Beyond the Borders...

Have you ever driven through the plains of Kansas?
Wide open fields for as far as the eye can see.
There is just something refreshing, something that makes you take in that deep breath and just feel free.  You can see a storm coming in from a mile away because the land and the sky are not separated by anything---
just an ocean of green grass that moves with the wind.
I just imagine myself walking through these fields, just taking my time, moving my hand over the corn and grass and just thinking, praying, escaping from all the borders of this life.

Have you ever seen the cattle in Kansas though-- all huddled together, no personal space what so-ever, all crowded together in the very corner of the fence line?  They have hundreds and hundreds of acres and yet as you drive by on the highway they have found the border and have found their safety and their rest in those limits.

This just made me laugh and think that we as humans aren't so different from the cattle. We cry out to God for freedom, we cry out to God for peace, we become desperate for rest and renewal and God answers our prayer by putting us in a season of escape, a season of renewal, a season of quiet.  How often though when He answers our cry and gives us the vast openness of renewal do we immediately go and look for the border?  How often do we search out to find where other civilization might be?  How often do we find ourselves setting up our safety in the very corner of the field, huddled around others, and falling back into the same routine?

What would it be like to have a faith that is without borders?
What would it be like to have a trust that is dependent on God alone?
What would it be like to allow the Spirit to lead us beyond the safety of what we know?

We cry out to God for what we need and when God provides we allow our fear to draw us back to our  same routine.  We have found comfort in our pain, in our busyness, in our weariness. Why is it so easy to find comfort and safety in affliction?  Why have we made our homes here?

Oh God---break the borders and the boundaries of our Heart.

Take our hands and lead us into your will and into your wonder.

Break these chains of fear and of distrust---
May we embrace your hand and your freedom.

Lead us oh God into fields of righteousness and renewal--Set our hearts for adventure.

Break these borders and lead us into your freedom--build our faith that we may walk confidently all the days of our lives in your fields of amazing grace.

Kick Off Those Heels

My friend wore these amazing heels the other day.  As always, her outfit was coordinated, her hair was gorgeous, and I envied her ability to rock super heels (or as they are known to me "face plant enablers").  A little while later though I noticed that she was taking off her super heels and trading them for some flat sandals. I thought to myself, why would a woman who can rock super heels want to trade them for what us sub-par woman normally wear? (lets be honest--we all have shoe envy occasionally). I asked her why the switch, and she simply stated "I just needed to be comfortable today."

The next day I was praying for a word from God.  I usually pray for a word or a phrase, something that I can hold onto throughout the week.  I felt like God gave me three words...indulge, comfort, and renewal.  Immediately the memory of my friend picking the comfortable flats over the heels came to my mind.  How often are we pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, when deep down we are just craving comfort?  Why is it that we feel guilty in seasons of rest?  Why do we have it engrained in our minds that being comfortable is wrong??

I know that personally I have taken the statement "Don't get comfortable in your Christian Walk" extremely literal---I have somehow allowed myself to believe that to become comfortable in your life is to fail within faith.  This morning as God whispered those three words over my heart---indulge, comfort, renewal--I was wondering and trying to understand how these words that I craved could be possible in a life where becoming comfortable was so dangerous.  I had an awakening--an epiphany, a God moment where he messed up what i had always believed and filled me with new truth (Don't you love when God does that?).

We are never to become comfortable in our Christian Walk in drawing closer to God, in seeking God, in growing in our relationship with God--BUT--in our Christian Life true obedience to God, true surrender to His will, and true relationship with Him will always be followed by an indulgence of joy, comfort that is rooted in peace, and renewal that is healing to our souls.

I felt like God asked me this morning why I was feeling so guilty and ashamed for indulging in my season of comfort and renewal.  Why I was forcing myself to wear "heels" everyday when I was desperate for my flip-flops.

There are seasons of our lives where God calls us to go out in the world, amongst the noise, in the midst of the chaos and fight battles with physical strength; but then there are also seasons where God calls us to retreat, to separate ourselves from the noise, from the people and to fight battles of the heart.  The hardest battles are those of surrender, those of obedience, and those of waiting.

When You surrender you will find peace...

When You have a heart of obedience you will find rest...

And When You wait patiently on the Lord you will find comfort.

Kick Off Those Heels!!  

Don't feel guilty in your season of peace, rest, and comfort--

those are God's blessings over your heart (and your feet).  

Indulge in God's Blessings!

 PS--this blog was not meant to offend those that can rock the "super heels" 

or to state that those ladies who wear heels every day are not showing evidence of obedience-- 

You may enter your own personal death trap accessory of choice :)

May Peace Be Your Compass

God, I pray a prayer of peace over your people.  

I pray Lord for lives that are set a part, lives that are drawn away from distraction, lives that are set firmly on the path you have set before them.  

Oh Lord, we always pray for blessings and prosperity but Lord I come desperate before You and I pray boldly for seasons of isolation--I pray for seasons of seperation so that You can train us to Hear your voice--to hear from You and You alone, to feel your presence so completely and so overwhelmingly that we crave to be only in your presence.  

Oh I pray my God for people who are on fire for you--desperate for you--whose lives are consumed with a passion and a cry that changes this World. 

Oh Lord--I cry out for souls to be so consumed by You--to be so overwhelmed by your love--to hear your voice without doubt or question.  Lord I pray that in this battle we face that we would be trained by You to be strong warriors that fight for your peace, that fight for your presence, that fight for your path--that whatever your will may be for our lives that we would live with a boldness and conviction that You are all we Need, You are all we Desire.

Separate us Lord from the things of this world, awaken our hearts and consume our souls.

Create a hunger in us Lord that can only be satisfied with more of you.

Show us what true need is---to become sons and daughters that need only You.

We Long to Hear from You God

We Long to Be Consumed by Your Peace God.

We Long to Worship You In every season of our lives.

Hear the cries of your people God--A people hungry and desperate for more of You.

Turn my eyes to see Your Face

As all my fears surrender

Hold my heart within this grace

Where burden turns to wonder

I will fight to follow

I will fight for love

Throw my life forever

To the triumph of the Son

Let Your love be my companion

In the war against my pride

Long to break all vain obsession

'Till You're all that I desire

Turn my eyes to see Your face

As all my fears surrender

Hold my heart within this grace

Where burden turns to wonder

I will fight to follow

I will fight for love

Throw my life forever

To the triumph of the Son

Hillsong United- "Love is War"

May Your Praise Be Louder than Your Pain

I love the movement that is going on right now where worship bands are becoming the focus on the radio, where concerts are taking place that draw hundreds of people together for the soul purpose of joining together and worshiping our creator.  I LOVE that there are hundreds of singers and songwriters that are trained and gifted in leading others into worship and where the focus is less on entertainment and more on desiring God's presence.

However, I think there is a danger in all of this--the danger of thinking that our worship has to be perfect, radio-ready, and trained in order to be pleasing to the Lord.  Now, I'm not saying that striving for greatness or that being equipped in what you do is wrong--I believe that we should do everything with excellence--but I also feel that sometimes our purest form of worship to God is not always pretty.

Worship is quite simple and yet we seem to over complicate it.  Worship is simply praising God for who He is beyond what we can fathom and understand--it is choosing to seek God, to put our hope in Him, and to trust Him beyond all that we can see, feel, and touch.  Worship is simply surrender.

So often when our worship needs to be the greatest (when our surrender is the hardest) is when we are facing life's greatest challenges, hurts, and pains.  I don't know about you but when my eyes are filled with tears, and my voice is choked with sobs---its not always a joyful noise that is coming from my lips.  I sometimes shy away from worship because my song is not always pretty.

When your eyes are filled with tears, when your voice is choked with sobs, when the sound that comes from your lips is weary, flat, or cracked---SING OUT.  God is looking for the melody that plays over your soul--He is looking for the song that your heart sings.  He delights (I love that word! Don't you?) in our hearts and when we choose to worship Him in the midst of where we are and what we feel.  When we put our focus on His hope and in trusting in Him, the noise from our lips is a symphony to Him.

Don't hold back your worship when your heart is heavy...Let Your Praise Be Louder Than Your Pain.

God Delights In You.

Protecting the Peace

This year as I made the Journey to the Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  I really felt like God had a word He was going to speak to me.  The entire conference, I kept waiting for this big, powerful, profound word--the word that would change the course of my life and give me clear direction as to what God's will was for my family.  I kept looking for it in the intense moments of worship, in the amazing and powerful words of the speakers.  Last year, we were prophesied over, I had visions, and even felt the presence of God so close I could feel Him--I went this year looking for something as grand, if not grander.

This year though--my word/encounter from God did not come until Friday morning. The last day of the conference, the day when you have to push through the exhaustion, the morning when the coffee just isn't working anymore----The first worship set started and suddenly I was overwhelmed by a wave of peace.  This peace felt luxurious--it washed completely over me.  Everything stilled and I just felt like God said to me..."Feel This? Protect This...Protect The Peace."

The Gift of Peace---It had been so long since I had been completely emerged in God's peace that I had forgotten that this is what we should feel all the time--everyday--every season--in our deepest need--in our greatest joy--PEACE.

"You Don't Have To Try So Hard," He spoke over me, "the path is already set before you."
"Stop seeking the things of this world--and pour all your emotions into seeking me."

So often we forget and we become consumed by our everyday, we overwhelm ourselves with desperately trying to find God's will through worldly tasks, to even overload ourselves with Ministry--when God simply wants us to live in His peace.

His peace gives direction
His peace gives clarity
His peace gives wisdom
His peace gives rest
His peace gives purpose
His peace gives passion

And so that big, bold, powerful word that I was looking for to change my life, wasn't what I was expecting--and yet, this simple word has the power to change my entire life.  PEACE

When you feel overwhelmed by this life----Protect the Peace.