He Will Give You Rest

As many of you know, I have been sick for a while now. The details are unimportant but I have been unable to eat much therefore leaving me with little energy so I've been stuck in bed for almost three weeks now. It's been weird having so much quiet time, it's amazing how many thoughts I just shove back in my mind when I'm busy. When the silence set in I realized they were all still there, and they became louder than before. I lay there in bed as the thoughts swirl around in my head and begin to suffocate me. I feel as if I'm drowning amidst a sea of my own thoughts, fears, and regrets and just as I feel them pull me under, I hear a voice. It's quiet at first then it grows louder until it is booming in my ears. It doesn't hurt though, it doesn't scare me like yelling does. Though it's loud and powerful it is gentle, kind, and reassuring.  I know the voice. It is familiar, like a song you have heard a million times but you've never listened to the lyrics before. It is familiar and old, yet new and exciting all at the same time.  I know who the voice belongs to. There is no question in my mind. I have talked to Him before, many times. But there is something new in his voice and I love it. It brings such joy and comfort and...hope back into my life, like a warm hug from your Daddy when you fall and scrape your knee. He speaks such peace and warmth into my life. I have heard the verses before but they take new meaning now. They are personal, they mean something to me. They are no longer just words but rather a message. A message of hope. Verse like Matthew 11:28-30 become more than just a Bible verse to memorize.  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”"  He will give me rest..." I ponder those words over and over in my mind. Maybe rest isn't all bad. Maybe if I stop listening to my own thoughts and listen to His instead I won't be overwhelmed, confused and scared. It is cool to think about. Imagining God pulling me out of the whirlpool of deafening thoughts that trapped me, taking each burdening regret off of me, and drying my fear soaked clothes until I am new, clean, and dry. Leading me through the quiet places that are now peaceful instead of eerie.  I now enjoy the quiet times with Him learning and listening to what He has to say as I lay in bed too weak to stand. He is reminding me that even when I am weak on my own, He is strong. He will hold and guide me as I walk through this shadow of death and through Him I will fear no evil. 

His Journey

Well, I haven't posted in a very long time and I'm not quite sure why I'm back now, but I feel led to start writing again, so here I am.  Much in my life has changed since the creation of this blog, some changes good, others bad, as I'm sure it is in all lives.  Since there have been so many changes in my life it seems reasonable that I make some changes on my blog too.  Most of my previous posts have been deeper more thought-provoking posts about life, God, and so on, but I think for now they will be more varied. I think some of the things I will be talking about will be what's going on in my life, random thoughts and ideas I have, revelations about God, etc. Who knows what He might call me to write.  So here is to variety, to listening to His call, to trusting Him and beginning to write.  I hope you will join me on this journey, His journey. I can't wait to see where it leads.

Are You Holding Back??

Have you ever heard the song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" from Lion King? There is a line in the song sung by Nala where she says about Simba "He's holding back, he's hiding. But, what I can't decide. Why won't he be the king I know he is? The king I see inside!" As I was listening to it today I started thinking about that line. I started wondering if sometimes we are like Simba and God is wanting us to stop holding back from Him. The truth of it is trying to hold back from God is pointless! He sees our hearts and He knows everything! But, God wants us to willingly give all of our heart, thoughts, worries, all of it, to Him. Because although He knows everything about us,He wants us to willingly surrender EVERYTHING to Him. When we try holding back from God we are keeping ourselves from reaching the destiny that He has for us.

While we were at New Breed, Kari Jobe gave us the picture of having all the pieces of our heart out on a table for Jesus to see. We are going through our heart showing everything to God, EXCEPT for one or two pieces that we have hidden under a napkin. God asks us what is under the napkin and our response is to say, "Oh it's nothing important, after all, look at all these other pieces I am giving you!" You see, God know what we have hiding "under our napkin" but the act of actually surrendering it all to Him is very important! It is showing that we trust God and we want Him to have control of EVERYTHING in our lives. For example, in Genesis 3:7- 13 after the fall of man, God comes into the garden and asks Adam where he is. Of course God knew where Adam was, but, He wanted Adam to freely tell Him. After Adam shows himself, God asks him questions about why he was hiding, how he knew he was naked, if he ate the fruit, etc. God saw the entire thing and knew the answer to every question He asked, but, he wanted Adam to "surrender " it all to Him.

Are there any things in your life that you haven't surrendered totally to him? Maybe it's a relationship, disappointment, a sin, or anything else that you don't want to give Him control of. Try giving it to Him. He can take all the broken pieces of your heart and make them whole and more beautiful then they ever were. Don't worry God will NEVER let you down!!!! If you stop holding back and trying to hide things from Him you'll learn how to "become the King" (or Queen) that God wants you to be.

I Am Who He Says I am..

Okay first things first, who is He? He, is God! He loves us and wants us to be all we can. The problem is that Satan doesn't want us to fulfill God's destiny for us. He fills are minds with lies so much that we begin to believe them. We start trying to meet those lies and become who Satan wants us to be. Instead of being the beautiful, strong, smart, and courageous children of God that we are, we become, ugly, weak, stupid and scared people running around trying to figure out who we really are! That's what starts people wanting things and trying to fill themselves up with these wants! That is why we have girls with eating disorders, guys trying to be stronger than they are, kids doing drugs, and so much more! All of this is because people are listening to the lies that Satan is trying to fill our heads (and hearts) with. You may be wondering, "But, how do I know it's Satan? What if that is really who I am." In the Bible it says that we were created in the image of God. (Genesis 1: 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.) So if we are created in God's own image, that would mean that God is those things (ugly, weak, stupid,) and we know that's not true! When we look in the Bible we realize that we are worth so much more than the lies Satan wants us to believe. (Psalm 139:14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.)