I am searching the earth for the one who has separated himself out for Me.  I see each one who loves Me with all their heart.  The furnace has become hot for My dear children.  It's necessary for the preparation of coming days.  If I would take you into the coming seasons and not prepare you, you would think and believe that I have not loved you.  And it would be true. 

But I have loved you with an everlasting love, thus I must drive you into the desert places just as I did my Holy Son after His baptism.  And look at His impact in the earth, then and now and for all eternity.  So it will be with you.  I will not spare you of anything that could bring us closer and make you stronger in the end of all things.

But dear one, every trial, challenge, sorrow and flaming dart that I have permitted to come your way is a direct link and direct tool for the formation of Christ in you.  The ebb and flow of easy and hard is perfectly timed by my design. 

I give you all you need for all of life's circumstances.  Learn to pick up the weapons I have provided for you.  Learn to use the tools I have place in your hand to stay strong and do the work.  Darken my doorsteps often and come in for times of intimate loving.  You desire to hear My voice, yet have you forgotten how I long for your voice in my inner courts?

Rest assured today and be reminded how I'm holding you, caring for you, loving you.....like no other can or is even willing.  Bring Me your sorrows.  Present your wounds to Me.  Let's walk this thing out together, arm in arm.  For I have provided to you My very own Holy Spirit to be in you and all around you.  This should bring you much comfort in your day of trial and pain.

Trial and pain will continue.....and even accelerate....but so will my glory and strength.  For as your days...so shall your strength and stamina be.  It's my promise to you.

Lovingly,

Your Heavenly Father

 

 

I'm at my daughter's......no one's up and my back hurts from the bed...so I'll write!

NC brings back memories of living here. The sweet pine smell in the air always sends my mind back. I live in OH now, but hope to be back down here in the next few years. All our children live here. We have one grandson. He is now 8 months. Cute as a button. My other daughter is due December 30. So many reasons to visit and even move back eventually. Our youngest son is here too, going to school and working. I'm so proud of him finding his way and I miss him so much.

Timing......timing doesn't feel right to make the move yet. Is that strange or what??? When you trust God with your life, He will guide your steps. There is a time and season for everything. I'm so glad He knows what He is doing since I am clueless most of the time!

But for now, I live in OH and there's a job for me to do in His Kingdom. He has prepared many good works for me in OH and when it's time, the door will open back up for us to move south.

Until then I will learn contentedness in OH and find out all the assignments He has for me there. NC will be a place to visit regularly.

Godliness with contentment is great gain! I'm learning more and more how to be content!

 

Do you ever just get away from what you need to be doing?  I've done that.  Reasons vary.  No time.  No energy.  No desire.

But then, God knows doesn't He?  He knows how to get our attention once again.  He gently leads us back on track.  He graciously opens our eyes to our faulty priorities.

God has a way of gaining our attention in ways that are smooth and non-condemning.  He convicts, but never condemn.

I have been away from my writing and photography and He has rekindled my focus once again.  Life has a way of just taking your breath away at moments and sometimes it's good to just do something different so you can be refilled and return again.  That's where I have been.  Off on His journey's.  Now it's time to write again. 

Sorry I've been away, but I'm not sorry too.  He has times and seasons for us all and just because we've always done something, doesn't mean it will last or always be.  Sometimes it is to last, but He weaves us in and out like a needle in the hand of a seamstress.

The ebb and flow of our lives is very real and we need to go with the ebb when the tide is out and run with the flow when the tide is in!

There are no formulas, but to just stay near Him and do what He's doing and say what He's saying.  That's all.

Fall has been so beautiful this year in mid-central OH of the United States.  Below I wish to share some of that glory with you.  Enjoy!  I will see you soon.

 

 

 

I am transforming your heart in this hour of difficulty.  I am seeing to it that your effectiveness in the earth is on the rise.  I'm working in ways you cannot see at the moment, but it will all become beautiful in it's time.  I am only about your victory and success in My House.  I will do what I have said I will do.

Now for you, it is necessary to draw near in this hour of darkness and trial.  To trust in the dark is a great advancement for you.  To see Me, when you can't see anything else, is to have the greatest vision possible.  Nothing is candy coated in My heart towards you.  It's all real and it's all true.  Believe it and you will prosper in ways you have never experienced.

Confusion will be dispelled when you just simply trust and obey.  There is no substitute for trusting and obeying.  There is nothing equal to trusting and obeying.  It will be healing for your heart and soul as you simply trust and obey.

There are times you need to be carried.  There are times when you need to just walk.  Be mindful of those times.  Take the rest you need when it's time.  Get up and walk when it's time to get up and walk.  There is power available at any moment to do all that you need to do.  There is  no power to do the things I have not asked you to do, thus will come times of exhaustion and continual fatigue.  My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  Let My Word be your gage.

I'm wrapping My arms around you now.  Breathe in fresh supplies from Heaven.  Soak in My love for you.  Be consumed by My satisfaction with you.  Be refreshed in my presence.  Take time out for you and Me.  Guard these things between us.

Your Father In Heaven

 

 

 

"A man's mind plans his way,

but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure." 

Proverbs 16:9

One of the benefits of being a child of God is that He is walking beside me every single day.  I think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine and count my way through life, but ultimately God is the One who sees to it that I become stabilized and established in my step.  He is the One who can firm me up when I am falling to pieces.  If left to my own way, I would self-destruct!!!

God has given me a mind to think and make my own choices, but He co-labors with me just like a good earthly father does as he raises his children into maturity.  He will hold on to my bike as I am learning to ride without training wheels, then at just the right moment He will let go and let me ride.  I still might fall, but it's part of the learning and growing and maturing.

I am so glad for this.  I am in desperate need of the Divine!!!  He is a safety net for me when I fall.  I may get hurt, but the pain and struggle have all been filtered through His Hand!  Somehow through His mysterious ways, He uses even my pain and weakness to bring forth His display of power and glory!  My stride in life will be built by the Creator Himself.  As I walk and plan and think, He is walking and planning and thinking right beside me!!!  What an amazing thought!  What a comforting thought!

I am in this together with Him.  He is mine and I am His.  As I journey on this earth through all the twists and turns of life, I can rest assured that He is guiding my steps in a way that will bring me into ultimate union with Him for all eternity!!

"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind

that the God who started this great work in you

would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish

on the very day Christ Jesus appears." 

Philippians 1:6  The Message 

I must look for all the road signs that He has posted as I travel.  I must never lean on my own understanding, but trusting Him in all the bends and sharp climbs of my journey.  I must deny fear it's power over me when things aren't going as I had thought.  For the great Sovereign God of the universe is my traveling partner.  He will make sure I finish and He will see to it that my feet never wander to far away from His highest and best for me.  I am His child and I will grow into all that He has planned for me if not in this life, then in the life to come for all eternity!  The Word of God has said it in Philippians 1:6.

Take comfort today my friend if you are troubled in soul.  Whatever is beating at your doorstep, has the potential to propel you forward into the next step that he has already formed in the sand for you to take!

 

 

 

"It is good that a man should both

hope and quietly wait

for the salvation of the LORD."

Lamentations 3:26

 

There is an excellent way for me in the firey trials.  That way involves hoping and waiting.  Not a call my best friend and vent everyday kind of waiting, but a certain quietness as I hop and wait. It's becoming, it's right and it's good.  It's valuable to wait and to hope quietly.

I must wait and in the quiet waiting and hoping, I will see the salvation of God. When studying this phrase "hope and quietly wait" the Greek denotes some interesting terminology.

"to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail, be in anguish, be pained, to be made to writhe, be made to bear, to be brought fourth, to be born, writhing, suffering torture (participle), to wait longingly, to be distressed"

When the above words describe the condition of my soul before God, I could be in a place of birthing something new in my life!  Before the "new", comes the travail.  Before the next place of serving the Lord, comes times and seasons of waiting and hoping.  Times and seasons of pain, anguish and maybe even fear and trembling in my heart!!  Before the "new" can be brought forth, there will be moments of longing and bearing down.  This is a perfect description of a woman in labor just before the child comes forth from the womb.

What is God birthing in me today?  What is coming from Him that I must hope and quietly, yet painfully wait for??  When the baby is born there is joy and happiness.  When the salvation of the Lord comes, it too, will be accompanied with joy and happiness!  When victory and safety come, the travail of waiting will soon be forgotten and I will be swept into His marvelous salvation.

I must be careful to be quiet in my waiting season.  I must be careful to nurture hope and expectation in my God.  I must bear my pain and longing in the secret place of the Most High.  For the incubation time of waiting and hoping in God will one day will give way to the full salvation and deliverance of the Lord!

(photo by Christy at San Juan Capistrano Mission in CA)

http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html