Overflowing Thankfulness

So, then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
-Colossians 2:6-7


Heavenly love.
Here on earth.

We remember when we were bonded to brokenness. Destined for darkness. Falling into fear. Lost, crying in the wilderness. There was nothing we could do. Nothing that could save us from the punishment from our sins. We felt hopeless. Ruined. We burned with a branding of our burden.

But You would not let us go. You would not release Your grip on our hurting hearts. So You stepped across the barrier between heaven and earth, touched the ground with two toe-filled, sandaled feet and set forth with determined purpose to the cross at Calvary.

Our freedom for Your bruises. Our place as royal children for Your pierced lungs and punctured heart. Out of the glory filled tabernacle of Your throne You humbled Yourself to become the Lamb of sacrifice.

You extended Your mighty hand to reach and pull us from our pain, from the blackness and endless depths we’d plunged into. Blessed are You, the Reviver and Restorer of our hopeful souls, our voices that sing with sweetness once again!

It was a choice. We fell, we deliberately demanded to walk our own way. We were stained with filth, far from Your holy harmony. You could have left us as we were, could have wiped us away and started over. But You didn’t. You wanted us with You, so You moved to us, extended a branch of beauty for us to grab hold of and bloom into Your heart, alive and vibrantly, forever.

Your love.

The perfect gift. The greatest blessing. The hallelujah of our hearts.

So overwhelming, this soft life flowing through our veins. We are breathless at best to express our surging souls. May You be seen in all we speak, all we do, so our stories will be overflowing with thankfulness to Your great and inexpressible grace that has come to ignite the ashes inside us into a continual firestorm of faith.


Prayer:
Lord, Your grace and goodness given to us for our salvation is the greatest blessing we can be thankful for, not only this Thanksgiving season, but each day of the year. You have taken us and restored our hope, our dreams, our love. Thank You are two words that sound so small in comparison to the greatness of Your name and character, but I use them with the sincerest sound of my heart. I am grateful that You look down at me and still love me, still want me by Your side. Please do not let me forget, and help me show the world Your goodness and mercy. Amen.

Spinning Circles

Teach me Your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in Your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear Your name.
-Psalm 86:11


My Darling.

Stop yourself for a moment. Do you hear what you are saying? The same words flow off your tongue, the same questions quiver in your mind. Over and over again, you stitch them together so no answer can slip through the barrier you have constructed by your own human heart.

You are wearing yourself thin, spinning in circles as you are. You say you want answers, yet when I speak, you push over My words as if you did not hear them, as if they could not be the answer I would give you. So you press on, raising more doubts, entangling yourself in lies when it has been My truth holding onto you this entire time.

You walk with blinders, My child. You keep your head directed to the ground and tune your ears to the noise that swirls around you. Can you not see Me? I am right in front of you. Lift your weary, heavy head and see Me, leading you on, holding out My hand to guide you.

I am here. Always have been. But you have been so persistent, scanning your eyes for what you already know. Round and round you go, winding yourself up so tightly in your mind your heart has no room to breathe, to beat in tune to what I am singing. You are a broken record that skips the best parts of your favorite song.

My Love, don’t get so distracted with the roaming rambles of your worries. Your heels are scratching into the sand from attempting to draw near to Me on your own. And you are not moving.

Stand still. Allow Me to come to you. Close your eyes. Prepare to feel the whisper of My voice, flowing in your ear and washing through your heart. Let it take root, find its footing and settle in for the long haul. What I have for you may not be what you expected, but I am with you and wish for you so badly to see and accept.

So calm yourself, Beloved. Sit down beside Me and open your heart. You cannot let Me love you if you are clutching so tightly to your own thoughts. What you have is fine. The way you are has worked alright until this point. This is true. You have been ok.

But you are meant to be more than ok. You are meant to be so much more.

Will you listen for Me? Can you clear your heart and mind and let Me in to revive you, to untangle you from the webs you have spun so haphazardly around your soul?

I promise, it will be worth it.


Prayer:
Father, can I relinquish all that I have been holding to You? You promise me it is worth it, though it isn’t easy. I have held so tightly to my own thoughts and ways, yet I see they have gotten me nowhere. Oh Lord, how I long to release myself and trust You! Help me to be strong, and have the courage to follow where You lead. Amen.

The Blue Hour

For God does speak—now one way, now another—though man may not perceive it.
-Job 33:14


A sapphire sky. Diamond blue, sprinkled upon the ribbons of the water. Lifting weightless to the sky, deep, framed photos shimmer in cosmic arrangement. Suspended silence, a whisper of belief slips through the shadows. A quietness only I can hear.

A body of water. Silken layers stretch across the shore, wrapping waves in a wreath of reassurance. Beneath the tide, my heart rolls along, swaying to the calling currents that bathe me, catching the warm spots that pull me through this stream.

A glow. Resting in the atmosphere, this dew-soaked sprite sprinkles upon me. That beam, that halo, that glimmering, grasping guide- showing me its luminosity. Showing me its sheen. And certain. Always certain of its course.

I am its magnet. Drawn by a natural necessity that lifts my lungs like I am not to leave without it. Its brilliance binds me. I cannot slow its purposeful gaze. My spirit shakes, stricken with the helplessness to hide what I have hoped.

My footing falters. I step away. But the rising reality steps towards me. Patiently playing my game of hide and seek in shadows. It casts an austere aura across my face. I feel the softness before I am aware that I am moving towards it. My curious eyes draw up to let the starshine entwine into me, delicately, deliberately, with milky smooth strength. A steady, soothing shore below the edifice of my euphoria gathers the life that laps its waters. And in rivers whose mouths open to a cerulean sea, the secrets of all that has been forming from dawn’s first breath ebb and surge assuredly down my cobalt coast.


Prayer:
You make Yourself known in the silence of the moment. When all is still, and there is nothing but the waves of wonder and steady beat of Your heart surrounding my soul, You speak, I listen. I am no longer pulling away from the flow. Please let this river wash over me and send me certainly to You. Amen.