much more to Him than I’d ever known or realized or trusted Him for.

God can do the impossible.

Testimony faith.

Happy anniversary to me. :-)

God Loves Me Enough

God Loves Me Enough

There’s no growth in beds of roses,
or strength in solid gold.
Perfection waits at Heaven’s gate,
For those whose journey’s told.
But here and now,
this road I’m on, is rocky underfoot,
teaching me to trust in Him,
that His love is always good.

As I navigate the turns
and hills and highs and lows,
and grip my faith for balance
underneath the weight of woes,
I remind myself the Lord above
has planned for me what’s best,
with every twist and stumble,
through His Grace, I am stretched.

Every chance for learning,
every truth revealed,
every burden carried,
I am further healed.
Every passage through a trial,
I am closer to His face,
I can lift my hands in worship
and sing my song of praise.

For every challenge I endure,
I am grown more whole,
For the God I love loves me enough,
To let me walk this rocky road.

I wrote this on December 2, 2011. I hadn’t penned a poem in quite some time. I remember being surprised at the inspiration because when I wrote this, life was pretty balanced. I wasn’t in a particular season of trials, though trials were no stranger to me. In His goodness however, God was getting me ready. He was reminding me of testimonies past, of endurance and strength and turning to Him in all things. He was preparing me for what would be by far, one of the deepest, most profound and spiritually healing journeys I’d ever traveled with Him. A true life-changer in fact, and a journey out of which Testimony Faith was born.

Amen, Lord. Amen.

Before you go forward, go back.

Happy New Year!!!

January 1st!  Today  is the day we look hopefully towards the future, perhaps even with an expectation of God’s blessings in our lives. We set goals, make plans, imagine all that could come and smile at the joy of possibility.  We let go of the year prior and march onward towards “new”.

I’d like to suggest another approach to this first day of the new year and the desire to receive God’s best blessings in the coming year.

Go back.

What?!?!?

Yep, go back.

Why?

To do what you left undone, that thing (or things) that you KNOW God asked you to do, but you chose not to.  You know what I’m talking about.  That thing you heard God talk to you about and you turned a deaf ear, or that thing that wakes up an old passion in your heart, but it seems oh so hard now to even think about getting started. Maybe it’s even something that will require you to risk that very heart of yours that feels passion.  He might even be asking you to let go of something you’ve held onto for far too long, but no longer serves a healthy or useful purpose.

If you have any “undones” left over from last year, you know it, because it’s nagging at you right now as you read this.

The Bible is filled with countless examples of blessings following obedience.  Abraham’s son was spared, the leper was healed by the river, Joseph had the privilege of being the earthly father of Jesus.  But none of them knew with any certainty how things would turn out when God put a specific request of obedience before them.  They just knew God asked and so, they said “Yes.”  And as a result, we have amazing testimonies to refer back to again and again that demonstrate God’s faithfulness to us – and blessing – when we are faithful to Him.

So before you launch into 2013, go back to 2012 and get started.  Grab that thing you refused to do, put it in front God, say “Okay, I’m with you Lord!  I’m sorry I didn’t act in faith the first time you brought this up.  But I will now.  Show me, I’m willing!”   And then DO IT!!

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the road or how to accomplish this task or if it’s scary or even seems impossible.  God promises never to leave us or forsake us, and encourages us to “Be strong and courageous” (Deut 31:6).   The “how” is as easy as asking for direction because He promises to give us wisdom when we ask (James 1:5).  He guarantees you success when you commit your plans to Him (Prov 16:3) and that you can do ALL things through Him who strengthens you (Phil 4:13).  And on the other side of this thing that you’ll do now, might just be an amazing testimony of God’s faithfulness – and how very much He WOWED you – and every time you share that testimony, you might just spark the faith of another to do that thing they’ve been ignoring too.

Testimony faith indeed. :-)

To God be all the glory.  Amen!