Whispers on Your Heart

God has spoken something over you--something that seems impossible--

something you can't comprehend with your own understanding.

Do You Believe His Promise?

Do You Believe He is Capable?

What is Your Response?

Have you Penned a Song of Praise?

Write a song of praise to God today for all that He has whispered into your heart.  You may not understand the timing, the specifics, or the how--but God hasn't asked you to.  God asks for a willing heart, an obedient heart, a heart that believes that He is who He says He is.  

Sit down and pen a song of praise to God.  Sing that song out everyday and everyday sing it louder and bolder.  When the seeds of doubt threaten to take root--fill your heart with so much praise for who God is and all that He is capable of that there is no room for worry, fear, or anxiousness.

Your song is your testimony.  

Don't sing of what you don't know...

Sing of who you know. 

Your God has filled your heart with purpose, He has whispered words of promise over you.

Sing Your Song of Praise because your God is Who He Says He is...

What He has spoken will not come back void.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

He is capable--though He may whisper...

He is powerful--though He may be calm...

It is in the gentle whispers, where His calm presence overwhelms our hearts, 

where His power transforms His promise into something of great purpose.

Expecting Hearts

As I walk down the aisles of the local store, I see the shelves and shelves full of easter bunnies, candies of every kind, eggs in every color, and baskets of every shape and size.  Its so easy to get in the mindset of, just another year, just another easter!  Easter bunnies and baskets are just a fun tradition of a cultural holiday, but I wonder as Christians, how many times we let the season pass us by and think to ourselves, "Just another Easter."

Growing up in Christian school and going to church as a family, I studied God.  I studied the Bible, I memorized scriptures, I was tested on the qualities and characteristics of God.  I studied God but did I really know God?  It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I truly realized that while I knew of God and pursued His word---I had never really understood or pursued Relationship with God.   Studying God built my foundation, reading His word strengthened my understanding, but pursuing relationship has transformed my faith.

It is easy to get burnt out on faith, on religion, on church when we merely study God at a distance.  Its so easy to just think to ourselves--just another Sunday, just another Service.  When you are in relationship with God, you go from sitting at a distance, looking on from afar, to sitting face to face and seeing for yourself that God has something to say to you today.  Relationship creates an excitement in you because you long to see and hear what God has to say to you each and everyday.  He is not just the God of the Old Testament, He is not just the God of the New Testament, He is not just the God who dwells in the church----He is the God of your awakening, He is the God of you slumber, He is the God of His most Holy Temple--YOU.  Relationship changes Everything.

This year, as Easter approaches, lets focus on encountering God.  Lets have an excitement, a stirring in our souls, because it's not just another Easter--Its an opportunity to celebrate your relationship with God, for who He is, for who He was, and for all that He has done to pursue relationship with You.

This is not just another Year, This is not just another Service.  This is Your Year, This is Your Service.

Expecting Hearts Experience Extravagant Encounters.

Captured Chaos

Do you know what the beauty of photography is?  

To me it is the captured moment.

It is the moment of calm that you find in the midst of all the chaos.

I had a friend text me and say, "Thanks for Capturing our Chaos."  I thought about that and laughed because isn't that the truth!  We know of all the tears, the kiddos that just didn't want to sit still, the bribery with M&M's (sometimes for both kids and parents!), the stress of just trying to get a few good photos.  Others will see the developed picture though and have no idea the back story behind it--they will simply just see a captured moment of a family smiling together in perfect unity.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret--not every picture a photographer takes is good or even usable (Shh, I know..shocking!).  Sometimes it takes hundreds of photos just to find the few that are frame worthy.  I used to be so hard on myself because I would want to just click my camera and have a perfect picture come out--I got so mad when I would sit down and find only 10 good photos in the midst of 100.  I longed to be perfect like every other photographer (because we always believe everyone else has it all figured out).

I realized though that you have to take lots of pictures in order to find that one moment of calm in the midst of all the chaos.  If you don't keep clicking, keep refocusing, you will miss that split second moment when a smile erupts, when eyes sparkle, and when a personality is captured by a simple expression.  You can't give up because you never know when that moment will come.

Life is a lot like photography.  There is chaos all around us--events in our life that make us think that there is no way we can capture any beauty in the midst of all this.  The devil attacks us with every obstacle there is and everything inside of us just wants to give up, but then that still small voice inside us says--don't give up, don't give in, keep trying.

Not everyone will understand your journey and all the work you have put into becoming who you are.  Not everyone will see your depth or your fight or your unwillingness to give up.  People only get to see captured moments--when everything looks simple, normal, and fine.  My encouragement to you though is to look at those pictures and moments in your life, remember all the chaos behind the scenes, and smile big because while it may have taken a hundred tries, you did it.  You are stronger than you think you are.  You are more beautiful than you think you are.  Your life has more purpose than what you think it does.  You are God's workmanship, His art--You my dear are frame worthy.

Don't stop capturing life's moments, no matter how chaotic things may get because there is ALWAYS beauty in the midst of chaos, you just have to be willing to look for it.

Eliminate

Have you ever tried to give something up cold turkey?  If you have, then you understand the 7 stages of grief one goes through in trying to painfully let go of what has become a habit, a dear friend, and a constant companion.  I don't know about you but coffee to me is considered a friend--a very, very dear friend.  It has been a week and a half since I've last had a cup of coffee and to put all my emotions into a nutshell--it has not been pleasant.  The love, the comfort, the routine--coffee to me was like a giant blanket and without it, I suddenly was not sure what I was supposed to do.

Luckily, I will not have to say goodbye to my dear friend permanently (My husband has just sighed in relief) but for the next month and a half, I am on what is called an Elimination Diet.  The name sums up the agony justly--you basically eliminate everything from your diet and then gradually add things back in to see what you are eating that is causing your body to be sick.  Its not just the unhealthy foods that you would immediately think of, but its also normal, healthy, common, everyday foods that we don't even think twice about eating.

Elimination is painful--we grow so accustomed to our habits, to our emotions (whether good or bad), to our routines, and to our identities.  We are a culture that is used to adding things but very rarely do we ever eliminate.

I think of Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What is God asking us to eliminate from our lives?  What are we holding on to so tightly, not willing to let go of, but which is slowly killing us each and every day?  

When we think of giving ourselves up as living sacrifices, we often think this means giving up our dreams, goals, desires.  I truly believe what this verse means is that God wants us to eliminate everything of this world from our lives, so that He can re-introduce the things of eternity into our hearts.  He wants to strip away these dying bodies, these vessels that are poisoned everyday by the things of this world and He wants to fill us with His power and His righteousness so that His dreams, goals, and desires become ours.  We hold onto death, but God longs to give us life.  He longs to heal us, to renew us, to set us apart, but we must be willing to first let go.  Sacrifice is not easy on any scale, whether it is a cup of coffee, a dream for the future, or a hurt from the past.  Anyone who tells you it is easy, hasn't truly sacrificed something.  

Its time to evaluate every aspect of our lives--the good and the bad, its time to be willing to sacrifice our comfort zones, our routines, our identities wholly and completely  to God.  

Elimination hurts, it is a painful process but if you will just hold on---the healing is worth it.  You are worth it.  You can do this.  You have a future of life ahead of you, its time to let go of what is keeping you from your purpose.  The dreams and purpose God has for you is beyond what you can even fathom.  He holds your future but He is waiting for your willing heart.

Don't be discouraged, Don't be overwhelmed--Your God is Here...
Hold On....Your Healing is near.

A Strength that Does Not Move

Yesterday I felt God speak over me two very thought changing phrases:

"The biggest adventures of your life are the accomplishments you make that no one else sees."

"Your Greatest Strength is not in what you can move, but it is in what you can hold still."

When I think of the life of Jesus, while I love studying his miracles and wonders, I often wonder about the quiet seasons of His life.  I can't help but wonder what the years were like in the quiet, in the stillness, out on the mountain when He was simply waiting.  I wonder what He felt, what battles He faced, and how he found His strength when God simply told him to wait.

We see the miracles--the walking on water, the turning water to wine, the healing of the sick, the feeding of the multitudes.  We know of his great power, strength and boldness all throughout scriptures and now in trying to be Christlike we focus on being strong, being bold, having power through the Spirit.  How many times though do you hear people saying--my deepest desire and goal is to be still, to be set-apart, and to have long seasons of quietness and waiting?  We only know of a few years of Jesus' life, the rest is not mentioned.  The majority of His life was in quietness and in waiting, it was in being set-apart and in seeking relationship with His father.

We see seasons of quiet and stillness as punishment so often--wondering what we did wrong to not be out in front or to not be as successful as those around us.  Just because those decades of Jesus' life were not recorded does not mean that they were not important--it was those years that defined Jesus, it was those years that Jesus developed all that He needed in order to do the great wonders and miracles that we do read about.   In life we have it backwards, we think that we should all just go out boldly and with great power and change the world.  We don't want to be still, we don't want to wait because in our minds we equate stillness with weakness and waiting with punishment.

If we truly long to be Christlike--we must be willing to be still, we must be willing to wait, we must be willing to meet with God and say--You are enough.    I truly believe that Jesus' greatest power was in His ability to wait and be still.  He was the Son of God, He held a depth of wisdom that no man could fathom, He had abilities that no man had ever seen and yet it wasn't about Him.

Lets be a body of Christ that is willing to be still and to wait, to be led by God, to put our own selfish ambitions aside and listen for when God says..."it is time."

Your Greatest Strength is not always in what you can move, but it is in what you can make unmovable.