"Let the Beauty and Delightfulness and Favor of the Lord, our God be upon us: confirm and establish the work of our hands - yes - the work of our hands, confirm and establish it." Psalm 90:17


+ You can hear My voice as you turn your heart to Me. I am eager to be heard. Your faith brings the blessing of the Father upon you and upon your loved ones. Never doubt the Beauty and Delightfulness and Favor of the Lord. You live in the heart of the Father as you live your life in the Bridegroom of your soul. The more you seek to be like a child...guileless...forgiving completely...releasing yesterday with ease...open to all without preconditions. (you need to focus on this!) and loving all who come your way...the more Joy and Bright Hope will overtake your spirit and flood your life with eternal possibility. Faith will be replaced with knowledge, and this knowledge will overtake and dismantle every barrier in your life. So take heart and stand firm in the knowledge of the Goodness of your Father, Whose love for you is more intense and burns brighter than you can imagine or dream. All Love emanates from Him: All Love - All Goodness - All Kindness - All Blessing - All Protection - All Creativity - All Healing - All Wisdom - All Comfort...Everything beautiful and rich and bountiful are from His Hands. Trust Him like never before. He is your Father. He made you. He sustains you. He hears the prayers of your heart and knows the best way to answer them! He wants to fill your heart with Love and Vision and Expectancy. So, look to Him for everything and spend your time looking for ways to love and bless everyone who comes into your life. This is how the work of your hands is confirmed and established forever!

+My love, it is not because you are "good" or because you are "bad" that I come to you. This love I offer is totally disconnected from your behavior. I see you. I know you. My Love transcends your feeble attempts to get things right. I AM LOVE. It is the very inability to be who you want to be that My Heart is drawn to! This is why it's so important to not judge. Don't judge others and don't judge yourself! When you feel like things are spinning our of control and your emotions are raw; when confusion wraps tight around your mind and heart...STOP! Step back and know that I am God! I am YOUR GOD...Who sees the whole - beginning to end. Remind yourself of the ways I've protected you and revealed My Love for you over and over. Right now, all you can think of is what you are losing. This slides you into the black hole of all the times where you felt surrounded by "no's." The mountain of disappointments looks huge to you...casting a dark shadow over everything, even though the sun is shining. Even though My Love for you hasn't changed, you feel abandoned and desolate. Take heart My love. Trust now in the darkness and believe that My light of Love never stops shining on you! Take all the loss and fear and disappointment (in yourself and in others) and simply COME TO ME! There are no words to capture or even understand what you are feeling. I know your struggle. Accept the unknowing and your weakness and step towards Me in faith. Declare with all your heart, that you ARE "confidant that you WILL see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Believe that this Word has Power. It is true! Just speaking it can convince your mind and take you out of this black hole...back to My waiting arms. I've never moved. I will always be right by your side....for you...in you ....convincing you that you are loved perfectly....forever!

 +No matter what is going on around you, I have complete Power to keep you in the silence of My Heart. My Love - My Unfailing, Faithful Love - is the truest, most enduring FACT of your life. It is the reason you can relax and enjoy the life I have given you. You have been blessed with more than you can contain, so give...give with all your heart all that I move you to give; and enjoy being you! The enemy's only tactic is to take away your identity, but My love, you are too rooted in My identity now for that to happen. Each day brings you deeper into Me...closer to the fullness of the overflowing Love of the Father....the empowering strength of the Spirit. Never let your heart be troubled over ANYTHING! I have called you ...redeemed you...formed you exactly the way I saw fit. Everything about you is covered in Grace and Beauty. Live each minute as a declaration of the Father's Goodness and Love and you cannot help but bring the fruit that only you were designed to bring. Nothing can thwart the fruit because you are Mine. As you celebrate the flowers in your garden, blooming and becoming fuller and fuller according to your tender care (and My perfect law), see yourself as My flower, planted for beauty by my scarred hand...watered in love by the Holy Spirit...fed and nurtured by your Maker...your own Father...My Father. This, My heart, is the fullness you are destined to enjoy. Nothing and no one can take this away from you. This is why you can release all worldly disappointments and cares and trust in glad celebration that God is God and everything about you is according to His loving specifications. Your only task is to be filled with thanksgiving and joy. This is your Father's desire...that you hold His hand and trust that you are His precious child and that His love for you is Perfect. In His silent, sweet Love....you are protected and empowered. All is well. All is well. This is the secret no one can touch. This is why you have confidence and peace. All is well!

-I will make darkness bright before you and smooth out the road ahead of you>" Isaiah 42:16b


+ To many people, darkness is a thing to be feared. To you - because you are in Me - it is an instrument of expectancy. Because there is no darkness in Me (dark isn't even dark to Me) you can watch with eyes of faith for the darkness to melt before you. A life of faith is a life of LIGHT. Lately, you've been thrilled by the early July fireflies as they silently swim through the dark and shine their little lights against it. The darker it is...the brighter they glow! See, My love? I am constantly USING the darkness for my GLORY!  It cannot hold up against My brightness. That's why my continual refrain is:
          "Arise shine for your Light has come and the Glory of your Lord  rises upon you." and even though; "Darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the people, the Lord rises upon you and His Glory appears over you!" Isaiah 60:1-2
This is the sum and substance of the Kingdom come to earth. This is the high calling of your life...to "shine like stars in the universe...holding out the Word of Life as a lantern on the path." Philippians 2:15-16 The call is clear. I want YOU to be My Light! The irony in this call is that once you were darkness. This is something you need to remember so that you are always aware that it is MY LIGHT shining in and through and not your own. You are actually a lot like the moon.....the inconstant moon....reflecting in varying degrees the light of the sun. But here's the difference: I live outside of shifting time. In the Kingdom, there is only fullness, so ...because of the work of the cross and the great power that destroyed death and with it darkness ... you can be ever full...fully reflecting the light of My Presence. Now ...when darkness descends...you see it differently. You open your eyes of faith and watch to see how I will overpower it. (I actually made your eyes to adjust your pupils and cause them to dilate so that dark isn't dark to you either! Indeed! You have been created in My image!) So, as you go through your days in Me, look for the ways I will dispel every darkness. Let what once brought fear and uncertainty, work to reinforce all you know about Who I am. Rejoice that your Savior has come and continues to come as the Light of the World forever. This is why you need never let your heart be troubled. This is why you can be full of Joy. This is why I want you to "Arise. Shine"... My love. Truly, "your Light has come"!
 

- "Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him."


+ Eternity is now, right now, in the simple moments of your life. Salvation is now every time you look to Me to translate what things mean. It is always in the little moments - the quiet things that could so easily be overlooked - that I wait to show you redemption. When you seek to embrace what God is doing, a day... one day can burst with revelation of My Love and Presence. The Father reaches down eternally...minute by minute...to show you His beauty...His Love...His faithfulness. He is waiting excitedly for you to find Him (not unlike the way your little Cooper waits for you to find him in Hide and Seek). So He waits to reveal exquisite beauty to you...the depth...breath...height...and length of His Perfect Love. The Holy Spirit has been given to you to expand your capacity to see, to absorb and to believe. Ah what joy it gives your Father when you simply believe in all the simple, unassuming ways He calls your name. He loves it when you turn your heart to Him...looking for His face ...sure that He loves you. Ah...when you stop and are actually still...just for Him...and you fix your gaze on what is UNSEEN and WAIT...that's when your rainbow-laden eyes are given sight! Yours is not a distant Father...demanding and elusive. Yours is a Papa Who RUNS to meet you...delights to give you His Best Robe and Who celebrates with abandon your heart of repentance. Every time you turn to Him and choose Him is a cause for great celebration. And, rather than hold you accountable and keep you at arms' length until you've demonstrated proper penance...He throws penance into His vast sea of forgetfulness, pulls you close and just LOVES you! Why do you think My constant refrain and reference...My heart and my Life were consumed by My Father! It is because there is NO ONE Who even begins to compare with HIM...EVER!! To know Him is to be set in a place of luminous, radiant JOY that cannot be matched or destroyed. This is what the crucifixion was for. He gave the Highest Proof of the Totality of His Love for you when He asked Me to be His Perfect Sacrifice to buy you back. You will never understand this exchange on this side of eternity. But the Holy Spirit...the Incarnation of His Heart...has been given to you to live in you and give you tiny glimpses. This, beloved daughter of the King, is the Truth that has set the world and you free forever.  So, when you embrace what God is doing in your life...know that you give Him pleasure. Fathers love to love their children and oh how they loved to be loved back! They get measureless Joy out of their children's simplest moments. You are His design, created out of His Perfect heart of Love...so...embrace Him back by ever holding Him in your heart.

+Every June I can't help Myself! I can't hold back the extravagance of My hand! Creation swells with beauty and through her, I call out to My beloved children;
"Look! Look at Who I am! Trust Me! Look at Me! Open up your mouths and I will fill you with delight! Open up your hands and I will fill them with blossoms."
June is all about blooming. It's a good picture of the plans I have for you. This is what prospering in the Kingdom looks like: full-out blooming...glory... color... fragrance. And yet, this is only a hint of things to come. Trust Me, My love. Take My hand (the hand that transforms everything I touch) and walk in Me knowing that your victory, your fulfillment is assured. There is no shadow of turning in Me. When you simply look in My face and seek to know Me, all the details of your life come together. I know the plans I have for you as sure as I know what every flower and tree will look like in the fullness of time. And because I live outside of time (in the constant fullness of the Kingdom) you do too!!! I have given you everything you need. Believe in Me and I will show you how, when you live in My promises, every moment of your life can blossom. Come, My beloved. Every moment you live, I am Yours and you are Mine. This irrevocable fact changes everything. I came to bring LIFE and to bring it to the full. Your call and purpose is to do the same. You are a midwife in the spirit - trained and equipped to bring life to My weary, worn-out daughters and sons. You cannot do this on your own. Enjoy and celebrate that fact. A field cannot produce a single flower, but as it drinks in the rain and basks in the light of My Father's constant warmth and light, flowers appear. This is how it is in the kingdom. Just be My field and I will teach you how to be my field worker. I will lead those who need the water and light of My Spirit to you! Your  task is to rest and rejoice and wait with expectation. I want you to know that your life has great purpose because you belong to Me! Trust and enjoy My purpose for your life. It will give you great fulfillment!

" In quietness and in (trusting) confidence shall be your strength." 
                                      Isaiah 30:15 -Amplified


+ I am your confidence. I never fail. Every step of your precious life is protected and set on the smooth path of my unfailing Love. What Joy is yours for the taking. Take Joy! Believe that the Holy Father- Who is My Hero and greatest Love - is yours. There is a reason I exalted Him every chance I could: He is so incomprehensibly wonderful! Indeed, it will take all of eternity for you to be able to fathom the depths of His riches and to believe in His deep and perfect Love for you. This is why you can have Joy without measure. There is nothing you have the ability and strength to imagine that is not possible with Him. He is stretching you so that you can be filled to overflowing with His Light. This is the LIGHT that dispels every darkness you encounter. In Me, by the ever-present infilling of the Spirit (your Helper....your Coach...your Advocate...your Trainer...your Encourager) you truly can do all things. So, here before you is another day linked seamlessly to eternity. The Kingdom has come! It is within you. You have been infiltrated....purified by Truth.This is your quietness and confidence and NO ONE...NOTHING will ever take these away from you. They are the Father's gifts (two of many) to His beloved girl. You are His. He is doing a mighty work in you. You can rest and enjoy it, knowing that He never fails. And He always completes what He has begun. Focus on rejoicing today because this Mighty, Beautiful One...the God of Highest Heaven...loves you! This is enough! You need nothing more to add to your joy. Live under His watchful smile. His approval is life. His love is the sustaining power above all power and His Love is YOURS! Let this Love overshadow every minute of today. It is the way to produce fruit that will last. Keep remembering that He has designed the plan for your life and He will not fail to lead you on His path...the path that leads to the wide and spacious place of Freedom, Fulfillment and Joy! 

 


- This entry was written in March....just when Spring was about to pop. Now.....everything at last is in bloom. I love to remember the waiting and how early spring has a sacredness all its own. Oh Lord.....my heart bows before You....the only One Whom all of nature obeys. 




+ I am yours. I hold the universe in My Hand. Spring holds its breath and waits for Me to say, "Now." and the sap flows and the green emerges. I am the ONE Who made you. I want you to think of the sense of connectedness you have with your children. You have known them since they were forming in your womb and you love them with a love that only grows. With each year, you marvel more and more at who they are ...these incarnations of Love.... you and Gary made one. Such love! Such a miracle times three! Your heart sings when you think of these three sons. Your love is boundless. Now, step back,My beloved, and see how great is My Love for you! I am the One Who formed you in silence in your mother's womb! I know you vastly more intimately than you know yourself (or your children - who now are men, fully grown and separate and independent...basically on their own.) But you...My Love...will never be on your own without Me and... rather than impede your development like an over-involved mother that clings and doesn't give her children freedom to fly...I help you grow into the fullness I envisioned when your were born. I am the Perfect Father. I sustain you...protect you...inspire you...free you. I gave the Highest and the most for the very purpose of fullness. Spring is on the rise in all her beauty. She is a small clarion announcing My Love to a pale, cold world. All the seeds that are buried in the frozen ground are ready to come out. Spring is My servant...shouting out My Name throughout the land. I fill. I bring to fruition. I water. I feed. The Kingdom of Heaven was purchased as a gift for you. What joy it gives me to see you delight and cherish this gift....to receive the abundance of the Spirit helping you blossom into the very one...the only one...I designed you to be. Excitement and hope are in the air. There is a substance of things not seen that is about to emerge. This is a picture of how My Hand of Love transforms the landscape of your spirit. I am your Faithful Father and I delight in you. Enjoy this favor and be filled with the Joy that is your inheritance. Rejoice and Bloom!

- Lord, Most High God - I bow before You and ask You to lead me and let me use each minute of this day according to Your purpose. Thank You for Your faithfulness...Your goodness and Your Love. I love You.


+ My little one, do as you are doing...whispering words of love as you go through your day...tilting your head to hear My still small voice. Know this: My Love for you never dims. It shines brightly all around you, whether you feel it or not. What matters is that you give Me the minutes of your day as your song of praise. This is the greatest gift you can give back to your Father, Who loves to shower you with gifts of love. Be encouraged now...as an act of faith...because you know the power of the goodness of your Father...Who sustains your every minute. As you bow before Him...accepting with open hands His perfect will...that promised peace becomes more and more palpable. It shimmers from within your spirit as you move from task to task... transforming the most menial things you do into an act of worship...much like the way the sunlight just broke through the deep gray clouds...shining on...transforming the words of your journal. Know this: I love you. Let My love saturate this day. Let all  sadness...disappointment...fears and imaginations go. See them drift away like these dark, just-parted clouds. Watch them as they fade away in the Light of the sure promises of your Papa. Rejoice! Take Joy. It your promised, inherited blessing. Spread it everywhere, as you do your tasks. This is your secret strength....My heart IN your heart....I in the Father ...you in Me. Remember: nothing....NOTHING in your world can hold back this Light! All darkness must flee! Only Light...the Light of Lights remains. Selah! Do not let your heart be troubled. All is well. Believe it.   

"Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them - living and breathing God. Attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life." Romans 8:6-7 ~ The Message


- Last Friday was Good Friday. I long to appreciate all You suffered for me oh Lord. Come Holy Spirit! Live and breathe God in me until every fiber of my being cries out, "Come Lord Jesus!"  


+ My love....lay all your feelings down and just come. Think of the insistency with which Cooper (your beloved grandson) takes your hand and says, "Come!" with all the confidence and authority of a two and a half year old. He has no doubt that you will come with him joyfully because you love him. I reach out for you eternally and say, "Come" and expectantly wait for you to grab My Hand and come with Me wherever I choose because you know and have utmost confidence in My Love (and because I called you by name before you were knit together in your mother's womb.) I know you long to be with Me and that you listen for the sound of My Voice. So Come! Come with Me and let me bring you into My expansive and joy-filled heart. Life with Me...connected at every point with Me ...is life to the Full. The world cultivates a sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction. I only offer fullness and deep, quiet satisfaction. This is the wide-open, spacious, heavenly place I purchased once and for all on that dark day on Calvary. I did it to bring the possibility...the certainty of LIFE back to My Father's fallen children. Death had closed the door to Him. I opened it...never to be shut...with My sacrifice. I opened the way to all that is Good - I opened the way to My Father - Whose Goodness and Loveliness are far beyond anything you could imagine or dream. He is the One Who sustained Me every second of My life. He is the One who blasted Me out of the tomb and in so doing...gave life once more to all of creation. My gift to you....the majestic, brilliant, all-loving, enthusiastic Lover of your soul and your life - the beautiful Holy Spirit - is the facilitator of all that was won for you. He fills you with power and joy, confidence and faith so you can come into the throne room with the certainty of a two and a half year-old who doesn't know how to doubt! He shows you the door to the dazzling, wide spaciousness, where you are able to feel the Father's extravagant Love and still live! I came for ONE PURPOSE: to do what My adoring Father asked Me to do. And what He asked of Me was to give My all for you because of His unrelenting Love for you. So....when you think of Good Friday...think of your name (and all the curses and sins and failures connected to your name) carved on My Hand...nailed to the tree once and for all. I was cursed that you could be blessed. So come, My love....be Blessed! Let your heart and your mind and spirit meditate on this eternal transaction. It was for freedom that I came. So, come little one...be free! Rejoice and delight yourself in the magnificent God of the universe, Your own beloved Father. Come! this is why you were born.

"The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you...the Lord turn His face towards you...."Numbers 6:25-26 

+ Remember how you used to say your Mom got that "Mother look" on her face when she was proudly watching you do something? It embarrassed you because it was so blatantly PROUD and shining with Joy! She was doing something that reflected what your Father does all the time. When His Face is shining on you...when His face is turned toward you....this is the same look that shines on your from the throne room. It is LOVE...His perfect, unconditional, unchanging Love that exults in who you are for the simple reason that you are His own beloved creation....His rescued child...His wonder and delight! No kind of affirmation on earth can compare with this! Just as being appreciated is healing and life-giving (a pale reflection of what He gives), having His face shine on you lifts you up and empowers you to become all that He created you to be. You were made to dwell under His smile....to bask in His inordinate affection...to seek His attention just the way toddlers look for every small triumph to be noticed and cheered. They understand what this kind of love looks like and they are wired to expect and seek it. Again and again they say, "Look! Look what I can do!" Do you understand that it is in this same kind of confidence and uninhibited joy that I want you to live your life? ?This is abundance...freedom...life to the full. This is what was gained for you forever at Calvary. I want you to understand that living under any kind of constraints and unworthiness cancels out the work of the cross in your life. You would never consciously choose to continue living under the curse would you? Don't let the enemy's wiles convince you that you have no other choice....that this is your lot in life. HA! Not true! I have assigned you your portion and cup. I have made your lot in life secure. So, what are the  boundary lines that have fallen for you in pleasant places? (Ps 16: 5-6) ...they are simply you, dwelling under your Father's smile! When you have that deep sense of His "Father Look" dazzling down on you, stop and enjoy it. Thank Him and revel in the beauty of His healing, empowering Love. Rejoice with all your heart. That's your smile back to Him! 

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24


+Here is a day...one day that stretches out before you in the early morning half-light. This day, this one day of life is given to you to use freely. What will you do with it? You have your massive to-do list that bulges with memos and tasks...little reflections of moments to come....tasks to complete. Here My love, give Me your list. Come with your hands empty and your heart open...leaning toward Me...listening for the sound of My Voice, so soft in the background. Do you hear it? Release your long list of chores and demands and turn your face towards your Father's smile. He knows you. He made you. His plans for you are for hope and life. His plans come as silent kisses in the depth of your spirit. Listen! Be still! Be ready to follow His heart into your day...doing what He tells you to do through the Spirit Who lives within you and teaches you how to glorify His Goodness with your life. This day in Him stretches into eternity. It is filled with the Peace and deep Joy of His constancy...His ever-present Love. Listen! Be still and listen and do what He says. This day will then be filled with the silent satisfaction of redemption. Open your eyes and see: All the earth is drenched in your Father's Bounty and Love. So live this day free from all cares. This is life as it was purchased for you on Calvary. Rejoice. Praise. Laugh. Be filled with expectant Hope. Your Father is on the Throne and His Love surrounds you. Truly, this is the day Your Lord has made....rejoice My love and be glad in it.

"Then He stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down:  "Silence!" The sea became smooth as glass. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"  Matthew 8: 26-27 ~Message and NIV


+ My love, the only way for you to be discouraged is if you believe that your weaknesses are stronger than My Power to transform you. How could that ever be? I know everything about you. Let not your heart be troubled. Cast off everything ...every thought of defeat and overwhelm...and cast every care on Me. Rest. Release the swirling sense of dis-ease...this sense of failure at even getting "you" right! Lies. Lies. Lies!! Let go! Listen to My Voice alone. If you do not feel healed and made whole by what you are hearing...you are listening to the enemy I gave My all to destroy and silence. Come to Me, My little one. I speak to every storm. I still every unspoken raging whirlwind that seeks to batter you down. Rise up. Let Me be your Savior. Run to Me. I'm here...ever waiting to heal you and free you from all self- condemnation. I want you to say yes to yourself today. Say yes, then fix your heart, mind and all your energy on the GOODNESS, BEAUTY, TENDERNESS AND POWER OF the Father. The Holy Spirit will help you in every way. You belong to Me. I will not ever let you go. I want your mind totally renewed. I want you whole...functioning in and through My all-powerful, able Holy Spirit, who has been given as a supreme Gift to enable you to walk in a high and spacious place...high above all the powers of darkness. Rise up, My love, like an eagle. Use the storms to rise higher. Know that the enemy has nothing in you. You are Mine! Rejoice. Relax. Rest. Relinquish every thought of defeat. Victory is yours because it is MINE and you are IN ME! Live this day in high praise and joy. My joy indeed is your strength. Use it! Declare it! Abide in it! Operate out of it! Rejoice and be glad in this day of your Lord. Green pastures are before you...restful waters...total protection from all danger. Come My beloved one, taste and see that your Lord is good. I will not let you be put to shame. I will make your face radiant...glowing with My yes....then you cannot help but shine My Love over all you meet.  

"...absolutely nothing  can get between us and God's Love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." Romans 8:39 -The Message


+ This is what you must always remember. I want you to know Me. I want to reveal Myself to you. It is the joy of the Father to give you revelation so that, indeed, you can know the great Hope to which He has called you. I am never distant. I am right here with you, in you...always knowable...always...approachable...always knocking....
waiting for you to respond.  Understand that it is the Spirit Who motivates your heart to yearn for this intimacy of union with the Father. It is the Spirit Who initiates and it is the Spirit Who completes. He Who began a good work (that work being the forming of the Love of God incarnate - Me in You) will be faithful to complete it. You see, My love, it is never about your ability to be still, the depth of your prayer life or the discipline of your mind. It's about the perfect Love of your  Father, Who understands your weakness and your yearning to be His. And so, the plan of the One Who knows you to your core...is to take the little mustard seed of love you plant in faith by even trying to have quiet time....and let the Spirit transform it until the mountains of unbelief and unworthiness are gone and you know with all your being that you belong to Him. He wants you to live in the Promised Land. Remember, it is for the weak that I came. Not that you use your weakness as an excuse. You are called to obedience and surrender....You are called to be strong in the Lord...but the Father never wants your weakness to be a barrier that blocks your way to the throne room. He actually wants it to be a path that leads you into His Presence! So, be still in your heart this day. Your Advocate and Comforter will aid you in this endeavor. Remember, in Me you can do all things. Nothing....Nothing...(and no one) is impossible with God. This colors everything...every impossible person or situation you encounter in your life. All impossible things melt into the possibility of God's irresistible, transforming, Perfect Love. This is the Strength to Strength in you that breaks down the barriers of impossibility. It starts in your heart  ...destroying any area of lovelessness that has a hold on you. Once you are healed, I make you into a vessel of Love and Hope...empowered to defeat the giants of hopelessness and pain that have so many people imprisoned. As you disregard your own weakness and that of others....and remember that darkness is not dark to Me...you carry My Presence and magnify My Life in this world. This is My plan. I hear your prayers. I know your heart. I am for you...never in any way against you. All My Love for you is yes...all My promises true.  I want you to know Me...I long for you to enjoy all the gifts that were won for you....My power, My strength, My beauty and My Love and the indomitable Freedom of the Spirit of God. I want you to know that this is what Your Father's Smile feels like. Enjoy this day in the sanctuary of His enormous heart of Perfect Love..

  
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1: 17


+  Everyone recognizes the importance of gift-giving. It is a deep reflection of my stamp on the heart of man. Life...your life... is pure GIFT! It is a gift from Me to you to be given to all those I bring to you. Gifts are given for celebration. They are wrapped declarations of love and appreciation, given in joy for the purpose of blessing. Since every good gift has come from the loving hands of the Father of all, giving gifts will always be around and they are always free. They might come at great cost but the recipient has no connection with the price. The receiver simply opens the bounty and enjoys. Hopefully...thanks are given. "Thank You" is a natural response because the heart was created to give thanks by the Father, Who.....whether there is grateful response or not....always, always keeps on giving. That's because He is an extravagant Giver! This is why all of creation abounds with unfolding beauty. Actually, there is nothing in creation that is not a gift of love...God's artistry pouring down on His beloved and favorite creation...man. And so...as the day begins  gold and pink with the sunrise, you welcome each season which has been programmed to bring delight...This is deep calling to deep.... God's heart-felt love song. Everywhere there are feasts for the eyes...sunsets and cherry blossoms...bird song for the ears...fragrant blossoms for the nose...gifts for every occasion dazzling everywhere. And every gift is completely Free. Just a token of your Father's esteem... a small reflection of His generous Heart. So my girl, I say to you, be like Him! Give your gifts away extravagantly with no thought of return. Be Free! Enjoy the way it feels to give lavishly. Your Father has shown you how as He gives you all you need. This is life to the full...This is the perfect re-gift, when you give all He has given you away. Giving like He does will bring you great JOY. This is what it feels like to be a child of the King....There's nothing more fun than to give and give again just like the One Who made you!

- Lord, Your beauty surrounds me. Your dazzling snow covers my world. All is blanketed with silent white...Speak Lord as I listen for the beauty of Your Voice.

+ My purpose is to quiet your soul and keep you in a place of sweet stillness. I want you to see each day as a separate entity in Me. Not looking to the left or the right (as I am always reminding you) means not looking ahead to the unknown future or back to the past too. I want you to live your life in this timeless pocket of Eternal Joy where I surround you with favor as with a shield. From this place of wonder and joy...of thankfulness and peace...you have eyes to see what I want you to see and ears to hear My constant words of love and encouragement. I died to give you this life. It is yours already. The Holy Spirit is your access and the words on your lips...your words of praise and thanksgiving open the gate. Here, you are in the unfailing, perfect will of the One Who knows you best. Lay down your concerns...your cares....your disappointments and your requests at the door and come. Come in to the warmth of a Love that is waiting to embrace you...to bless you ...to heal you and set you freer than you can imagine! I came that you may have LIFE to the FULL! You...My little one...don't even know...can't even comprehend what that means. But I do! That's why this invitation is constantly being extended. I came so that you may have life. Say yes to me. Arise and come My love and I will teach you how to live your life easily and abundantly. I am expanding your capacity to believe in Who I am. I want you to expect more and more of this stillness to cover over you...quieting all that concerns you. Be full! Be Glad! This place has been designed for YOU. It is your cocoon where you will be given brightly colored wings to enable you to fly above all the cares of your life. Rest and trust and look to Me for everything. I am the source and supply...the beginning and end of all you will ever hope for or need. My Face shines on you and you are whole. Embrace the stillness within this day and live in My Peace. My Joy is your Strength. My Love sustains and empowers you and it is forever and ever. You are My beloved. Believe it and smile. My favor is upon you always.

-One day I was reading Ephesians and the part I was reading hit me like a brick. I suddenly could see the heart of why Jesus came.  It still takes my breath away.


"For He Himself is our peace, Who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." Ephesians 2:14-!6; 18
 

+ I came for every divide great and small. There is no wall of hostility that is more powerful than the power released from My death. It is finished...for all eternity. Draw upon this Power when your heart is divided...when your peace is fractured. This Peace...this destruction of all that separates...cost Me everything...cost Me great pain because I absorbed all hostility into My body and took it to the grave. I did this to make Peace...COMPLETE PEACE an option for every moment ...every relationship of your life. It is yours for the taking. Use this gift and enjoy the fruit of what I did because I love you and want you whole.

"The Spirit of Life in Christ like a strong wind has magnificently cleared the air.   Romans 8: 2 -The Message


+ Whenever you feel stifled - like things are closing in on you - instead of succumbing to this suffocation (which is done by the hands of the enemy and your old, not-completely-dead self)...repent...have another thought.Come to Me and watch as I clear the air for you. Remember, 'attention to God leads you out into the open into a SPACIOUS FREE LIFE.'  This is why learning how to REST...to BE STILL and KNOW that I AM GOD are such an important things to learn and practice. It's easy to get sucked into the suffocating moment. But when you have learned to step back, to arise and come with Me instead and to rest...then you can stand and see the deliverance of the Lord...then you can watch Me in wonder as I magnificently clear the air! This is why your redeemed life - where God has taken up residence in you - is so amazing and full of Joy. Nothing....nothing ....nothing can separate you from this Powerful Love! Your life and everything about your life has been re-programmed for Freedom, Success, Joy, Satisfaction, Abundance and Peace. This is the spacious free life where your burdens have been lifted and your constrictions are gone. I came to set free everything that is captive about you. Your job is to believe that this is so...to trust and live this day in the Joy and Strength of your Father's Unfailing Love. Relax!

 

  -Lord, I want to hear Your Voice behind me saying: "This is the way ...walk in it."
 

+I will enable you to do what I have called you to do.  I am
in you,empowering you.  You desire to love all - so you shall,
even those you thought impossible to love!  Be still.  Rest in
me today in the depths of your spirit. Do nothing apart from
Me.Draw on My strength…it is there in great measure. You 
are filled with My Spirit.Think about what that means. 
Let not your heart be troubled is not a casual request
I gave, but a medical prescription…a requirement for every
child of the Father. I’ve given you many examples…. of lilies
of the fields… of sparrows given berries to eat and nests to
raise their young…of little children…open…trusting…facing
their day with excitement and joy.  Of such are the kingdom
of heaven.The way you live the Kingdom and witness to a sad
and suffering world is by being who I have called you to be…a
trusting child whose cares are attended to by a Perfect, Loving
Father.This is how you become a light on a hill that will draw out
those who are in darkness.This is the image I so desire my little
ones to present to the world.  How the enemy has distorted the
way my children, my followers,view themselves.  So many are
bound up by the same laws and judgments and burdens I came
to free them from.  This is not being salt to the earth…It is salt
in a wound and it pushes the lost away from the true vision
of my Father and pains Me greatly that this is done in My Name. 
No!  Drop the burdens and cares and lists of what you think it
means to be a “Christian” and simply Be Mine, like the Valentines
of grammar school, which stated so simply, “Be My Valentine”.
It is all about Love and receiving this love unabashedly
like a little child.  So do not allow your heart to be troubled by
the cares and the trappings of the world…which include all sorts
of self-focused endeavors.  Drop the nets of all that you feel
compelled to gather. Like the fishermen I called…they dropped
what they had been seeking.  Suddenly, they were only seeking
Me. When you seek Me with all your heart (like a child in the
arms of her father) I give you a new set of nets. They are
invisible to the eye but they gather in souls to my Father in
nets of love.

       So start living the simplest and most difficult of

commands - Let not your heart be troubled.  This, when truly
lived, is a declaration with all your being of Who My Great and
Glorious Father is.

       As for the suffering you see…respond and pour out your love
in and through Me.  Remain always in My peace.  I have come to
set you apart and to set you free.  This is life abundant. It is the covenant of peace and completeness that shall not be removed.
 

-Lord, you know how much I want to live my life out of that secret place...experiencing the great mystery that in You I live and breathe and have my being.

+I daily give you images to help show you how to enter into the deeper place. All around you, My voice is reminding you who I am and who you are in Me. For example, as you hold your cup of hot coffee and enjoy the warmth transferred to your hands, I show you how, when you are filled with the warmth of My Presence and Love...like the cold china absorbing the heat...you absorb My essence and it radiates out to those who touch your life. So too with your fragrant candle. Unlit, it has only the potential of fragrance and light and warmth, but when the flame is burning (when you live out of Me - Christ in you the Hope of Glory) there is energy and warmth...light and fragrance.

You belong to Me. Let me show you how to enjoy light and warmth throughout this day. It's not complicated. Simply be filled with thanksgiving and praise. These are the substance of Heaven and they create a space for the Kingdom on earth. They prove to your Father that you know He is only GOOD and always, always worthy of praise. And so you become a vessel of clay...warm with the wonder of My Love. You become that light on the lampstand...giving vision and hope in the darkness and cold. Thanksgiving and Praise....Thanksgiving and Praise...of these there are no limits. They make the invisible visible. They affirm the resounding truth that God is ONLY GOOD....forever and ever!

Rejoice! This is the day Your Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it! This is how to bring my Light and Warmth to a dark, cold world. This is what happens when we are ONE. JOY JOY JOY!
 

- Lord, this day is before me. Help me to do what You want. Let me hear You say, "This is the way...walk in it." Let me walk in this one day IN YOU.


+ So shall it be...forever and ever. Nothing shall ever separate you from My Love. I will help you know My priorities for this day. So much clutter...so many choices...it's often difficult to se My simple path through it all. But the main thing, My little one, is that your ear is tuned to hear My voice. I have given you the ears to hear and the Holy Spirit has empowered you to do what you would otherwise think un-doable. Be still and live this day with expectancy and excitement for what the Father wants to do in and through you. This day is part of eternity. I want you to live your life from this perspective. Actively release the concerns that would ground your flight! I want you to soar like an eagle. I want you to fly higher than you think you're capable of. Your freedom is going to astound you...surprise you...delight you. Today, IN ME...you have a chance to reveal the goodness and unfailing, boundless Love of LOVE HIMSELF. This is the best life possible...Enjoy it! 

"I still the storm to a whisper: the waves of the sea are hushed. You are glad when it grows calm, and I guide you to your desired haven."
                                                              Psalm 107:29-30

+ I make you safe when you don't feel safe. I help you to be true to yourself when the enemy rails at you for your failures and insecurities. He works to create the storm in you. I CALM it and lead you always to harbor. This is why I'm always saying "Come follow Me." When you are with someone Who knows the lay of the land (and you do...forever!) you need never feel like your way is lost. When the storms start to form on the horizon, you need not fear. I am your safety and protection from every fear...every insecurity...every disturbance. I am the One Who will never leave you or forsake you. Your task is to always trust and rejoice in Me. Be glad like a little girl, safe with her Daddy in a strange city, with no thought or fear of getting lost or injured...only excitement about where He will take her...what they will do together. Your life belongs to Me. We have a contract...drawn up at Calvary...never to be dissolved. You have been sealed. Your life has been bought and paid for. Relax in this knowledge. Know that the most Powerful Love in Heaven and Earth will see to it that your life has value and will be brought to fulfillment. He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. So, hold tight and rest in trust and excitement. Fear no one. Most importantly, do not listen to anything that constricts your ability to receive My Love (you know the voice that lies in this way). Let My Love for you and your trust in that love deflect these lies so that you don't/can't even hear them!  Think of the televisions at the airport... the ones that you can see but not really hear. You can only hear them if you get closer and focus on what's being said. Keep that image when the enemy tries to flood your tender psyche with lies. When they seek to get your attention, turn away from them...ignore them and sing praise in your heart to your Father! It's really that simple. I hush the wind to a whisper. With the noise level down, you can then hear My Still Small Voice cheering you on with love at every turn. This harbor is where you are meant to live....calm...unafraid...able to do all things through My Power which strengthens you and gets you where you want to be. It is out of this safe harbor that you are then free to give My Love away. It's a blessed life. Live it with boldness and gladness. Stay grateful. That's the anchor that keeps you rooted in My Love. Selah...pause and calmly think of that and remember to always rejoice!

- Thank you, Lord, for this glorious winter day....a dazzling display of your beauty.  


+ I'm in the decorating business....it's my delight to transform the landscape. I'm always giving hints of the glories to come. So, as you revel in the fresh snow gleaming against the deep blue sky, live this day in the glow of My Name and watch the eyes of your faith grow. You have prayed to know and experience the depth of My Presence within you. I am ALWAYS with you. You just need to learn to believe this is true. You do this by setting your heart and mind and soul to reverence... and by reminding yourself that you belong to Me...purchased at the greatest price.  Rest with Me...as though we were in a dazzling wooded glade together. My creation was designed to woo your heart. Sing My Name in your heart and you will find yourself in that wooded glade that is ever right below the surface. This is the secret place, where we are one, glorying in creation together. I have knit you together to be particularly sensitive to the beauty of My creation. Your joy in My creation gives Me joy! I want you to know...as you walk down the paths where every step you take requires faith...when you feel unable and alone....that this same Spirit of Beauty and Sweetness that hovers over all creation...Who has created and continues to create everything beautiful... dwells within you. Help is a prayer away. Sing My Powerful Name in your heart and know that I AM will prosper the work of your hands because you are the work of your Father's Hands. You are His beloved one and He longs to pour beauty and creativity through you. So...look not to the left or right. Know that at every turn...I AM is with you...the One Who knows exactly what you need. He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Keep still and believe that I will enable you to do what I have called you to do. Throughout this day... love with all your heart. Release all judgment and come to Me with your disappointments. We can talk. I understand. Stay in Me. Pursue peace and continue to pursue Love. Love Himself has pursued you all your life. I came to fill you with abundance so that My Love will touch everyone who knows you. This will expand beyond your comfort zone. Come, let me enlarge the territory of your heart and teach you My perfect way. Remember...nothing is impossible...NOTHING... with ME!
So enjoy this glorious day. All of life is a gift. Unwrap the treasures of this day with the excitement and anticipation of a child in the snow. Blizzards are a good example of how something that can bring the world to a stand-still can suddenly turn into something exquisitely beautiful. Live in expectancy even when the storm is raging and remember to run to your Father with your thanks. He gets so excited with grateful hearts! Go out with joy with every step you take and know you are led forth with Peace Himself. You are completely, perfectly loved. Enjoy this gift.

 
- A new year stretches out before me. I want to live it fully and with great thanks.


+ Year by year you see My faithfulness...My enduring Presence...My incalculable Love...pressing into you from all sides. I am the Ground of your being. I am the Center of all that you are. Press into My Majesty...into the rich Joy and Power and Peace set before you in unassailable Light. Open your inner ear to the sound of the Father's voice calling your name. His eyes of love are always towards you. His ear is attentive to the cry of your heart. He enjoys you...delights in His creation and lavishes His affection upon you continually. Let the coming year bring you deeper and deeper into the constant healing, freeing Presence of the One Who loves you the most. Love Him back with every fiber of your being. This is the sweetest existence a person can know because it is why you were created. In this place of total acceptance...total favor....you are groomed more and more into the vision the Father had when He called you into being. The knowledge that you are His creation can bring you intense satisfaction. When you have this sense of belonging completely to One Who treasures everything about you, there is no greater healing...no greater motivation to give this same kind of love to all who He brings into your life. Release even the tiniest indulgences in terms of any critical thought towards others. When these negative thoughts come, run to the Father and offer them as a gift of praise. Ask the Spirit to remove any judgments from your mind and heart, replacing them....especially those you think justified....with prayers of blessing and an abundance of the Father's lavish Love. This year will be a year of Joy and fulfillment. You are guarded on all sides by Love Himself. Can anything make you worried or afraid? Can anyone harm you? Can any force resist the glorious freedom that has been purchased for you? Rejoice with every breath you take. Put all concerns in this most capable Hand....the Righteous...Loving... Right Hand of your Papa. Nothing...no one can ever take this away from you. It is your inheritance..and that of your precious family. Rejoice! Outside of time it is forever New Year and in the Kingdom....it is always happy...There is always fullness of joy! 

"Lord, make me to know my end and to appreciate the measure of my days - what it is: let me know and realize how frail I am...how transient is my stay here."                                                        Psalm 39:4


+The reason it is so important to 'be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10) is that this is what gives you true perspective on your life. There are so many distractions in this world that can eat up the minutes and hours of your life. I live outside of time. In Me...so do you! But you still are bound by the allotted time of your days on earth. I created you with a purpose. I have given you this allotted time to use wisely. Step back and analyze what you do with what you have been given. Each person is given 24 hours. It is a precious gift. Calculate how you want to use it. Don't let the flurry of possibilities take you away from My plan....My call on your life. It would be better...far better....for you to just sit calmly in My Presence resting in My Love...not doing anything else....rather than to run around completing your "to do" list. It's not about what you do! It's about who you are! Minute by minute...the Holy Spirit is fully engaged in transforming your life into exactly what it is meant to be. What's the best way for you to access this help? Rest! Be still! "Embrace what the Spirit is doing in you." (Romans 8:4 Message) You can do nothing on your own! This is the folly of the enemy's plan to confuse your thinking. He wants you always to forge ahead and go it alone. Then, when you fail....which is inevitable...you get depressed and upset with yourself and feel alienated from Me (your only source of freedom and power).
Put the enemy on notice! Declare that your very identity is rooted in the Majesty, Strength and Unfailing Love of the One Who destroyed all the works of darkness. Step back and see the One Who has set you in the Light of the Father's Love. This is how you live your life.....one moment at a time...becoming fully the one you were rescued to become. Life in Me is calm...focused on the Father's voice...full of sweetness and love. When you live in this Peace that passes understanding, you have wisdom to BE. Then you understand the meaning of the words of Paul, when he said: "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me. I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency".(Philippians 4: 13)
This was true for Paul. It is true for you too! Test Me in this and see if this is not so!! There is no better life!