Good morning DearHeart.

It takes courage, to get to know your soul; have you noticed? You have been set apart to do so. And, it takes even more courage to nod, inviting the Most High to enter into your minutes. Taking a step beyond the flesh, beyond the daily routine is not normal. The enemy will throw darts at every step; be prepared. Satan knows he can’t compete with the power of your Maker.

Not even close.

The more you get to know your soul – and engage the Authority of El Elyon, our God of Perfect Control, the more you engage His POWER in your life and live in His AUTHORITY. At every “yes, Lord”, The Divine Himself wraps you in and takes you deeper.

DearOne, let this saturate your cells a moment:

once you are conscious of your SOUL,

you

are

called.

‘In all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!’ (Romans 8:37-39 HCSB)

It’s not all jelly beans and rainbows. Answering His call will take you to both intensely light and intensely dark places. Extreme limits of your heart will be engaged by Him to get your attention and get you in alignment with His will. He will take you anywhere you need to go again, and again, and again, in order to meet Him in increasing intimacy.

The journey will take you through every kind of emotion there … until you find you are consistently hungry for more of Him.

Hungry for Him is where He desires for us to stay.

His ways are perfect.

His ways are right.

He is FOR you.

Wake up.

Stay hungry.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

When I was a young mother I was making my bed one morning, standing between the wall and the bed, placing the pillows, when I felt the WEIGHT of God’s glory on me so heavy that I could hardly breathe. It was the first time I had ever physically felt His power and His presence so strong and so undeniable that I couldn’t move. I had been praying for years, and had been in prayer that morning for someone I dearly loved to change to fit who I wanted them to be. I was praying wrong, yet thought I was right. And, God showed up.

He set His foot down on my life. His authority stepped into my request and the forces of darkness had to back up and back out. In my efforts to fix them, I was dealing with worry and frustrations and depressions from which I couldn’t see a way around or a way through. Yet, in that moment, He revealed that the loved one was His project and not mine. My focus had to stay on MY relationship with my Savior, and the work of the Holy Spirit through me and through others would handle the details of changing the hearts of the other.

I’ve learned (sometimes, I forget and have to be reminded!) to stay in my lane, focus on the hearts within my realm…my own heart.

The experience changed everything about how I live, and breathe, and move in Christ. I had been praying, but with no real hope that the relationship would or could change. That same GLORY that manifested in me that morning is the same Glory promised and delivered to every believer.

Have you felt the weight of His presence?

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:22-23 KJV

Wake up.

Pray. Feel His Glory.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

There are parts of the bible that are such a mystery. Parts of it seems bizarre to me. But, what I’ve discovered is that the head-scratching parts of the Bible are not the ones that give me trouble. It’s the parts that I DO understand with crystal clarity – the simplest things, like … how can He love someone like me? Yet, He has extravagant love for me … he walks with me … His presence is in me … and He shows me the meaning of ‘unconditional’. His Word always operates, always works.

The Holy book is God’s tool. It is His Word. It is my guide. It brings His Voice into my hours.

At some point I got over the notion that it was untouchable –

I mark mine up,

make notes in the margins,

throw it in the car seat and take it with me,

bend pages every which way.

And then, I get a new one to start the process all over again.

When we see God’s Word for something more than just a flower press or a place to keep clippings of obituaries, He comes alive in us.

IN us … thoughts and actions and words.

By example, my dad taught me that bibles are to be worn out. When my brothers and I were growing up, Dad had one held together with duct tape. That’s my goal, too … to wear out my bibles.

Thanks, Dad.

“The revelation of GOD is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of GOD are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of GOD are plain and easy on the eyes. GOD ’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of GOD are accurate down to the nth degree.

God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.”

Psalm 19:7-10 MSG

Wake up.

Get your bible.

Wear it out.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

We get so caught up in the lists that we need a reminder.

Lift your eyes.

Lift your heart.

Take in a fresh breath of His Holy Spirit.

Slowly.

Feel Him.

Let the Holy Spirit take you to a place where you are both absorbing and living out Father God’s presence,

in and out of you,

running through you,

pouring from you.

Breathe Him in deeply. He will find the cracks. He will find the dark places where the pain and the fear and the selfish parts hide. He will melt the differences in an endless love running through your heart, moving outward from there.

Breathe deep.

Breathe slow.

‘May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.’ (Psalm 141:2 NIV)

Wake up.

Lift your eyes.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

In each season of life, there are impressions that come that are too profound for words. Notice sounds that come in indescribable sounds. Notice colors, not only those you see with your eyes, but those that are touching the deepest part of your heart.

Father God uses all of His creation to speak with us – especially when words just aren’t enough to cry out the mix of emotions that need to be touched, accepted. Recognize the tenderness of the emotion in your hours. Recognize them, and return them home.

‘Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18 AMP)

Wake up.

Be touched by The Creator.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

When Liv is riding with me we look for animals. One farm has goats, and usually there is one that is in a crazy predicament. We are so much like them – just one decision away from a predicament. One decision away from crazy.

At the end of the day bad decisions aren’t just about you. Its about collateral damage. The more Satan can cause to fall, the harder he strategizes. Make no mistake, Satan is out to kill, steal, and destroy and take as many as he can down with him. That is what the enemy is so hellbent on doing to the family today – he is in to luring us in and getting you and me so caught up in the cycle of sin that before you even realize it, it has taken you under. And, if you are there, you will not be able to get out of it yourself. You will need a trusted Christian counselor or strong Christian friend to guide you through the process. And, here is the good news … your story brings you to a new place.

Twists and turns.

Junctures.

Crossroads.

Decisions.

Each brings a unique story to your life, don’t they?

And, through each one, a mini-journey through uneasiness grows. The heart-trips are unplanned by us, yet somehow, in every new walk, the Holy Spirit brings to you and to me other hearts in flux who grow deeply connected.

To be this raw has purpose.

The Holy Spirit’s ways through the suffering are not always predictable. From this hole that suffering brings, an opening is made.

Suffering brings a certain death to a useless part of who you used to be. Through that death comes new life.

Such a place is nothing less than a birthing process. Death to the old holds sacred rites to pass on the new … so that, once again, we can offer what we can of ourselves to our human world … and, point them to the Light.

‘I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel.’ (Psalms 32:8 HCSB)

Wake up.

Eyes on Jesus.

Eyes on the light.

You can do this.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

Sometimes, our Creator asks us to do things that don’t make sense. ‘And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet.’ Acts 8:29-30 ESV

It was probably not an accident for the eunich to be found reading from a scroll of Isaiah. Through the reading of those very Scriptures, God was preparing his heart to hear from Philip of the very fulfillment of those Scriptures through Christ.

Philip could not have realized, even in the moment of his obedience, how he would be used in the life of this man. He probably found it odd to be told to do such a thing. Who would just approach and walk alongside a carriage carrying a royal official surrounded by servants?!

The Holy Spirit instructed him to go and walk alongside that particular chariot and stay with it. Keep on walking with him.

There are times we are led to do something beyond our understanding. We want to know all the details and figure out how it will work out. We want to know the plan in its entirety.

Often the Lord gives us just enough information to take the first step, then the second, and then another. In our obedience (blind faith), He gives us His plan, piece by piece.

When God asks me to do something I don’t understand, my prayer through the process is simple and powerful … “God, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable that brings You GLORY.”

As we live each day by the guidance of God,

He lets us know where, and when, and what we are to do.

Wake up.

Take the first step.

Then, the next will be revealed.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart.

Aren’t these two the cutest? That taller one and I have been through a thing or two. Sometimes we’ve brought it on ourselves, sometimes, it’s come from an outside source. I’ve told you my bent for remembering dates and numbers. It’s a weird and mostly useless tick. Last fall, I remember the date, there was a meeting with an outsider that over the course of the next few days and weeks left me hanging onto my Creator by a thread. Good thing His hold is stronger than mine. And, that Dale is strong when I am weak. What do people do who don’t have Christ when their world gets rocked?

It was an awakening.

I was swimming in a cauldron of bitterness and bile. (That’s another bent of mine – to get stuck there).

Psalm 3:1-4 became my anthem.

“O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my Glory and the Lifter of My Head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and He answered me from His holy hill. Selah” Psalms 3:1-4 ESV

The answers to my questions are simple if I allow them to be simple. Bitterness stays, as long as we allow it a crack to enter.

Emotion that comes from honesty,

respect that comes from challenge, and the form of love that exists between people whose minds have touched,

whose hearts have touched,

whose souls have touched.

Think of those with whom you can say:

Our minds touched.

Our hearts touched.

Our souls touched.

Those God has gifted to us to share life’s peaks and face-slamming rock bottom scum. His power comes through relationship.

Love makes me shudder, shakes me. Inside and out it destroys me and fuels me.

You, DearOne, are a vessel of beauty. Of life. Of love…though most of us don’t know it. We continue to leave a crack. Seems like all the forces of evil are dead set against us most of the time. Love, for yourself and for others can be the hardest battle – it isn’t going to fall in your lap. You’ve got to trust Father God and rely on His help while you fight for it. God wins.

Choose to be bitter or choose to laser in on the God Who Wins who fights for the best for you and yours.

Wake up.

Soak in ‘God Wins’.

Go.

Good morning, DearHeart. This is a new day. A clean slate. Where your love has grown and your heart has grown and your brain has grown because of the lessons of yesterday and of a lifetime.

Sometimes, with all the distractions humming through … It helps to simply focus on the soles of your feet.

Feel the steps.

Notice the freshness of the next step.

Movement into the future.

Walking away from the old. Walking into the new. Walk across the bridge. Build it as you go. Forward movement.

It is a new day. Every story of our past had to happen to get us to this place where we fully trust Father God. Now take glory-steps into your fresh walk with Him.

‘…just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.’ Romans 6:4 HCSV

Wake up.

Keep moving.

Go.