Good morning, DearHeart.

This is my view this morning. There are no words to describe the feeling of not seeing a thing, not a single thing, but water for as far as the eye can see.

Just water.

Waves.

My mind is trying to find words for the wonderment of realizing that water as far reaching as the horizon also means water equally as deep. It is truly immeasurable. It holds deep places where man has yet to explore. That is mind blowing.

It speaks of a Creator, my God that is majestic and in control beyond my understanding or ability to grasp.

It boasts of a God, Who Alone, holds the oceans in their place.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Job 38:4-11 ESV

And, watching the waves roll … who am I to have the audacity to worry about any concern or detail going on in my life.

It is safe to trust Him with this day … with this season. My God can hold an ocean back with one little shore. He can hold my loves and my hours with the same intensity as He holds these waves.

Wake up.

Keep it all in perspective.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

There are souls in this world who carry deep insecurities and the way those troubled wounds get handled may be projecting their hurt onto you. This can be especially true if you happen to have some measure of respect and relationship with people. It can also happen if you have any measure of groundedness that they seek. Think of anyone you know that has experienced success … they have their fans – and they also have haters. And, both fans and haters may know nothing about who these souls truly are as human beings. They are just a name that rises in today’s media who happen to be a canvas onto whom people can project their hopes and dreams or … their fears.

You could be that to someone too. Doing your thing for the greater good. Loving well.

Then come the haters.

Christ set the standard for dealing with haters. He gave His life. He doesn’t even expect you to do the same, but from His example we know how to respond when criticism comes.

Consider the deliverer.

Consider what you can do with their message.

There may be a kernel of truth in what they say; find an opportunity from which you can grow from their slander. Simply separate the cruelty of the delivery (harder than it sounds sometimes), from a hidden opportunity in their words or behavior.

Focus on the people who believe in you and love you. For Christ, toward the end of His flesh days, that must’ve just seemed like His mom and a few from His inner circle. Maybe that’s all you’ve got – that’s enough. Every person who rises knows the importance of those who believe in you. The importance of their inner circle. They know where they can get the

push they need,

the bump they need,

the encouragement they need.

Even if it is only from one person.

Focus on those who care about you no matter what and ask for their perspective on how you continue to show up in this life. Cherish those people deeply, and let them know it. Feeling unloved has got to be the loneliest feeling in the world. Reach out to those you trust.

Know you are worthy.

Connect with your heart.

Moment by moment, all respect within for the wonder that Your Creator breathed life into, share that respect with every encounter.

“The Lord protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land— he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.” Psalm 41:2 NIV

Wake up.

You’re protected and preserved.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

What struggle keeps rising to the top? What demon has a hatchet over your head … waiting, waiting, like the whack-a-mole game. Set tense and ready to set you back. On your heels.

I know mine.

And, some days I would go under if not for grace.

God’s grace,

the depth of his love,

and the magnificence of his kindness …

allow this level of grace more and more in your life … for it truly is epic.

Call in the full experience of God’s favor and blessing in a way that continually surprises and delights you as you walk in your God-given purpose. Even when that purpose meets resistance.

Be reminded … a whisper from The Holy … that …

despite what may be your obvious failings …

despite what failings may be made up in your head …

despite what failings have been conjured up by others …

God is drawn to you (you’re a grace magnet) and He will never fail or forsake you.

This is where you grow … you shine as a trophy of his grace in declaration to a watching world that God is good … all the time.

Even in the even here places.

“The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ,

the extravagant love of God,

the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.” (2 Corinthians 13:14, MSG)

God’s gentle grace comforts us when we are deeply wounded.

His larger-than-life grace covers us when we are wrestling with hardship.

His empowering grace helps us to stay the course when the going gets tough.

And … God’s epic grace shows us how to rise above our pain and circumstances with enduring hope and faith in him.

God’s grace can transform

every life,

every situation,

every mistake,

every imperfect life and make it something that is good … useful to God and precious.

To survive and even thrive in the midst of our suffering takes grace. Call it in.

Wake up.

Call in Christ.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

I often begin in the early quiet to direct the day … this day as I’d like it to be. . . where everything that comes my way, I greet with grace and confidence and the purest joy of Christ – ‘no matter what’ kind of deep-seeded joy.

Allow yourself to see deeply, too … to see with eyes of grace – through the scowls on the faces of others … into their heart where a space in them is responding to you with kindness. Awe – the Master is at work in them through you. Can you see it? Their attack may

appear to be toward you, but it is the mark their desperation for the Holy One. The enemy would like to trip you up by hurling into you an attitude of hurt and defensiveness – but you know the more damaging a person behaves, the greater their cry is for the light of the Savior. Only He can transform any situation into a healing experience, Beloved. Open up your heart,

ask,

and allow yourself to be used as a creative instrument of Divine healing and evolution.

“And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence.” Acts 4:29-31 MSG

Wake up.

With fearless confidence send Christ’s healing into them.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

“The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all. This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!” Psalms 118:22-23

Good morning, DearHeart.

I loved the smell of Pop Coon’s barn when I was little. Combinations of hay, fuel and cattle and lumber and all the stuff that comes together in a farmer’s day. Even now, I will often walk through the “shop” type classroom where students are learning everything from construction to landscaping to small engine repair, just to breathe the air of hard work and accomplishment … the instructor grins every time I say, “just walking through – I love the smell of this place.”

We have a personal Carpenter of Love that has set you and me on His workbench where one touch totally transforms. We call out His name, desperate for His touch – the God of the Angel Armies is captured by the cry. Every time.

Your cry.

He sets our tender heart on His lathe of pure love and He begins to spin. Again.

Where rejected, He sands away the shawty grooves. Where termites have ravished, the Master transforms the fibers, then refinishes the surface.

Rare and transformed.

No longer worn.

His work sets you in a higher place with the presence of His mark.

You are His heart. He is your shield.

“But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain.” Psalms 3:3-4 NLT

Wake up.

Be turned.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

Did you see the Kentucky Derby and pick a favorite horse over the weekend? It was an insane ending that made no sense to me – where it was won by the second place finisher due to instant replay technology, not won by the horse that crossed the finish line first. Apparently, the horse in first stepped out of his unmarked lane – who knew there were lanes (?) and got into another horse’s personal space. How frustrating and messed up is that? I bet if they put big designer hats on the horses like they do the ladies, then their space would would be marked clearly. They may have a time keeping them on, but surely the ladies had the same struggle – especially with those side gigs.

We humans wear lots of hats … I’ve have been a

daughter,

sister,

wife,

in-law,

mother,

employee,

aunt,

mother-in-law,

and Nanny.

Who knows what hats will be donned today?

The truth is I haven’t and won’t wear any hat because I could fit the role perfectly … as I am quite flawed, and my mistakes have been plentiful.

Yet, over and over God has positioned me to fill a role for which I was totally unprepared, or unequipped, to do. I have asked the question many a times, “Am I good enough?”

As His called one, whatever the role, I’ve learned it has nothing to do with being

good ‘enough’ (it’s impossible),

or prepared ‘enough’ (it’s impossible),

or equipped ‘enough’ (it’s impossible),

God positions us. He calls us to prepare as best we can and to just “be”.

Be there.

Do the thing.

Be in Him.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NLT)

It is His grace. His power. His fuel. And it works best in our weaknesses.

Our weaknesses are opportunities for the power of Christ to be seen and speak of God’s grace.

And … He is enough.

Wear the hat today that He has chosen for you. He will meet you there.

Wake up.

Be in Him.

Go.

Photo: The little chick under this hat is my great niece, Rawlings Coon, daughter of Jared and Mandi Coon. Isn’t she a cutie!

Good morning, DearHeart.

My dad always says, “let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.” … Pop Coon, his dad, always said the same thing … the same way … same pleased expression … standing at the back door, looking out over his wheat field by the house – they both saw too many drought years to ever complain about cloudy skies. Maybe their response is why rain always makes me a little giddy.

Even on the mornings where big plans are supposed to transpire, deep inside a steady rhythm of “let it rain” plays.

The cleansing and rebirth that rain brings to nature absorbs into the soles of our feet …

muddy with rich soil,

hair smelling like pond water;

where freshly laundered creation is cause for celebration.

Much like the third day from the cross.

Transforming power.

Renewal power.

It is from this place that we step into our day clothes, into our ‘busy’ from that wildish place … to be present to the customer,

or the hammer,

or the stove,

or the child,

or the data screens.

We reset.

We breathe in the Wild of the freshly poured Holy Spirit into our decisions,

into the work of our heart,

and our hands,

our plans,

our classes,

our industry,

our responsibilities …

into our little victories and into those pains and losses we carry … always carry … this side of eternity.

He sustains all worlds.

He whispers His ways to us in and out of our minutes. His Spirit courses and calls us and His called ones follow. Our River of Life rushes in, then slows to make sure we are coming, He pauses in still waters to allow us to catch up – and sets the flow again. He has something to show us.

Many things.

He renews so He can reveal new gifts.

“Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” James 1:17-18 MSG

Wake up.

Let it rain.

Renewal.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

I’ve been watching the heartbreaking atrocities unfolding in Venezuela. I wonder how a ruler can become so filled with hatred and desire to oppress, harm, kill others … to kill their own. Opening fire, running over them with tanks. How can we overlook that these are actual persons, someone’s sons and daughters? And how can we then turn on one another?

I am having a hard struggle with it all…I turn to the only place I can, the place where God shows up … in His Word, and speaks to my heart – deeply ….

I have been reading from the book of Jonah, a story so familiar to us all. We know about the great fish and how it swallows Jonah then vomits Jonah up on the shore.

Yet … hidden in this short book this morning is a revelation of Who He is and how He truly feels towards each one of us drawing breath this very minute.

Jonah had finally obeyed God and gone to Ninevah with the message God had given him to deliver. The result was repentance of a people for whom Jonah did not want spared.

Jonah was mad as all get out at God. Seriously. And he complains and rants to God …

“Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord?” (Jonah 4:2, NLT)

Umm, that would be an affirmative, Jonah, for God always does exactly as He says.

“That is why I ran away to Tarshish!” (vs 2)

Did Jonah really think his running away was going to stop God from bringing His Word and salvation to Ninevah?

And then Jonah states what he knew all along (and please don’t miss it!) …

“I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.” (the rest of verse 2)

Jonah knew his God. He knew God was about saving people. He knew God would do whatever it takes and go to whatever lengths are necessary to bring people to Himself. Jonah knew people are of the utmost importance to our God.

Today my prayer is for us, God’s people, to be more like Him. Towards all people.

Towards those in foreign countries. And those within our borders.

To those outside of Christ, and inside of Christ.

To those we agree with. And to those we disagree with.

Let’s be like Him.

Merciful.

Compassionate.

Eager to turn from destroying people.

Filled with love.

His love.

Wake up.

Turn our hearts to You, Father.

Mercy.

Compassion.

Unfailing love.

Go.