Being...

When God stops you for a minute and speaks in the same phrase, you look up where it's found. If it comes during the time when you have been praying about and thinking about your word for the year, chances are the word is found in that verse. Being.....at first I was like umm, okay, but then God started elaborating on the word.

So many times we get so caught up in doing that we lose sight of being. We get so caught up in posting, liking, and trying to connect that we lose sight of just being ourselves. We find ourselves competing in a race God never said run. 2017 brought freedom finally in that.  (It was way overdue...but it had a lot of layers that needed to get pulled back first.). There are still blogs in the work from that transparency season as God called it. I'm in awe of what He's done, but I shouldn't be surprised anymore He continually does beyond what I expect Him to. He's good like that. I am walking into 2018 with big dreams and expectations. Things God has shown me for a couple of years now, that I'm believing are going to come to pass soon. 2017 was the restoration and preparation for the next season.  Sometimes I don't think we realize when we ask God to go to the next level, we don't realize there may be some work involved in the process. The water will never part if the step isn't taken. Sometimes we stand back waiting on God do His part when He's waiting on us to do what He said to do first. That's a blog for another day...

John Maxwell said something at First Wednesday in December that has stuck with me. He was talking about Mary and Martha and how one did things for God, the other with God. So many times we busy ourselves with things we are doing for God, that we lose sight of the things He's wanting to do with us. I've been in that season...but God will only leave you there for so long until the desire for doing more with Him starts to grow and become so loud, you do what needs to be done to get to that place. When we move with Him, the being, the doing, the serving follows.....and we find we are stepping where He wants us to step because we can hear His voice a lot clearer. The distractions of busy have been cleared away. Discernment steps up a notch when we are in step when we are who He has called us to be...

Being may mean empty some days, but I'm finding empty isn't as ugly of a word as it used to be. For when I'm empty, He can do more of the filling (there is a difference in being empty and feeling empty..). The word says to be a lot, it doesn't say feel. Feeling is going to happen, but each day I'm learning to ask Him for His truth to be louder than my feelings. Being happens when His truth stays louder than feeling...when we step regardless of how we feel. When we follow what He says even when it doesn't make sense. Being means finding our identity simply in being His son or daughter and leaving the rest to Him.

Other words for the year that I had on my list were intentional, bold, confident etc. Intentional because I want my moments to not only count but to matter. I want to hear when He whispers and follow through on those heart drops (I read that phrase in a book over break...it's about paying attention to who God places in our path and the needs they may have that we can meet. So many times we are so focused on our to-do list that we lose sight of those heart drops...and therefore miss out on the blessing God may have in the moment.) His will always gets done, but how many times do we miss the moment where He can flow through us? God doesn't do something in us, to not do something through us. I know I've said that before...but I'm learning there is a purpose and a plan for everything God brings to you.....it's just sometimes we need to get the junk cleared out so that He can let it flow through us. Bold because I've got some dreams, some visions I'm ready to see God move on.....and it's not in my comfort zone of the past. (I've got the list forming of what I want to do by the time I'm 40 forming already). Confident not because I can do anything....but with Him, I can do everything. I've been content to just walk in the spirit of "I'm just ____" and that's gotta go. I'm who He says I am period. When God led me to the verse, I realized the other three words....all went along with being.  Be bold, be confident, be intentional...Be His and the rest will fall into step.

Blessings in 2018 Readers...and get ready, God's doing a new thing and pouring out!

Rocks, Stones, and a picture painted..

I know it's been awhile since my last post. It doesn't mean God hasn't been writing....there is a book still to come from some of the moments over the last month. A couple of nights ago I went to bed with a visual painted in my head, I didn't know where God was taking it...but it stuck. I wish I could tell you the visual had come as soon as I left my prayer closet time with God, but no. (I'm still a work in progress and some days God and I talk throughout the day....and don't get to the deep intense moments that come when I'm in my prayer closet. That's going to change in 2018...but I digress on to the visual). 

Stones are found all throughout the scripture. Stones of remembrance are used when God did an amazing thing in the Old Testament. Stones took down a giant, stones covered what had been buried (and in some cases when that stone was rolled away, life came forth). There is also a place in the New Testament where it talks about not letting the rocks cry out in our place.  I could go on and on....stones also have a ripple effect. Imagine throwing a stone into a water, even if you just drop it in...there is an impact felt. There is a craze that seems to be going on right now where people paint rocks with messages or pictures and hide them around town. Some are in plain view but the picture on them makes them seem hidden. It wasn't until I watched the Steven Furtick clip that I shared last night that the pieces started fitting. Stay with me for a minute...

Moments when we know God met us, where He showed up and showed out, moments where God did what only He could take credit for...those serve as remembrance stones for us. Maybe it's not even a moment, maybe it's a song or a verse that God dropped in your Spirit just when you needed it and it took root. It's a moment where you didn't even know what to pray, but God answered anyway. The picture from a few nights ago was of someone throwing a stone at a giant and someone throwing a stone in the water. It's that bag of remembrance stones, stones that hold meaning for us, stones that take us back to a time when God did what we needed Him too that we find in our bag again when the giants come. David had five stones in his bag when he went out to fight Goliath, but it only took one. I'm pretty sure he never looked at a stone the same way again. The giants are going to be defeated by stones that are hurled at the giants with a Spirit of knowing the battle has already been won. David knew he couldn't do it...but he knew who could. How many more giants would we defeat if we would march in with our bag of stones knowing who had already defeated the giant?  We pay attention to the weight of the rocks sometimes more than the weight of His presence with us.  (As God has so lovingly reminded me several times on this journey (a lot just in the last couple of weeks)...He didn't move than to not move now, and He didn't part the waters over there just to leave you stuck on the other side. So many times we want to know what the other side looks like when God's saying step in the water first) 

The other visual was of a stone being thrown into the water. Ripples happen when a stone is thrown in whether it's dropped or skipped into the water. What we do, what we say, has a ripple effect. Our stones of remembrance can as well...so many times we are carrying them around almost like trophies or badges of honor...and God's waiting on us to throw them in the river and let them impact someone else. He didn't do what He did in us to not let it flow through us. The stones only become heavy if we carry them around like a bag of rocks. Stones released to Him....can make a ripple impact that we may not ever see on this side of eternity. 

The stones at first may feel like a rock is caught in your shoe, but God has a purpose and a plan. It's hard to see at first because the focus is how the rock feels. The word never said we wouldn't feel a certain way, but it said to be. There is a difference in being and feeling and that difference is how you see the stones on your journey. 

More posts to come before break is over