tears – KARLA LEES @hopenHispresenz

tears for now

February 4, 2016 Karla Lees

I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.”

Revelation 21:3-4 MSG

The Good News has arrived once in the person of Jesus, but God’s story for His people doesn’t end with that first arrival here on earth.

In Revelations, we are reminded the Good News yet to come…Jesus is coming again.

He is going to come back and make His home with His people, Beloved.
He will live with us, not just within us where He currently resides.

And once He has moved in, look at the next things He does….

He wipes every single tear from our eyes.

For He brings peace with His presence.

In fact, He will stop us from crying or weeping at all.

For He brings joy in His Presence.

We will never experience or suffer another pain. Ever!

For He brings hope in His Presence.

We will never die again.

For He gives life to those in His Presence!

The Promise will come to pass when we are with Him forever. No more tears, crying, pain or death!

Now is not forever, as You remind us all, God!

What a promise to celebrate! Sing, journal, dance – however you best offer your thanksoffering of praise for His promise yet to come!

Let this truth soak deep into the hearts and minds of the Beloved, Abba. Bring it back to the forefront when we need the reminder in the hard moments, Holy Spirit. May we entrust all we are, pain and tears, hopes and dreams, grief and loss, joy and hope, into Your loving, more than capable hands, Jesus.

sea foam break down

April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 Karla Lees

As I was walking this morning, I had a mini revelation about my fave colour.

I absolutely love sea foam/pistachio/moss green.

And today, as I was quietly listening to my Abba, I heard about why it is suited to me, why I am drawn to it.

Sea foam is a mix of green (made up of blue & yellow) and gray (black & white).

The blue represents both the ocean of my tears, and my delight at water & sky. Blue purifies as it flows.

The yellow is the touch of sun my body craves, and the Son-light my entire being longs for.

Green is the life and growth colour, how God can grow new life from the seeds He waters and shines His light on to grow in His Presence.

The black represents the dark places that need to be uprooted, the white the purity God brings to the mix.

And the gray? The times where I could not see beyond the storms, when God broke through and let His light brighten the dark times, and the gray we can find ourselves overwhelmed by when we take our eyes off of Him.

All this makes up my favorite colour.

When I wear it, I feel more like His daughter. I sense His closeness, and the pleasure He longs to reveal to me, His beloved.

I feel the prettiness and purity God sees when He looks at me.

People around me notice the difference when I wear this color, without knowing why.

So, I will continue to love my favorite color in the various hues I wear or decorate with, for it draws me closer to the One who absolutely adores me, and would do anything for me….which He has, and continues to do.

my favorite purse, on my similarly hued sofa 😉

my fave scarf with one of my two jackets

What colour helps you draw closer to Him? Have you ever thought about that before?

#seafoamalltheway

accepting the blues

April 17, 2014April 17, 2014 Karla Lees

The blues are not always a bad thing, you know.

Many of my favorite things that help me fight off the blues are, in fact, blue.

Hydrangeas, bluebells….I love seeing the shades of blue that are found in a garden.

(pic from: http://thecountrydiaryofasouthernlady.blogspot.ca/2010/06/rhapsody-in-blue.html

Blue jeans. Oh, how I love to wear my jeans. Its like being at home wherever you go.

Waves. The Ocean. Water, as far as the eye can see.

Majestic in its power, graceful in defeat until it crashes against the shore again, and again.

(image from: http://www.whirlwindodyssey.org)

Rivers, brooks, streams. Flowing, trickling, still.

(Image from : http://www.ecsahlberg.com/River.html)

My new Old Navy navy & white scarf. It perks me up, makes me feel fresh & youthful.

My eyes. They are a reminder that God likes the shade of blue so much, He shared it with me!

And this.

God collects all of my tears.

Water runs clear until it pools together, and then it reveals its shades of blue.

The fact God knows each and every circumstance that leaves me fighting the blues,

and treasures the tears I cry when I am blue for whatever reason…. reminds me that:

I am never alone.

God is never taken by surprise.

The blues may last for a night, or a season,

but joy comes, oh how it comes, in the morning,

with a new sense of His presence being more than enough

and the underlying hope that

when we finally meet face to face,

I will never be blue again.

cry

April 10, 2014April 11, 2014 Karla Lees

My soul chose that moment to do something it hadn’t done in longer ago than I could remember. It began to cry.

#TheMercifulScar

I am not known as a crier.
In fact, I am mostly cheerful and pleasant to be around.

But every so often, when I have let my emotions and stresses build up for too long, I find myself close to tears.

Sometimes I give in to them, and I have a good cry. And I tend to feel a bit better afterwards by releasing my emotion through those tears.

Occasionally, I have a hard awful gut wrenching wail, usually with an unexpected passing of a loved one.

What does God think of tears? Specifically, my tears?

You would figure that busy as He is, there might be more important things on His mind…until one reads this verse:

Psalm 56:8 (MSG) You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.

(Image by:Republic of You-Tears & Fragility, Pinterest)

Really, God? You know each night we/i have had a hard time sleeping? You make a note for each tear we/i cry, each pain we/i endure?

Wow.

God truly is involved aware of every aspect of our lives.

But He waits for you, and me, to invite Him to converse with Him…about anything and everything.

The Bible is full of people who brought their concerns to God- fear of bring murdered, barren. Those who felt alone, deep loss, intense pain or in bondage. Needing healing, hungry, even to pay their taxes.

God met them in those conversations.

He already knows what is going on, in fact God really knows everything, including intentions.

He knows your husband just broke your heart.

He gets that money is getting really tight, because you are still waiting for work, or more work.

He understands when you feel like you can’t take anymore.

He sees when you are sobbing because you suddenly just lost the person who most got you on earth, and you didn’t make the time to tell them how much you loved and appreciated them before they passed.

Each aspect of our lives has value to God.

Because HE values US.

There is nothing you can do that will make Him stop loving you. He may not like your behavior, but He will ALWAYS love you.

Jesus died for you, out of forever love.

He wants to spend eternity WITH us.

Wow.

And the Bible also says in Revelation 21:3-4:
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.”

There are good times coming.

Try to keep that promise in mind next time you have a cry in the moment.

It is just a moment, or a few strung together compared to the eternity awaiting us.

That thought is almost overwhelming enough to make me cry…