- Father, nothing's going right with the mortgage. It's been such a time of stress. I've failed miserably to trust...to Rest...to "Be still and Know that You are God." They say you find out what's in a person when they are squeezed. For the past two weeks, I've been squeezed and not much of You has emerged, only my fretful - myopic- anxious - grudge-holding self. Now is when I need to turn away form this unflattering mirror and look only at YOU, Who came to save me from myself. Oh, how I want to walk in triumph through these tests! To praise You no matter what! To thank You no matter what happens! Help me, oh God of my heart! Help me let go and let You arise and shine in my deepest being. 

+ My beloved, It is for just such moments of weakness and failure that I gave you the Comforter, the Advocate, the One Who 'gets you'...sees your potential....bypasses your disappointment in yourself and lifts your tear-stained face to the One Who loves you perfectly. He has the power to work even these moments of weakness into good! Trust Me NOW...this day and refuse to contemplate anything but the triumph of My dazzling will for your life. Death has been eating away at you. The enemy of your soul loves to kill your faith and any hope you have in My goodness. He loves to make you believe that you are a hopeless case and that your God is a fraud. Hah! Look at that! Would you ever think I am a fraud - one who is out to hurt you...cheat you...take from you? See the lies? When you look at them in print, they seem like something you never would believe! But, my little one, this is exactly what you have been choosing to believe these past few days. This liar, who is out to steal your identity is a master at identity fraud! You must resolutely hold on to the irrevocable facts that I have placed deep in your spirit...the promises that declare that "Nothing will ever separate you from My Perfect Love...that "God is For you...never could be against!" Listen, beloved. You must be ever diligent to step back and look at what you are believing. When you embrace the Truth of Who I am and will always, always be for you...your ONLY response can be Joy and Rejoicing because you know I never change. You know you are Mine. This enemy cannot be ignored. You have allowed him to literally eat away at all of the promises that you possess. You have listened as he has whispered these dark lies (about Me!) and it has taken a toll on you. But, my beloved, fret not! You have sought Me...called out for help and I am right here to help clear the air. What you need to always remember is that I have Promised that "no weapon formed against you will (ever) prosper."... that "I have come that you might have LIFE and have it to the full! This is the Truth and it will never fail to set you free! So, relax my honey. Drop all the ways you blew it and rejoice. In Me all things are new. That includes YOU!
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-Speak Lord...I'm listening.

+ Be still and know that I am God. I am your God...the One and only God of the universe Who oversees His vast creation and knows the number of hairs on your head. I neither slumber nor sleep. I am deeply aware of the most seemingly insignificant details of your life. The expression says, "The devil is in the details." Interesting expression, considering the fact that I am the Creator of the details! Perhaps you can interpret that phrase to mean; the devil can tie you up into knots in the details. He can use the little things to break down your resolve and get your focus completely off of the Big Picture (that would be Me!) This is why My perfect Son said: "One thing is needed." and " Seek first the Kingdom and everything else will be given to you." Details can clutter your mind and heart. They can be like a dust storm that swirls through a landscape, rendering it hidden. When the dust is flying, it takes all one's energy to be able to see what's right before your eyes. You have eyes, but you can't see. But when you know the Truth...the one Truth that opens blind eyes..confusion is dispelled and storms are stilled. When you understand that truly, only One Thing is needed, you are able to sit at the feet of your Master and King and be completely still. You trust...as you cast all your concerns on the Lover of your soul....that all is well. You have all you need. Peace stills the turmoil and Joy fills every moment...covering all the details with a calm expectancy that declares: "All is well." All IS well! So, no matter what is going on, choose to be still and know this Truth as the one focus of your mind and heart. Peace is yours. I give you My Peace, that your life may be full and overflowing with the Joy of My Presence. When you are still, you are able to know that I am God. This is the best detail of your life. 

-Lord, I want to fully live this day that is before me in Your presence. I want to live it through Your Power and Your Joy...which is my strength. 

+Joy to the World, the Lord has come! I have come for you! I have come to you. It is for perfect, exhilarating, Love-filled freedom that I have come.When you see your much-beloved Christmas lights...think of every tiny, shining light as a life rescued from the darkness. Be my little Christmas light. Be My Christmas song. Let your life be a Christmas Carol declaring Joy to the World. This was the Joy set before Me as I faced that first Christmas tree. This is what I purchased when I became the first and eternal Christmas gift. Daily unwrap your gift. Study the instructions...the Word. Give yourself away. Give Me away everywhere you go. I am the Gift that keeps on giving. I am transforming you. Rest in the sweetness of My Unfailing Love.I know everything you're going through and if you rest in Me...you can learn many lessons of Joy. Don't look at the past. Don't hold on to the things you think you can't live without. I can put windows in your soul with better views...more expansive and penetrating Light than you have now! Do not fear tomorrow. I've got that covered. Live today in the warmth of your Perfect Father's Love. That's ALL you need. The Holy Spirit will take care of getting you from here to there...from beginning to end. It's His job and He loves it! He loves to begin a good work in you and enjoys being faithful to complete it. So...in this season of frenetic racing around and the intensity of preparing to shed this beloved life and step into a new one...continue to seek to rest and to rejoice. Every minute of now can be lit from the light of eternity. You don't have to wait to die. "Pass through - pass through the gates. Prepare the way for the people. say to the ends of the earth, 'See, your Savior comes. See, His reward is with Him'." (Isaiah 62:10) This is who I want you to be...a living, Christ-bearing Christmas carol, singing Me with your whole being.  

-Lord, I need You. I need to feel close to You...to truly know You are in me and I am in You.

+ My love, you are completely unaware, as you go through your day, of the steady, constant breathing that sustains you from minute to minute. A good way to feel close to Me is to be more aware of this life-breath...breathed into you from your first moment of life and sustained for you continuously from that moment until now. Be conscious of your breathing and then think about Me. It's no accident that breathing gives you life. You pull in oxygen and it knows just what to do. It goes into your system...helps clear your blood of impurities and you breathe out those impurities to make room for more and more oxygen....more life.Your amazing Father designed this system* (and every other perfect system of your body). This gives you a tiny glimpse of His unmatched intelligence and love. You know, because I promised, that the Holy Spirit is in you...He is the gift of Life eternal...empowering you....filling you with Light and Wisdom....Guidance and Grace. Just as you are constantly replenished by the oxygen you mindlessly pull into your body, there's not a second that the Holy Spirit is not filling you with Me! It's a mystery beyond fathoming. 
So yes, My love, you are miraculously close to Me. You are filled with the answered prayer I prayed to the Father Who gave His All for you.  Try to be more conscious of your breathing....whispering My Name throughout the day as you breathe in and out. It will help you remember and experience just how close I am. Didn't I promise I would never leave you or forsake you? Believe it! It's true!

*I looked up how breathing works and was astonished at the intricacy and detail God created. See below:

When we breathe in, air enters our nose where dust and other particles are filtered out--the 1st line of defense. Here the air is warmed and moistened before  it travels down, past the throat, through  the windpipe or trachea. The trachea and  other air passages are lined with a sticky  mucus that traps germs and particles be- fore they enter our lungs-our 2nd line of defense. Special cells called cilia have  tiny waving hairs that push this mucus  up and out of our lungs along with all  the pollution it has trapped--our 3rd line  of defense. After the air flows down the  trachea, it passes into two large tubes  called bronchi that carry air into our  lungs and then into smaller and smaller  branches called bronchioles. The  bronchioles lead to tiny air sacs,  the alveoli, which transfer oxygen to  the blood and remove carbon dioxide  that makes the same return trip when  we breath out. Here, there is even a  4th line of defense, the alveolar  macrophages. These scavenger cells  eat foreign particles and bacteria that  would make us sick. All this is happening as we obliviously go through our days....amazing!

   


  

-Lord, You know me. You know my heart. You know how much I want to experience Your Presence from  moment to moment. I come before You now and ask You to inspire me by the power of the Holy spirit. Come, Lord Jesus. Live in me and let me know it!

+All around you is great turmoil. The world is vibrating with the sound of hatred...the sound of terror. Your friends are in terribly sad marriages. some are terribly sick. You are about to leave your beloved haven. Hatred,trauma and sadness swirl around you like thick smoke trying to blur your vision and suffocate you. Stop! Right this moment, whisper the Name above all Names! Let it reverberate throughout your inner being until that's the Only thing you know. This is the Door out of the darkness into the Light. This is sickness to healing...war to peace...hatred to love. This is the impossible Good News that declares in the midst of all the evil "GOD IS GOOD"! This is the Hope that demolishes hopelessness and fear. God IS good...every moment of every day of every year...forever and ever GOOD! How then does this immovable fact impact your life? This is the challenge. This is the crossroad. This is where you see before you Life or Death. No matter what things look like - always choose life, My love. Choose to have Hope. Choose to Believe. This is how you walk into the fulfillment of all the Promises of God...right here...right now...no matter what things look like....no matter what the unbelieving world declares. This is where you lay hold of the Kingdom of Heaven...aided on all sides by the mighty Power won for you on the cross...reinforced by the indomitable Joy of the High Holy Spirit, Who walks you triumphantly through each challenge you face and surrounded on all sides by angel armies who line your path to victory. Remember always: "In Me you live and breathe and have your being." Your inheritance has already been given freely to you from your eternally good Father. So Rejoice!