Tag: plan

finding your sweet spot

Karla Lees

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Getting to know yourself is the key to finding out what revs your motor.

When a car is finely tuned with care by its mechanic, and is running on the right fuel, the ride is sweet.

Not taking care of your engine will cause damage to your car, not to mention the wrong fuel can cause it not to start, majorly mucking things up.

To find your sweet spot, you need to know your passions. How God has hardwired you.

Do you love to create?

Are you a teacher?

Can’t stop singing?

Love to organize?

Live to scribble?

Delight in helping?

Pray for healings?

Have a deep unshakeable faith?

Unswerving hope?

Interpret words?

Speak truth & encouragement?

These are just a few clues that can lead you to discover why you are here. God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11

For each of us, beyond being made to worship Him, were designed to express Him through our passions. Exactly as He hardwired us to.

You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”:
apostles
prophets
teachers
miracle workers
healers
helpers
organizers
those who pray in tongues.
But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called “important” parts.
1 Corinthians 4: 27-31

Our purpose is to reveal Him through us.

How you do so will be very different from how I do, for no two of us are alike. We are all unique and have a unique part in the body.

When we all live in the sweet spot, where what we were meant to do lines up with who He has made us to be?

Our lives reveal Him just as they were designed.

When everything falls in to place, a sense of home wells up within.

We find our purpose.

For the sweet spot cannot be achieved on our own. It has to align with His heart & plan for us, or it is only an empty shell of the fullness He has planned.

In His hands, life is the sweetest.

With Him is the sweet spot.

If you aren’t sure of your purpose, spend some time seeking Him. Ask Him to help you discover what may be lying dormant or unknown within you. There are great resources to take stock of your spiritual giftings, which may bring to light things you are already doing in the natural!

Be the you God designed.

 

Ruth Soukup be you HJ

pace or pursuit

Karla Lees

Is the pace at which I am doing God’s work destroying God’s work in me? Bill Hybels

There are days where I feel like I can’t catch my breath. One thing after another gets crossed off my to-do list, until I collapse on the sofa at the end of the night and wonder where my day, and my inner peace went.

Many of the things I did were good things.  But I am awakening to realize that not all of them needed to be done by ME.

I have a loving husband and two adult children, with a cute cat and a pygmy hedgehog living with me in our cozy nest.  This year, with three of us working and one in school full time, I have had to pull back on doing all the cooking, and use the crackpot more and assign nights to cook based on who is home first.  The cleaning jobs are fairly equally divided too. Not everyone is as tidy as the others, but working as a team leaves more time for family fun this way, with no one person carrying the weight alone.

All I do at home, my job or church may be His work.

But if I lose sight of how and what He is wanting me to do when and set my own pace, I can bring it all down through my attempt to do it all, in my own strength.

What we do on our own can be good, but what we are able to do with God can be great!!!

I have a few gifts and talents which God has given me (mostly around communication & community).  I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that not all I do is meant for me to be doing.

Which means that the pace I am trying to maintain is a waste if I am not achieving His best for me at the end of the day.

Instead of trying to organize myself into obedience, I am taking a different tact this year….

I am pursuing God as my main priority.

There will always be jobs to be done, for we will always have work of one kind or another until we get to heaven.

If pursuing Him first causes me to allow him more fully to work through me, I need to lay myself down each day, and let Him set my pace.

Pausing to make sure I am running in pace with Jesus and all He has for me to do and become is more important to my well being.

Ultimately God is to be my pace setter.

My part is to give Him the space he needs within me to see the mext step ahead, as He equips me to meet each task to the best of my ability in Him.

I refuse to not answer the call He is stirring up deep within because I am keeping a frenzied pace without His purposes for me in mind.

I have no more space for the kind of waste in my life, Beloved.

Join me as we slow down before His throne, settle in at His feet, and ask Him to open our eyes to the things which matter most to Him, while He leads us to the peace within as He reminds us who we truly are, and what it is he has for us to do today.

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May the #wonder of living life at His pace overtake all of our busyness as we seek him first!

when the wait seems so long

Karla Lees

God has been so good to me as I have been trying to figure out what He is birthing in me.

I have had all the cravings, restless nights and emotional mood swings hit in the past few weeks, as if I really was pregnant (nope, not!) as my spirit is trying to being the rest of me into this new alignment with His plans for me.

It is not a comfortable place to be, feeling like I am ready to give birth but my due date isn’t quite here yet.

Maybe you too can relate.

The tension between the now and the not yet can be agonizing at times.

The only way you can find peace in the wait is to agree with His timing, and wait.

Because getting frustrated over what might be is only putting fuel in the enemy’s hands instead of waiting for His Spirit to ignite what is to come.

I know He has good plans for me, His love for me is never failing and He adores me.

It can be hard as we wait to find out how and where we fit into the puzzle of what He is creating His Bride to be.

But we don’t wait alone.

I draw comfort from His Presence as I wait.

It doesn’t make the wait any shorter, but it makes it better as He and I wait together.

Because He gave all He had to get His Bride, I can trust He will be with me, and as I seek His design for my life, that where I best fit will be revealed.

What He wants for us to do will come to pass as we press in to Him, wait for His lead and step into the place He has waiting for us.

As we wait, He is stirring up the embers of His gifts which have been lying dormant within, just waiting to be born & breathe new life.

It will be worth the wait when we let Him lead us into place.

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tick off the to-do list

Karla Lees

There is almost nothing more satisfying to an organizer than. being able to check an item off their to-do list.

Organizers naturally love to make lists, and I am sure this characteristic has its perfect mirror in God. 

Because He didn’t just make the planet, He planned it.

I have a tendency to plan and tenaciously just stick to it.  Which we all need to do to a certain extent in the face of adversity, but can become a problem when God is calling you to hand it over.

That’s right. Just coz we planned it doesn’t mean it was always His plan for us.

You see, God knows life is about to happen.  That project deadline gets moved up, your child gets sick, your pay cheque is a little lighter than usual, the car has a flat.

And if we insist on same old, same old we can miss the blessings God has for us when we are willing to hand our plans over so He can unfurl His.

I have been experimenting with handing my day over to God this past two weeks.  I had to take a stand I wasn’t comfortable with, and release my fear & desire to be in control into His more than capable hands.

You know what? I am way less stressed and more content once God got me out of my way.

When I go where He leads, I join the current’s flow of what He is doing.

I have been building spiritual whitespace (grateful thanks to Bonnie Gray for penning that phrase) into my life, and writing in pencil (figuratively) as I wait for God to reveal His plan for my day.

Because He knows the plans He has for me in full, I can trust Him in the now to lead me along the proper path to arrive where He intends me to be in the future.

My to-do list may be filled with serving, but my time is best served when He writes my day in His hand.

So I use my time blessing those He wants me to bless, in His timing, for His plans, for His glory.

Join me as together we let go of the lie that we are in full control over our day. Thank Him for this new day He has gifts us with.  Ask Him to write the day He has planned for us in our hearts.  Follow where He leads.

The to-do list we are to be most interested in is His, always. 

Time after time, into eternity.

Tick tock goes the clock.

My life in Your hands,
my gifts & times Yours.

So tick off your earthly to do list as you must, while you press in moment by moment & allow Him to interrupt you with the to-do list of Heaven.

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planning

Karla Lees

I am an organizer by natural bent.
Yup, when you have the gift of administration, organizing tends to be something you are good at, if you put it into practice.

I use an app to track schedules, budget, meals & grocery lists, but nothing quite beats paper for the thrill of crossing things off once they are done.

Why do I plan? Besides the fact i somehow can’t help it!  

A plan is necessary for without goals, we will never get anything started or finished, and allow ourselves to be continuously distracted from what we want to accomplish.

Your plan may be to acquire a new habit, track your budget, exercise daily….

If something is important to you you make time to do it.

Even God.

I make sure I allow margin, wiggle room & ask God to help me to be flexible when life happens, as it often does in the blink of an eye to help swerve me off track.

I seek Holy Spirit’s guidance to make sure I am in the right path when I am faced with a crossroads, or am unsure I am

But having it down on paper makes it easier to regroup, refocus and follow through.

Before you ask ‘How is this related to faith?’, let me answer.

God had a plan in mind before He began creation.

Every day of creation built upon the precious work He had done, with His pinnacle being making man & woman in His image.

And when we fell, He had the plan already in mind which would bring us back to the glory He had designed for us: Jesus.

Jesus had one goal in mind that He never swayed from: our salvation.

His plan? Love us to the cross, and show how much He loved us before and beyond it.

Everything He did, spoke fit within His plan.

God knew the only way to bring us back was to hold tight to His plan, despite the physical, emotional & spiritual pain Jesus’ death inflicted on the heart of God.

We are to be devoted to Him in the same way, and show His love to all we encounter.

Without a plan, deliberate intention to do so, we will fail.

My plan, besides my daily agenda, starts with seeking His daily agenda for me. How can I support Him, love my family & family, honor my employers, bless my neighbors, help the needy. How can I become more like Him?

I make space everyday for Him.
Some days are harder than others with the demands I have in different seasons, but one truth remains.

Unless I intentionally pursue Him, all the wishing I may do will never be put into action.

Pray, listen, plan, act.

When our plans align with His, we can rest assured He will help us bring them to pass, when we desire His glory before our own.

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motivation matters

Karla Lees

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We are the people of busyness, aren’t we?

Life has become faster paced with the addition of increased technology & connectedness in our world. You can now have 24/7 access to almost any topic of interest around the clock. With email & cell phones you can be reached world wide.

We need to unplug from the busy & ask ourselves the why behind what we are doing.

Busyness for the sake of being busy is draining, lonely & empty.
With the radical rise of depression (by 2020 it will overtake heart disease as the number one cause of death & disability) we need to take the time to know the reasons we have for our actions, and live out lives of purpose.

Before we do anything else, as His people, we need to come close to Him. Enter His Presence, soak up the Son, connect with His heart, listen for His voice, act on His guidance….before anything else.

A wise man I work for says, “Make the most important thing the most important thing.”

Does God know you have made Him #1?  Do you make spending time in worship, prayer & the Word the priority in your day?

Does He have your heart? Do you know His heart for you?

Does the clamor of demands overpower the desire to connect with Him?

The sobering reality? No one else is going to help you make Him number one in your life.  They can make suggestions, share tips & resources, but only you can put them into practice.

For several years, I had my 30 min of quiet time in the afternoon, when my kids were napping and/or in kindergarten.

When they got older, around eight pm after bedtime worked for a few years, when hubby worked evening shifts.

When I worked the opening shifts at the coffee shops, I woke myself up with worship music, and had my quiet time when I got home from my shift while everyone else was still out.

I now get up earlier to do my 30 min before my work days, so they don’t become a daze of pointless busyness.

The past year, I have determined to do so, and I am healthier overall for it.  I feel closer to God, know He is for me, and I can depend on Him, so when the next wave of demands crashes on me, I am able to keep my head above the water & hear His voice.

Join Remade Ministries {and me :)} for 30 days of 30 minutes of time investing in blessing our King.

He not only deserves it, He longs for one on one time with you too.

Relationship over task, every time.

We can best serve with our hands & feet when our hearts & minds are fixed on doing what He ask us to do.  When our whole hearts are invested in making Him first place in our lives.

Then, and only then, our ministry will have impact for His kingdom.

For 30 days, give Him your first 30 minutes.  Make getting to know Him your priority over all else, and see how your life will change for the better.

When God reminds you what to say yes to, you will have no problem saying no to busyness for busyness’ sake. Your priorities will start to shift and fall as you follow His lead.

We are not meant to do it all, but we are all meant to know Him.

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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resting declares freedom

Karla Lees

Resting is a declaration of freedom. -Kerri Weems

We are meant to wield our rest.

Rest is not the lack of action, but a weapon to choose.

Our choice not to act is in fact an action.

When we fail to choose rest, we find ourselves ever increasingly exhausted, stressed out and not focused on God.  We become trapped on the world’s running wheel,  at a pace we were never designed for.  We become captive to the action of go, through our lack of understanding in just how much of a blessing to us rest actually is.

The bottom line is this….if God Himself rested after a busy week, why do we think we can keep going? The Maker of the Universes & all that is in them needs to nap, but His creations don’t?  Everything God created has seasons of planting, growth, pruning, harvesting and last but not least: resting.

When we deliberately choose to rest, we free ourselves from the enemy’s mindset that we have no other choice but to stay in the whirlwind of busyness.   In answering His invitation, we find His rest, true restorative rest deep within begins to seep into our mind, body and spirit:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. – Jesus, in Matthew 11:28-30

In choosing to go to Jesus, and choose rest, God not only restores us, but gives us the weapon we can use to protect ourselves from the enemy: deliberate choice to sit at His feet, and rest there.

In His Presence, we learn to unwind, de-stress, listen to His voice,  and follow His graceful leading.  When we stay resting in Him, we keep free, and our spirits remain refreshed.

Rest is not only about sleeping, but the laying down of ourselves before Him, allowing Him to fill us with His love, peace, joy, hope.

We find our true selves at His feet.

We find the refuge, the shelter, the safe place, our true Home in Him.  Where we can fully become the “us” He designed us to be, and be released to live the life God intended for us!

The enemy knows that if we draw close to Him, he will have less access to us.

If we keep His words in our minds, and live our lives in His flow for us, the enemy has less of a battleground to attack us from.

For when we rest in Him, we are drawn into the wide open fields of freedom God has for us, like a bird released from its cage who immediately heads to the currents of wind where she was meant to soar.

Like Mary, we were meant to let go of what the world tells us we must do, and choose the best yes by remaining at Jesus’ feet.

Now before you start complaining nothing will ever get done if i do that (been there, thought that!), let me tell you that somehow in the design of time, spending the time in rest with God seems to make me more productive.  My purpose for the moment seems clearer, and i get more done in less time with less errors or distractions.  I am less stressed out when emergencies pop up, and keep my cool way longer than i am capable of naturally!

I don’t get it, but i don’t have to! I just need to choose to grab hold of rest, and wield it as He leads me to use it!  When I seem headed back onto the never-ending to-do treadmill, prompt me early God to use the rest You have given me to break the tentacles of busyness and stress from reattaching themselves to me.

Lord, may we pick up rest  today, and use it as You lead us to in the coming moments, hours, days.  Because of Your actions on the cross, You declare us free, and desire for us to stay free in You.  Help us to draw close, lay our burdens and to do lists before You. May we pick back up that which You desire for us to complete each day, and may we never stray far from Your voice as we live out the purpose for which You called us.  May our preoccupation ever be Jesus!

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infected with the disease to please

Karla Lees

I somehow believed the lie that I was here only to please everybody else when I was young.

In school, you only get good marks when you do what the teachers ask.

At work, you only get more responsibility & raises when you do what your employers ask.

In relationships, you only get included when you do what your friends ask.

My dreams were squelched under the expectations placed upon my shoulders by everybody I came into contact with. Leaving me alive but not living the life God intended for me.

Then I walked squarely into the embrace of Grace, and my world was turned upside down and inside out.

Soon after finding Jesus, I remet the man who was to become my husband.

I didn’t yet realize that I hadn’t completely broken off the disease to please so I could relate in a healthier way to those I live and work alongside.

Fast forward several years, to an kind word spoken by one of my employers, which God timed to be spoken alongside His Words He was writing on my heart. I was not to put myself last on my list of priorities, all the time.

I am here to serve my fellow man, we all are.

But God doesn’t ask me to pour myself out in a way that He has not asked me to do. Nor deny caring for myself long term in a way that causes myself harm.

Before I encountered Jesus, I had been taken advantage of my men I dated. My ‘no’ wasn’t respected.

Jesus doesn’t ask me, or you, to be anyone’s punching bag, ongoing butt of their jokes, recipient of their rage, or their casual sex toy. He didn’t design us to be stepped on or destroyed by those who are supposed to love us.

We are to please Him first.

Living our lives as He guides pleases Him.

If your coworker or loved one asks you to do something to please them, and its against God’s standards? God isn’t pleased when we say yes.

Because we were made for so much more than to simply please one another’s whims or join them in their fall into sin.

Our desire to please God is to grow out of our love relationship. When I receive His love, I can share it with those around me. Ultimately pleasing God, which will likely meet the needs in those I care for.

But its His pleasure I want more than anyone else’s.

Learning this fundamental truth? I have been able to discern with His guidance when I am to meet a need and when i am to say no to a request. I am to work my best for His glory, which will likely please my bosses, but happens more as a side effect of working to build His kingdom first than to solely please my employers.

My best yes is to say yes where He wants me to be.

Occasionally, I want to jump and say yes before I make the request known to God. The fleshly me still likes to try and infect me with the disease to please again.

When I am in doubt, I wait.

And oh, I confess i do not like to wait, nor at times to let God make the decision for me, but I know it’s the best medicine to prevent this disease’s return.

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Left to my own devices, I slip away and become someone of everyone else’s making… like the main character in that classic movie, Runaway Bride.

God didn’t design me to not be myself, and to let everyone else make my decisions for me as I try to please them at my own expense.

Let me be clear, I love to serve. I love to be His hands and feet, share His words, encourage, love, help as He leads. Pouring ourselves out in service where He has placed us blesses Him.

But I am no longer doing it to please anybody but God.

Whether others are pleased or not is based on their perceptions & expectations, and is part of their story.

My story is moving ahead with freedom to please God first. For it is in Him that we live & breathe & find our meaning.

I am free from the unreasonable expectations of trying to live up to everyone else’s belief of who I should be.

Living to try to please a flawed person who doesn’t know all about me will only lead to the disease to please growing into heartbreak and pain.

Living to please the One who knows all about me, who knows the way I can live my best to serve Him & those around me is my priority now.

If like me, you struggle with the disease to please, do yourself a favor.

Seek the applause of heaven, for a ‘Well done’ from your Heavenly father will ring for all eternity.

God honors our desire to seek Him first. If you find that pleasing Him means those around you are less pleased with you, ask Him what is going on. He will answer you as you give Him the first place He is due.

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.