fences

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 MSG

It is time to step out of our confines, and hop over the fences we have hidden ourselves behind.

Wide open spaces in His Presence await.

That sentence sent a shiver down my spine, not because its scary, but holy and awesome and amazing all rolled into one.

The freedom to be ourselves out wherever He leads us is a gift many of us are missing out on.

We can’t see how the money will come in to support this wild new adventure, so we don’t make room to let the seed grow, even in our dreams.

We can’t come out from behind our fences because we are trying to do it in our own strength & abilities, and its a supernatural freedom we need to move beyond.

We feel stuck between two camps, the safe where we may be bored but we know what to expect, while part of us is longing for the unexpected adventure that could await us if we took the leap.

And just like you, I am in the same place.

Longing for the freedom to run wild & free beside Jesus, and feel stuck in the quagmire of the day to day.

Today I realized something.

Although I have a to do list (just as we all do) that doesn’t mean I can’t make space & time to go running with Jesus into the freedom He beckons me towards.

Because in this case, freedom is a spiritual thing.

We can escape our inner fences and move into the wonder He has waiting for us, even if we still have the same job, sick kids, bills to pay and mountains of laundry.

We are designed for forever living. Our spirits are eternal.

I don’t know about you, but that truth is wonderously wild and sobering.

We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to soar.

Today, take a moment and ask God to reveal where you have a fence holding you back from the gift of freedom He has for you.

Ask Him to break you out, destroy the fence and set you free.

Take hold of His hand, and head on out into those first steps into the unknown now ahead, knowing He has your hand tight in His grasp.

God with us means we don’t have to be afraid.

He’s got you.

The wild open spaces are beckoning you to come…you don’t even need to leave home to get there!

Step through the door into the wonder that awaits you.

Live wide!

#pressingin
#echoesofNarnia
#hopeinHisPresence

There are fences that are designed for your protection, and fences that keep you penned in.

What are your fences protecting?

Fences as I am referring to them, for our protection, are also known as boundaries.

Boundaries are ‘do not cross’ lines. They don’t have to be visible to be enforced, kind of like invisible electric dog fences. When we are making sure our fences are fully operational, we can get a shock when there is an attempt to breach.

For me, I have a boundary around my work hours. I can flex to a certain degree, but when I am booked off, I am off. (obviously a major accident or loss of a loved one aside emergencies are not included in this category)

One job kept crossing that line, so I found a new job where this boundary would be respected.

The same goes for my phone. I keep my ringer off & notifications on low (visual only) 95% of the time so I get to choose when I answer the phone, versus the phone getting to make that decision. I had to make this boundary as I had a friend who likes to text me in the wee hours, which interfered with my sleep. So, now I get back to her after I wake up, in my timing.

I have a few other deeper ones, but suffice it to say, they are worth defending in my opinion, as they are usually ones I have had God’s help in designing, and need His help to protect and maintain. Keeping my marriage, my kids and family relationships strong takes time, effort and protection.

Like the knights of old, we need to be on guard to protect our castles (really big fences around what we want to protect- family, home) against attack.

The enemy doesn’t want us on guard, or looking to God as our defense.

Sometimes, he can take the back door approach.

We can be defending our outer fences so much, we forget to take care of the fences we may have constructed in our hearts.

You see, we can sometimes fence in things like unforgiveness, pain, anger, turmoil and let them fester & eat away within us.

We can fence in our healthy emotions behind the negative ones if we don’t let them out for God to help UA sort out what needs to be done, or forgiven, or both.

It’s time to build our fences in the pastures God has for us, instead of our past.

As God helps you tear down the fences within you built to protect yourself from your own pain , hurt, brokenness or sin, may He help you set up the boundaries of your life so you remain dependent on Him, and not the boundaries themselves.

Tag: fences

wide open spaces