Get Your Hopes UP!

Get Your Hopes UP! I saw literal miracles this past weekend...

Friends, I say this with gentleness, love, and compassion because I used to be president of "The Skeptics Club" ;-)

I used to think that, for some reason, God chose to stop being the same type of God as described in the Bible.

I used to think that the miracles in the Old Testament were probably more illustrative than literal...or, at the very least, they had stopped happening because God's purpose had been fulfilled.

And the miracles of the New Testament? Well, I at least believed they were literal....but I sure thought they were just for "that season" and weren't happening anymore.

And then one fateful day, I cried out to God "Please, PLEASE show me the real YOU. I have to know who You really ARE no matter what it costs me!"

Suddenly, the Bible came to life in a fresh way. It would take a bit longer for some of my skepticism to drop off to the point where I was willing and able to consider the idea that God was AND STILL IS doing the miraculous.

The world, "diagnoses", aches and pains...the things of the flesh are very noisy and convincing. Would I be willing to believe God's Word even over all the "evidence" in the flesh??

🌟 Friends, I'm here to testify: God IS still doing the miraculous!

In the past 2 weeks I've seen 4 miraculous healings of people's bodies first hand. A shoulder, a back, and 2 knees (two different people).

And that's just what I've seen with my own eyes! I've received feedback forms from a couple other people who were prayed for at our church...one woman had pain in her hand that "disappeared", and the other had been deaf in one of her ears for several years and God popped that thing right open...good as new!

He WAS
He IS
He WILL BE...always...OUR HEALER

♥️ I get it...it's scary to allow yourself to hope when you haven't seen it with your own eyes. But the Bible calls us walk by faith, NOT by sight. Are you willing to take a chance on hope? Are you willing to take a chance on God and His unfailing Word?

I hope you are. I hope you're willing to get your hopes up.

Hopeful is a really wonderful way to live 💕

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I was rocked by a word from God last night…

About 5 years ago, I was spending hours and hours each day just praying and worshiping.  I’d lock myself in a room after everyone left, and I’d just cry out.  I was DESPERATE for something I couldn’t even name. 

One day, I had the urge to get a shofar haha!  Totally of God, because that is NOT me!

I bought one, and managed to get a couple little squeaks out of it that sounded like a tortured dying animal….and I gave up.  Went back to praying and worshiping the old way.

YESTERDAY morning during worship, just before I stepped toward the front of the room to get closer, I hear the Lord say very clearly, “I heard that shofar”…with a tenderness and playfulness that felt like a wink.  I went forward for to worship at the front of church…and when I opened my eyes to see SO MANY people up there too…I was just so blown away (very unusual for our church) - I wished we could have stayed up there all day.

God heard that pitiful little squeak from the depths of my heart’s cry.  And I’m not the only one who’s been longing for what He’s about to release.  I still don’t have a “name” for it, but I know it’s SO GOOD.

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Trust, Surrender, Loony!

I was at the lake a couple weeks ago, and there was a single loon lazily floating across the surface of the water (not in this pic - he was too far out to get a good shot).

I was struck by his radiant peace. He simply glided across the water, sometimes lifting his face to the sunshine. It seemed that he didn't have a care in the world.

He lived that carefree gliding life for hours, and then his countenance changed a bit. I could tell he was beginning to look for something - he was hungry. Sure enough, he started to dive. I was SHOCKED by how long he could stay under and how far he travelled under the water.

And then, he must have found what he was looking for, because he resumed his lazy float.

"This is trust and surrender" whispered through my spirit.

Trust and surrender is what I'm being called to right now, and boy, oh boy, it's a challenge for me!

Work
Hustle
Grind
Try
Muscle
Make it happen
Strive
Give it all you've got

STRIVING is how I've lived my life. The grades, the resume, the title, the promotions, the great business idea, the money...it's what's driven me to create and do my very best.

Business and making money while providing value is something I'm good at. It's something God has gifted me with, and I really enjoy it. But somewhere along the way, I allowed the motives of my heart to get twisted.

Instead of working from a place of joy and creating with God (SO FUN!), it became "I must provide for my family"...I began to operate from a place of fear instead of trust...from lack instead of abundance.

Enter stress, anxiety, sleepless nights, tears, and about 50 too many pounds on my poor stressed out body.

It took me a while to realize I can't...I never COULD...."make it happen" on my own. It's always been the Lord blessing and providing for us, whether I gave Him proper credit or not.

That loon taught me something - I need to "be more loony" 😉

Float
Enjoy the sun on my face
Feel the cool water against my skin
Trust that when my belly begins to rumble, the meal will be there
Surrender to the One who put me here and now for a reason
Create and serve for the JOY and out of love
Tune in to His presence and voice

Live right here right now, without fretting about how everything will work out tomorrow.

Thank you, Lord. Your promises are always yes and amen. You are True and Faithful and Loving. You give me all I need - You're a good Father who loves well. Thank you for so gently teaching me to trust and surrender 💕

"They all wait for You to give them their food in due season. You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good." Ps 104: 27

Be loony today, friends 😘
 

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On Fear...

 

I used to be tormented...TORMENTED...by fear.

In the first few years of our marriage, Luke travelled for work more than he was home. You'd think I would have just grown accustomed to it. Instead, I sat in a stew of fear and dread and imaginary funerals. It was a horrible existence for me every time he packed a suitcase.

The birds of worry and fear not only circled overhead...they had a permanent nest there. The noise, smell, and mess under a nasty bird's nest is no place to live.

This morning, I woke to those familiar voices of fear whispering in my ear.

As I went to Luke, snuggled up in his arms, I was about to say "I'm afraid, will you pray for me?"...when I heard the Holy Spirit say "DON'T SAY IT. DON'T AGREE WITH THEM."

Instead, I simply hugged him and told him I loved him.

I will not speak the words "I'm afraid" because I recognize the voice that is suggesting that I live in fear today. It is the voice of the liar, and I will simply not agree. I will not use my voice to speak lies.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear..."

Lord, please apply your perfect love to the parts of me that are being tempted by the voice of fear right now. You ARE perfect love - thank you for casting out fear!

Fear, I reject you. I do not agree with your lies. You must go.

I will set my eyes on Jesus.

I will worship.

I will rejoice and be glad in this new day.

I will testify of His goodness.

I will agree with the Spirit within me and His peace, joy, patience, love, and goodness.

My flesh has been crucified with Christ, along with it's tendency to fear. I now live and walk by the Spirit of God Almighty.

I am free...I am free indeed!

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What is Truth?

 Please read before you jump to comments and accuse me of being a heretic ;-) 


John tells us in 1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God..." 

And later in 4:6 he says,

"We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us..."

I laughed out loud at that! What a convenient thing to say! 

In this era of so many shouting for the spotlight and claiming to be of God and operating in His Truth...doesn't it sometimes seem like EVERYONE is saying, "We're from God...if you listen to us you know God too! And everyone else is wrong!  Everyone else is lying!"

Many believers are left looking around and wondering who's "right".  All the back and forth causes disunity, and the enemy LOVES that because it results in a whole bunch of Christians who are doubtful, apprehensive, and fearful.  It's pretty tough to step out when it seems that the ground under your feet might shift any moment. 

This quest for TRUTH (God's Truth with a capital "T") is what ultimately brought me to the feet of Jesus, so this is a topic near to my heart.  

I knew there was a God, but I didn't know how to find the True Him.  I heard from Catholics, Mormons, atheists, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Evangelicals....everyone willing to talk with me in person, and about 100 more online. Everyone claimed to to have the corner on Truth, but they all disagreed.  That's a long story for another day...but let's just agree that Truth matters. (read the basics of my salvation here)

Especially when it comes to the eternal soul-saving things of God, Truth is crucial.

So how do we know WHO TO BELIEVE?

I have great news for you: Truth is not dependent on you or how you're feeling.  God's Truth is all about HIM, not you.  At first it might feel uncomfortable that you don't get to define "your truth"...but if you try to live in that way of thinking for too long, you'll realize:

a) it's exhausting to try and be your own god and

b) since you're human, you change.  Therefore "your truth" will change.  How TRUE can it be if it changes every time you're moody, hungry, grumpy, sleep deprived, or have your feeling hurt? 

The even BETTER news?  Truth leaves clues!  

The clues that God leaves might not be the types of clues you might see on CSI...He's not leaving a trail of footprints, fingerprints, or DNA.  But He leaves clues none the less.

TEST what's going on in your church, friends. Look for the clues.  If it's operating in Truth, then you can rest assured that you can step forward in faith to exercise your spiritual gifts.  The ground under your feet will hold.

Let's look at a few clues to look for - things you'll be able to see, feel, hear, and experience when you're in a church that's actually operating in the Truth of God and who He is:

1.  Fruit.  There should be basic core teaching about the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5).  "Fruit" is basically a way of saying "evidence".  A church that doesn't teach on the fruit and doesn't hold it's members to an expectation of their lives being transformed and fruit being evident...well, they might be shying away from that teaching out of fear or a lack of understanding about how the Holy Spirit operates.  

2.  Look for a generous, action-backed love.  "You'll know you by your love", right? (John 13:35)  But not just love TALK...the love WALK is where it's at.  "Let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth" (1 John 3:17).  Fellow believers are FAMILY.  They are all of one BODY.  Does the left hand not care if the right foot has an infection and needs special care?  Of course it does!   Love within the body of Christ should evident in the way we pray with/for one another, serve one another, support one another...it should be a VERB.

3.  Look for Freedom.  Ahh, sweet freedom!  "Who the Son sets free is free indeed" (John 8:36) and "the Truth will set you free" (also John 8).  Free people are joyful people!  If people in your church are walking around crushed by shame and condemnation, and held in bondage with no hope of getting free...there's a problem.  A church operating in the Truth of God will have the tools to help their people get truly and fully FREE.  Thank you, Jesus!

4. Gifts of the Spirit are being used for the benefit of the body.  1 Corinthians 12 gives a good list of the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives believers.  The purpose of the gifts are primarily to "edify" (build up/encourage/strengthen) the body (Ephesians 4).  Now, there is some foolish talk about the gifts only being made available to the early church...but I can testify with full confidence that that's a false teaching.  

5. The ministry of the Holy Spirit should look like the ministry of Jesus. God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - is ONE.  And God does not change.  In other words, the same types of things that God did in the Old Testament and Biblical New Testament, He is still doing right NOW.  

     a) The message should be the same as Jesus's: "Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 3:2)
     b) The works of the devil should be destroyed (1 John 3:8)

     What does it look like for the works of the devil to be destroyed?  It means that people are saved by the forgiveness of their sins.  It means that broken bodies are healed.  It means that tormented people are delivered.  This is another area where the misinformed/misguided teach that all these things stopped with the death of the initial apostles.  But I assure you - I've seen the demonized set free.  I've seen sick and injured bodies made whole.  And I've seen the worst of the worst (namely, me!) saved by the blood and transformed from glory to glory into new creations.  Get your hopes back up, my friend ;-) 

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It's true - do not believe everyone who proclaims "truth!"  And I was only joking about believing the spirits that I tell you to ;-)  You don't need anyone to tell you...God Himself has told you!  He shares His heart, His identity, His purposes...it's all written plainly in black and white.  He leaves clues - you CAN KNOW when you're in Truth (or not).  

Don't settle for less than the fullness - the life abundant and beautiful church family - that God has planned for you.  Seek after God and His TRUTH with all you have!

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