Tuesday, September 11, 2012

HELLO!! Are you listening?

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." - Matthew 7:24-27

OK, this post is going to be a bit of a confession time, so please just bear with me as I sort this out and let you in on some personal processing. And, if you are wondering who the question in the title is directed, don't worry, all fingers are squarely pointed at moi.

I have had it clearly revealed to me that I am a good hearer but not necessarily a good doer.

You see a few weeks ago at SHOP the Lord brought the above verses to mind. They come at the end of the sermon on the mount and Jesus is basically saying, "Don't just let your ears be tickled by what I have spoken to you, don't just say, "Oh cool!" and then walk away. But DO what it is you hear me tell you. ACTUALLY set your heart to do the things I have just taught you. If you do so, your life will be built on a solid foundation and when the storms come, you will be stable because you know Me and you are living in agreement with me. But if you don't DO what I am saying, then when the storms come you will be shaken to the core and your life will fall apart."

Well, I read those verses wrote down some thoughts similar to what I just wrote above, then said "Oh cool, thanks for the revelation!", closed my journal and bible and then walked away. I didn't ask if there was anything thing in my life He was trying to adjust or bring attention to, I didn't pray through the sermon on the mount to see if there was something else He would say. I heard but didn't do anything about it.

Then a couple of weeks ago at SHOP Holy Spirit grab my attention even more drastically. I won't go into all the details but part of what He said to me was, "You hear Me but you do not listen to Me. You are hearing My voice but you are not stepping into what I am saying to you." Oh, that made my heart stop.I am not talking about not listening to His call to do some great, huge work or even the stuff in the sermon on the mount (though I know I probably need to look at that again). I am saying not listening when I hear His voice whisper and say, "turn off that T.V. show and come and spend some time with Me or stop surfing the Internet or playing that computer game, I have something I want to show you in My word, or lets go for a walk and pray about ____________". The things that seem little but mean the most.  He even brought to mind times when I have asked, "Lord, why don't you speak to me more?" and then showed my heart all the times He has spoken to me and I have just said, "Later" but later never comes.

 I was grieved to see the extent my heart had dulled and gone as far down this road as I have in these last few months. I am very grateful for Abba's love and that He stopped me right in my tracks where I was and disciplined me. Now, discipline is never comfortable or pleasant BUT it is true that the Father disciplines those He loves. So it was out of His great love for me that He caused me to see rightly. He is giving me yet another chance to put first things first and when I hear His voice (which I am thankful He was saying I still do) to stop what I am doing and pay attention to and DO what He is saying.

I am sure I will still not do this perfectly 100% of the time, but I am not letting this opportunity go by and I am setting my heart to say 'YES' again and I am setting my heart and asking for His help to be quicker to respond to the things that I hear Him saying.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The little things...

Yesterday I spent a great day up in the Whiteshell with a good friend. It was a day for wandering and laughing and talking about life and what God was revealing to our hearts and being silent. It was a day of reveling in God's creation and enjoying the beauty around us. It was a day for hoping.

As we were finishing our hike, I mentioned to my friend that it would be really cool to see some animals. I didn't want us to be in any sort of danger but I thought it would be great to see something...

She asked me to be specific about what animals I would like to see. I stated again, that I wouldn't want to be in danger but it would be cool to see a bear. I listed a couple of other animals and then said, "I would really like to see a fox." I don't know why I felt so strongly about it, they are kind of cute in their own way...so I said a very off the cuff prayer asking Jesus to let me at least see a fox.

We were coming closer to the end of our wanderings and I heard something in the bush. I stopped to look and see if I could see what was making the noise. As I looked the animal stood up looked at me then took off in the opposite direction from what we were walking. It was a BEAR! That was pretty cool, but again remember I didn't want us in danger, so we walked quickly to finish our hike and get to the car.

After that we drove to a picnic spot to make supper and enjoyed a feast cooked over a fire. Then as the day came to a close we drove on a bit more then decided to stop at a beach and watch the sun set. As we were talking my friend noticed an animal in front of us a little closer to the water. When I looked I saw it was a FOX!! I was so super excited, I couldn't believe I was seeing one. It ran right past us, stopped, turned around and looked at us for a minute then kept running.

I was over the moon at seeing that little creature because I knew that God had heard and answered my prayer. My silly little prayer that was said with out much thought about something so small as wanting to see a fox, He heard and answered. He also heard my ramblings about which other animals I wanted to see and even though I didn't directly ask to see a bear, He threw that one in as well. I think Abba was just having some fun and told Holy Spirit to let me see the bear.

What an encouragement to me to keep pressing on in prayer, especially when during this last season it has felt dry and like no one is listening to my prayers. What a way to break through that lie and to encourage my heart to press on.  Our Abba is so good and kind to us. He does hear each and every prayer whether they are whispered, sighed, cried, laughed, mumbled or shouted. And He does answer each of them, whether or not it looks exactly how we thought.

And what a great reminder to my heart that He really does care about the little things of my life. The little hopes and dreams and the silly things like wanting to see a fox. I was reminded again that Abba is a good, good papa who is totally 100% invested in all areas of my life and His desire is for me.

It caused my heart to stir and to want to draw even closer to Him again. It stirred a longing for more. To know at a deeper more intimate level this one who is so high and lofty yet who would stoop low just to surprise and delight me by answering my little prayer to see a fox.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Johnny Cash Reads The New Testament - Matthew

Yes, this and the rest of the New Testament will be downloaded to my Ipod ASAP :-)

Friday, May 25, 2012

Is That Really Justice?

 Below is a really great article on social justice and human trafficking, I encourage you to take a minute and read.
  
Is That Really Justice?

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

My Treasure

                                                      I love this version of this song. I have been listening to it a lot lately and though I would share it with you all.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Abba's Love

Abba's love is:
  • Full
  • Abounding
  • Terrifying
  • Unsearchable
  • Never Ending
  • Strong
  • Alive
  • Breathing
  • Fiery
  • All Consuming
  • Jealous
  • Tender
  • Gracious
  • Healing
  • Breaking
  • A Rock
  • Uncompromising
  • Pure
  • Life Giving
  • Freeing
  • Enslaving
  • Joy
  • Out of the box
  • More than I can handle
  • Everything I need
  • Paradigm Shattering
  • Raw
  • Simple
  • Unshakable
  • Always Mine
  • Reality
  • Closer than my skin
  • Exposing
  • Covering 
  • Not just an emotion
  • A person
  • Real 
  • Dynamic
  • An Initiator
  • Powerful
  • Creative
  • Pursuing
  • Seeking
  • Claiming
  • A Treasure
  • Light 
  • Transforming
  • Raging
  • Piercing
  • Fierce 
  • Burning
  • Thundering
  • Gentle
  • Radical
  • Violent
  • Kind

Monday, March 5, 2012

Hey there!

I have dropped the ball again on posting here. Life just being busy and the fact that the mother board on my laptop blew up have something to do with it. But also, I just haven't been giving a lot of time to writing down, creatively or otherwise all the things going through my head or what God has been revealing to me. 

I do have a few moments to say hi, so hi.

I was challenged the other day to think about writing again.  Not just stating matter of factually what I am thinking but challenged to push myself to express it creatively whether it is in essay, journal, story or poem format.  I still might not be on here as regularly as I would like to be for the next while but you should start seeing some hints of my existence again. :-)

You might be asking what is new.  So here is a quick list:

  •  I have been taking modern dance lessons at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and have loved every minute of it. We just had our dance recital this weekend. I haven't done anything like that since high school. It was a lot of work and tiring but SO much fun! 
  • I moved into my own apartment in December. It is a season I felt the Holy Spirit leading me into and have learned a lot from this transition. 
  • I am still working the same job but I have different opportunities that have been coming up that get me away from the desk. Most of those opportunities have involved speaking to and teaching different groups on different topics.  This has really been a stretch for me as public speaking hasn't been my forte. But Holy Spirit is giving me the grace to do it.  My favorite break through moment was when one time I was just about to get up and speak, I was feeling a little nervous and I had one of those light bulb or Ah Ha! moments where I realized that God was with me as I spoke and the people who I was going to be standing in front of were just that, people, and were no different from me.  
As for what is going on in my heart; God is speaking to me a lot about compassion and mercy and justice issues again. I have been meditating a lot on the cross lately. It is a place I come back to over and over again. I have also been enjoying His presence, knowing that Holy Spirit is with me where ever I am and working that muscle of finding Him in the every day "small stuff" of daily life.

If you still check this blog out here is hoping another post will soon follow this one!