Tag: care

find rest…

Karla Lees

We are all looking for that soft place to land upon when we fall.

We tend to keep ourselves busy to distract ourselves from the fact something isn’t right.

We all need rest.

And some of us need to stop running so we can find it again.

Saying yes to some priorities means saying no to some things we may love, but aren’t important in the big picture of life.

Rest- both physical and spiritual- is near the top of my list.

We are called, actually reminded in the Word, that to rest.

Psalm 62:5 tells us we can find our rest in Him.

Time spent in His Presence brings an inner rest and peace in the quiet place where we meet together….and that connectiveness helps keep me calm when the storms of life hit.

Because we all know storms come and go, as do the sunny days.

My soul needs to be supercharged with rest to help keep me seeking Him despite what is ahead, just around the bend.

Relationship problems?
Work problems?
Health concerns?
Financial stresses?
Relocations?
Death of a loved one?
Unprovoked aggression?

All of these can be seen throughout the Bible….and none more clearly than in the life of Jesus.

Jesus took Himself away from the crowds, even his best friends & family, and sought God in the quiet place.

To seek His face,
to be reminded of His love,
to remember who He really was,
to find rest despite the hard road ahead.

Unsure of things going on in your life?

Press in to the One who is ever present and never changing.

Press in to Him for the rest you need, which only He can deliver.

Respond to His invitation to come and be with Him.  For the rest you are looking for is found on His Presence.

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bloom in the chill

Karla Lees

To help fight the seasonal blahs which usually hit me in the sunless midwinter, I love to bring a bunch of fresh cut tulips home to brighten my kitchen table.  

Last week, as i bought some lovely pink tulips, the florist passed on a wise tip which has stuck with me. She suggested adding an ice cube to the water in my vase each day, to keep the tulips at their best. When I gave her the, “Really?!” look, she smiled and nodded, then mentioned how this only works for tulips.

A good florist knows the quirks of each type of flower they work with. And as God so nudgingly pointed out to me a few moments later, the same applies with people.

When we live or work with other people, we need to know enough about them to know how we can best relate or compliment each other’s skills/talents/gifts.

A good spouse, parent, child, coworker, co-minister gets to know those with whom they are spending their time, because each of us has a quirk just like the tulips do.

We are all made one of a kind, and as a result, what might work with one family member, friend or coworker won’t with another because of their differences, even if they have many commonalities.

The hardest part becomes when someone you work with or love throws an ice cube your way.

And you aren’t a tulip…

  • If that ice cube comes in a harsh word, those who feel most appreciated through kind words will curl their blooms tightly, pulling away.
  • Should the ice come in refusing to block out time together, the one who connects the most through quality time will feel unloved, and begin to wither the longer they are apart.
  • If the ice cube is the only touch felt by those who need caring touch to know they are loved, they feel that chill right down to their roots.
  • When the ice cube is the sole thing you have received from them, and gifts make you spread your bloom towards the sun, you bend over from the weight of disappointment.
  • Should that ice cube be the only gesture they have made, and loving actions is your chlorophyll, the lack of kindness will leave you dry and thirsty.

I have been learning that God is more than enough to help us cope with the icy chills which come our way whether in action or an unkind word, whether unplanned or deliberately tossed towards us.

There is nothing new under the sun, as God knows. As He knows each and every one of us intimately as our Creator, He is the best one to turn to to ask how to deal with the situation, sort our emotions out as we may need to, turn our hurts and anger over to Him, and then to respond as He leads us to.

Last week, I had a doozy of ice cubes tossed my way.  Most unintentionally, a few intentionally.  The resulting chill was intense, and painful.

Yet God knew they were coming my way, and prepared me with wise counsel ahead of time, so I could discern what was actually happening.

Because He did so, most people around me didn’t know there was a heaviness below the surface as I was inviting Him to warm up the chilly places within, and replace them with the warmth of His love.

Beloved, God has made a way for you too to bloom in the chill.

Draw close to the light of the Son. (John 8:12)

Let His Word feed you as you let Him lead you in the growth awaiting in this season. (Matthew 4)

Listen for His love song being sung over you. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Allow His love to ignite into such a fire in your heart that no matter what icy darts the enemy tries to sling your way, they will melt as you come near to Him.  (Psalm 39:3, James 4:8)PicsArt_02-23-07.43.49

seasons change

Karla Lees

A friend I haven’t connected with for a long time came to mind this morning while I was getting ready for my day.

So I asked God (which I am starting to do more & more) if I should get in touch with her.

He said, “Leave things as they are.”

I prayed for God to bless that person, then thought to myself, “Why?”

Then I heard, “Your season has passed.”

I got it.

You see, some people we encounter are only meant to be in our lives short term.

We do one another a disservice when we try to force a short term connection into a long term one.

Some times, a short term mission is meant to be short term.

You can see this in relationships that happen to across when they make a movie or are in a production together.  Close quarters can lead to a closeness with someone you wouldn’t have but for the circumstances.

God reminded me that I am not the same me I was when I was friends with this woman, and I am not to go back.

There are times when a person isn’t healthy for us, or we are awakened to the fact they never were. 

Or they seem to take off or fall apart with the arrival of every storm, also known as fairweather friends.

But we may not be able to see the truth, until the season has passed.

Then there are the friends who are in your life for the long haul.  The ones who chose to be your sisters & brothers, who can live anywhere in the world and you can pick up as if no time has passed between you.

These are your any weather, no matter the season friends. The ones who pray for you daily, lend a hand when you need one, tell you the truth when you need to hear it, and are in for the long haul. 

Jesus had a few friends like that. He left His mother’s care to one, and His church to another.

If you look through the Word, there was a large group of people who travelled with Him.

Not all stuck with Him through it all, in fact….most of them fled or let Him down when the going got tougher than they expected.

But He forgave them, each & every one. And restored the ones who would be in it with Him for the long haul, the ones who came back to Him.

We need to do the same.

If a friend has become distant, and isn’t responding to your attempts to connect, ask Him these four questions:

1. Did I do something I need to apologize for?

2. Is this person hurting & i need to let them know I am here to support them?

3. Is this her/his way of showing me this is/was a short term friendship or project only, and I need to move on?

4. Is this relationship unhealthy for me, and I need to let them go?

As hard as this season may be for you to adjust to, it is always better to have the support circle He intends for you around you.

It may not be the group you thought it would be, as God leads you through each season.

But if He is doing the leading, knowing & caring for You as He does, it will be His support system surrounding you.

Ready to walk with you through every season, as He does.

Seasons will change, but His love for you never will, ever.

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scaredy cat, come to the Son

Karla Lees

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I have lived more of my life than I am comfortable admitting as a scaredy cat.

Afraid of what others think,
promises  how God would treat me if He really knew all I had done,
afraid of making a misstep,
afraid of my own shadow.

Fear turns into anxiety when it isn’t kept in check.

Fear is an emotion we are to use healthily in two ways:

Fear/awe of our Creator
Temporary fear of danger

We were never meant to let fear take the driver’s seat of our emotions.

I have lived through a few scares that deepened my fear levels in the short term, others that left me numb without feeling and still others magnifying my long term anxiety.

It has taken two blows to my noggin to help me break free of the two main areas of fear I had.

With my first mild concussion, I was afraid of speaking up for myself and allowed some of my boundaries to be bypassed due to my fear of others.

God said no more, and broke me out of that false belief prison.

I now say no, or it will have to wait, without guilt or shame.  I have expressed what my needs were in a few recent situations when I normally would have hidden that fear away from the light of day.

I am set free of the fear of pleasing others at negative personal cost to myself, and am learning a new way to express myself when I need to.

I also learned there is nothing healthy about the daily fear of “what if?”

There will be situations that pop up that will cause me to fear.

My fear is not a negative long term emotion if I keep it in check by responding in faith.

I likely might be afraid in the split second before that car appears that it might hit me, its what I do with that fear that reveals my beliefs.

“Jesus, protect me” hands my fear over to Him.

Tightening my body in fear of impact and bracing myself for the worst would amplify the fear if I failed to pray, even in my thoughts.

And if I have been protected, my temporary fear emotion lead me to reach out for my Abba, not drive me away from Him.

If I don’t make it, I don’t want my last thought on earth to be a fear-full one. I want it to be a faith-full one.

I have faced a few head on collisions of the emotional sort over the past five years.

God kept my fears in check when I brought everything to Him, and left it safely in His care.

If you too are or used to be characterized as a scaredy cat, I want to reassure you of two promises He tells us time and time again in His Word, and showed us through the life & death of Jesus.

God knows.
All of it. 
All about it.
and…

God loves you.
In spite of it,
thought it,
always.

If you have a hard time keeping your fear factors in check, please find a professional to help you with them. Sometimes chemicals can get of whack in sudden shock situations, and hinder you from keeping fear in check.  Other times, a situation may need to be revisited in prayer so the root of the fear can be destroyed, and set you free. Some situations require both.

Don’t let fear of what people might think of you reaching out for help stop you from putting God back into first place in your life, and pursuing the freedom, health and life He has waiting for you.

#lifelessonscontinue

snapshots along the way: He cares

Karla Lees

Jesus showed how much He cared for all people as He walked closer and closer to the cross.

And that same care shines through as alive as if the Easter Story was happening today.

For it is.

When Jesus reached out to feed, comfort, encourage, teach, heal this around Him, His care was evident.

Every thing that matters to us matters to God.

He took the time to heal the ear of the guard who was there to arrest Him.

He took the time to build up Simon Peter, the Rock before the denials occurred.

He took the time to be with all His disciples, even the one yet to betray Him.

He took the time to pray, not stress over what was to come, because everything that matters to God mattered to Him.

Our eternal care was weighing heavy on His shoulders as the cross approached… yet He still took the time to show those He loved how much He cared.

His best friend & mother.

The thieves on either side of Him.

The tearing of the veil to let His people know for certain their Messiah had come.

There was no detail too small or overlooked in His life, especially His public life, because He took great care to reveal His care.

By giving up His life, Jesus demonstrated His extravagant love and care for the world in a costly, painfully necessary way.

He gifted us with the full weight of His care on the cross.

He took our sin upon Himself because He cares.

The Word has many verses that stand to remind us how caring our God is….but only one is needed to show the full picture of His heart for us.

For God so cared and loved the world, He gave up His only beloved Son, the One He adores, to death on the cross. Who ever chooses to believe in Jesus, and accepts His free gift of His heart poured out for our wrongdoings, will live with Him forever and ever.

John 3:16, my translation

There is no better illustration of His caring for us that giving up His own Son to help us make our way Home to Him.

And this care?

Lives on in the hearts & lives of those who follow Him. As we reach out our hands to help the needy, comfort the grieving, come alongside the lonely, support the hurting and love up on all we can, His care lives on through us.

Like fragile eggs, we the weak become His care package to the world.

#snapshotsalongtheWay
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name the doubt & grab His hem

Karla Lees

I am more than a bit timid when it comes to asking God for something i want for myself.

In fact, I tend to ask for myself as a tag along, or add on at the end of praying for other people’s needs.

Which isn’t a healthy symptom at all.

You see, that likely means i am not submitting to the fullness of what God has for me.

By struggling to try and cope on my own, i miss out not only on the strength He has for me, but experiencing His care and growing in our relationship.

And I am oh so tired of caring for myself on my own.

I remember reading the verses about the woman with the bleeding issue when i was first a believer, and relating to her:

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.  Luke 8:43

I too have had an issue with cysts and heavy bleeding since i was 14 years old.  No one has been able to stop it here on earth. I am thankful that it has slowed with medical intervention & eating a healthier diet (staying away from too much caffeine along with all soy & dairy has helped develop less cysts and keep my hormones more in check), but it has not been healed so far…

And today, I acknowledge to myself, God and all of you,  my heart has stopped believing in my dream…. to be able to say the following as part of my testimony:

She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. Luke 8:44

Boy, putting that into words both hurts and feels freeing to my spirit.

I say i believe, but my trust in His best plan for me has waffled over this issue….literally, of blood.

I believe, I know He can heal, for I have both seen it and experienced it in other ways.

But will He?

The Word reminds us God is our healer in many places, and how He has the best in store for those who love & follow Him.  I believe in that truth deep down.

His capability is not in question in my mind or heart.

His will is for me to be whole, fully restored, and healed.

But will He heal me in this area?

Ultimately, I know when I meet Him face to face as i enter eternity, I will be the me He planned for me to be since creation.  And i do draw comfort in that actuality, that fact yet to pass.

But will He heal me in this area now?

Timing becomes the question… I want His healing now.  I am weary of having spent 20 years of gross frustrating embarrassing and exhausting at times handling this issue.

And that is the crux of the problem.

I have been gripping this issue too tightly.

I have not fully let go of it and gripped on to His hem.

I am tired of trying to hold it all together, Lord.

I am letting go of my timing, my desires for You to heal  me on my terms.

I am grabbing the hem of Your robe, pressing in and refusing to let go.

Because I KNOW You want me healed.

I speak this out right now, I believe You’re my Healer.

You can, You want to, and You will heal me.

And until Your timing is released for this issue of blood to be removed from me, You will be more than enough to keep me in the midst of my struggle.

You have been for me since before I was born, and always will be.

I surrender my doubts that You don’t care about me enough to heal me, You may not ever heal me while I am here on earth, and I am not worthy to be healed.

Because of what You did on the cross, Jesus, You have made me worthy through the covering of Your blood. I can approach with confidence because the veil has been torn, and You invite me to come.  The One who rose from the grave? He is more than able.

And like the daughter in this story, I do not go unnoticed. You are keeping Your eye on me.

I pray that how the story ended for the woman in Luke 8 ends the same for me, but I am determined not be hiding when You do heal me, God, but shouting it from the rooftops. May You build in me the Rock solid faith I need for my healing to come to pass because of Your touch:

 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.  When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”  But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Reader,  did you know its okay to have doubts?

Its not okay to keep your doubts hidden.

We need to bring them out into the light of His presence, so He can help us seem them in alignment with His truth, and who He is.

Doubts hidden become strongholds of the enemy, giving him space in our minds where he was never meant to roam, and begin to trap our spirits in chains from the pit.  

God made us to long for more.

Come as you are to God. He loves us as we are….whether wounded, broken, hurting, doubting, fearful, angry, insecure, lonely.  He never makes us feel bad for our feelings, but as He pours His love into us, we can be healed and made whole beyond imagining.

He is and always will be more than enough for all we need, and works tirelessly to bring His design for us into reality!

So I will never let go of Your hem God. Because close to You is where i was meant to be.

 

 

 
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aftermath

Karla Lees

Ripping off the bandaid to show the partially healed wound below& exposing it to the air can be very painful…yet somehow refreshing at the same time.

There are many wounds within everyone in various stages of healing.

At any given time, anyone of us could be dealing with aftermath or fall out…

your spouse cheats on you
a loved one has cancer
you lost your job
your car died unexpectedly
your husband switched careers
your parent passed away
your child is struggling to breathe
a friend or coworker starts being unkind
your furnace dies in the winter storm
you have constant pain

And it hurts.
How it hurts.

There are only two things I can tell you:

God’s been there.

He cares for you in the midst of it all.

God did not have an easy time dealing with humanity from the get go:

Adam & Eve cheated on Him with Satan.
The cancer of sin entered the world.
The battle for the Kingdom began.
People strayed from Him, in the back & forth dance of their lack of commitment & devotion, breaking His heart over & over.
They disbelieved His love.
He set out to prove Himself, this Maker of the Heavens & Earth, and everything in them both, to us… becoming fully human in a divine attempt to right the wrong sin and the enemy were reaping on humanity.
From the very beginning. His life was at risk as He was regularly oppressed by the establishment,
Persecuted and abandoned by the religious,
even put to death because people so feared change,
rejected by the very ones He had come to save.
Beaten, battered, ridiculed and tossed aside by humanity, Jesus hurt to the very core at His Father having to turn His back on Him on the cross, and Holy Spirit having to pull away due to the weight of all our sin.

I think He died from that broken heart of separation from the ones He loved, not only because of the sin He bore.

Jesus? He gets the pain we feel.

When the tears begin to flow from the wounds that run deep, He so understands.

And He offers you His nail scarred hand to draw you close, as He begins the dance of restoration He intended for us.

For His plan is to make us whole, to restore what life and sin has stolen or ripped from our grasp. To carefully rebuild our broken hearts to beat with His love flooding our veins, bringing us the life He designed for us to live from the very start.

God designed us to live in the garden of His Presence, where all we need and long for is found in Him.

Sometimes, the pain can speak louder than the hope we have within.

Jesus so gets that. Even He cried out asking God for help along the way while He was here among us.

He knows the beat way for us to make it through this life is at His side.

I needed the reminder again today that He has good plans for those He loves.

I know He loves me.
Oh how He loves you & I!

May we all be reminded of Your heart for us in the swirl of the aftermath that follows the storms.

May Your voice be the one we hear soaring above the noisy wind and wild waves.

May Your arms be the shelter we seek when our heart cannot take anymore, and we need comfort – no matter what comes our way.

May the aftermath calm as You speak Your love into our wounds, and carefully begin to heal us within.

Reason #4 to Give Thanks: Because You Care

Karla Lees

Every day, all around you, are people.

People,who like you and I, need to know they are appreciated. That what they do for others (such as us) is helpful, needed, thoughtful, well done.

They need to hear that thanks.

But this isn’t that kind of thanks I am referring to today…

When someone has blessed us with kindness, grace, an extra hand, unexpected help or blessing…we should thank God for them. In doing so, we acknowledge we care about those around us.

More than just that we need to ask Him to bless them for being a blessing we are thankful for.

When we thank God for those who bless us in our lives, He appreciates the thanks!

And when those in our circle of family, friends, coworkers & acquaintances share their good news, show you care for them by joining their celebration & thank God for blessing them!

And somehow in these thanks transactions…
1. They are blessed by Him for being a blessing.
2. We are blessed through being thankful, more aware of God moving around us.
3. God is blessed and honored with our thanks, whether for what He had given us or someone we know.

As the saying goes, “Win win!”

The next time someone does something worth thanking them for, don’t just thank them in this world. Honor them by thanking God for them in the heavenlies, and invite more of His kingdom down to earth.

Giving thanks is one of the keys for more of His presence!

May the Lord reward you for your kindness… Ruth 1:8

…I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you…

Romans 1:8

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Reason #3 to Give Thanks: Because He Cares

Karla Lees

Today, I was ready for a day to myself. To worship, soak in the tub, do an online course and a bunch of writing.

God interrupted my plans with two kids unexpectedly home under foot, a phone prob, and updates to project work…not the day I had expected to have on my day off this week.

Yet somehow, as I intentionally made time to spend in the Word throughout the day as I could, I could sense God with me in a different way than usual.

By purposefully making space for Him to move in, He showed up with a calming peace I wasn’t expecting.

I am learning that His Presence with me all the time is awesome, but its more than just knowing I am not alone.

God thinks I am awesome, and continues to pour out the wild & passionate love of a fiance to me.

When my hubby and I were first dating, we spent our first summer apart. I was at sleepover camp up north, he was on a summer mission trip through the Maritimes. He wrote me every single day. (I wrote one long letter every week, coz I could only post once a week). Whether a post card, a mushy card, a cheesy card or a letter, he poured out his heart for me…and helped me fall even deeper in love despite the distance.

God is love. He didn’t need us. But he wanted us. And that is the most amazing thing. 

 ~ Rick Warren

God has done the same for us.
Not only did He die for us, He wrote the best love letter in history for us to catch His heart for each one of us.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.  ~ Augustine

And that love, that amazingly astonishly awesome passionate breathtaking deep pure abandon He sends our way, is worth thanking Him for every moment of every day, and on into eternity!

 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great LOVE with which he LOVED us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ; by grace you have been saved…

Ephesians 2:4-5

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his LOVE; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast LOVE and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:15

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast LOVE with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…

Deuteronomy 7:9

Psalm 136 repeats the chorus after every line of thanks or praise for who God is: “His love endures forever!”

I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11

Knowing the God of the universe loves ME? Back then, right now and for all eternity? Cares about me? Wants to bless me with good things? Is always with me?

Anytime now becomes the right time to give thanks!

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long

Karla Lees

it’s hasn’t been long
since I saw You last
yet somehow
it feels
like forever

The road seems to
stretch
despite my
every step
as I wearily
attempt
to make it
back to You

The sunrise
clouded over,
no stars
nor sunset
to be seen
in the evening sky

yet a glimmer of hope
continues to spark,
this ember in my heart
which refuses to be
quenched

without words
deep calls to deep
as i long
for the One I love
longing to
see
sense
hear
touch
be with You

a smile
a loving word
a kindness shown
a welcoming purr
a thank you
a giggle
a hug
You

echoes of Your Presence
swirl all around me
drawing me
closer
to You
with each
skin on God
demonstration
of Your love

fresh wind
blows again
across my soul
peace deepens
& settles back in
as hope re-anchors
itself on You
the one I long for

You lighten
my load
every time I
leave it
in Your capable hands
which only
begs the question,
“Why
did I drag this
for so long?”

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Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.

Isaiah 30:18a NIV

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