- Lord, teach me how to love people I don't feel comfortable with, people I find dull, people I find annoying. Tell me how to live You and be true to myself.


+ You know Me, My love. You know that each person I bring into your life is very precious to my heart, so your impatience with and unloving response to them go against the Father's heart.But I know you already know that. I also know that you don't want to feel these feelings and that you have reached out in love and sought to bless them.

Here's the point you want clarity on. There will always be people you naturally gravitate towards...those who are so easy to be with, where all self-consciousness flies out the window. I felt that with John. I knew he'd never let Me down. He "got" Me. The rest of my followers varied. Peter, who was clumsy, unthinking, rash, weak was certainly not John, but I loved him just the same. I looked past all that he wasn't and loved who I knew he had in him. Other disciples fought over who'd be greatest...pushed the children away (Goodness! Didn't they know My heart for children?) etc. etc etc.

My point is clear, honey. John had a relaxed and natural relationship with Me, but with the others, there were occasional  conflicts. I even had to tell Peter "Get behind me satan!" That was a bit of a tense moment! 

What you need to embrace (and I use that word intentionally) is that your relationships are not to be based on how YOU feel about those I've brought into your life. They are to be based on how I feel about them. The free and easy friendships are gifts that are dropped into your heart as sheer joy (also to remind you of your best, truest self). The harder ones are your chances to watch the Father's heart at work in your heart, despite your feelings. As you have learned in every major friendship of your life - feelings come and go! Weaknesses and warts emerge. No one is without them... and even the best relationship will have to stand the test of the innate selfishness and flaws of human nature. That's where I come in! This is where the Holy Spirit shines! You cannot muster up feelings of love, camaraderie and enjoyment, but with the Holy Spirit's help, you can love despite your feelings... despite the judgment that sits like a cruel master ready to pounce. You can be the Love of God, even when you are the weakest, least graceful one in the group. The key is to ignore your feeling... throw judgment our the window and COME TO ME... right then - right there - while you are not enjoying those you are with. In your heart of hearts STOP - REPENT (have another thought ) and  IGNORE YOUR FEELINGS. DROP ALL MEASUREMENT AND ASK ME TO HELP YOU LOVE! These are exercises designed to lead you into that spacious place where you will never feel that constriction again. Judgment and measurement constrict you because you know what you're feeling and it makes you feel like a hypocrite. Running to Me and seeking My Love for these people bring RELEASE and JOY. You see how you can learn to ignore your myopic, limited assessment of people (something you need to learn to do at all times) and turn to the Holy Spirit for true vision... for Him to reveal the TREASURE. Suddenly your trying time has become a fun challenge. The point, My love, is NOTHING IS WASTED. I can show up and transform EVERY moment and EVERY relationship of your life. Meanwhile, the easy friends are the dessert....delicious and sweet... that you are meant to treasure and enjoy. 

+ I will always keep you deep in My Love. It is the Father's great Joy that this is where you long to be. You know His eye is on the sparrow - How much more has His eye been on You...His beauty and love chasing after you every day of your life! What Joy is His when you stop being chased and are still and wait! This is the loving Father, Who waits at the home-coming path for your complete return. He's known you and loved you...formed you... designed you...has had a Father's unique and glorious plans for you from the beginning of all time. You have always been the apple of His eye, even when you forgot about Him and felt far away from His arms. You have never been out of His Heart. What Joy to have you run full-force and throw yourself into His waiting arms! How He longs for your confidant trust in His perfect Love! What pleasure it gives Him to have your eyes turned to Him... your heart melted by His Love... your life given to Him in surrender! It is the holy surrender of perfect love. This is the Love that saturates everything about you and washes you with the beauty and clarity of the Word. There are no words that can translate the mystery of this massive, relentless love that is yours for the taking. All good gifts - ALL Good Gifts - everything that is beautiful - pure - good - kind - peace-filled - generous - loving - every good thing springs from the Heart of the God of the Universe... the God of the Galaxies... the God of your blood-bought life!
Bow before Him in reverence as you hear Him laugh you into His arms! The Highest, Holiest God of Highest Heaven invites you into His most intimate embrace. This is a thought too deep to absorb! Each time you run to Him, He's ready to enfold you within His healing Heart. The only thing left for you to do is to live your life full of joy and laughter... thanksgiving and songs of praise. Live your redeemed life to the full, at home in your Papa's waiting arms. 

- Lord, You know that I long to live in and through You like Brother Lawrence and Frank Lauback. I believe that this prayer will be and is being answered because it's why You came! Help me, Lord. Show me how to live my life in You.


+This, My love, is the surest prayer you can ever pray because it springs from the Father's own heart. Rest in Peace! These are the words spoken when someone dies. You have been crucified with Me, therefore always and ever you have the covenant bought for you to rest in peace! It can be made to seem so difficult - this good news I bring - yet, if you do what I said and live like a child, you will see how simple it is. 
So what is it that a child has that so many adults don't?

*A child lives totally in the present moment. She is not concerned by what happened (even what she did wrong) yesterday or by what is coming tomorrow. She is so full of the moment before her, she has the capacity to fully live it. 
*A child knows how to play. Why is this important? Look at all the animals I've created. They have been engineered to know how to romp and cavort and play. This is a reflection of the manifest Joy that abounds in Heaven. There is so much happiness and sweet interaction in the Kingdom! Play might seem insignificant, but truly it is a distillation of the sheer glee that abounds in Heaven. It is Heaven spilling over onto earth. Play shows you Who your Beautiful Abba is. It is His pleasure that spreads joy and beauty everywhere. Unfortunately, this is one of the first things to go when childhood starts to fade. Games becomes sources of competition and stress, and fun disappears! Life turns serious!
* A child forgives and doesn't hold grudges. She is incapable of bitterness. She doesn't drag yesterday's mistakes into today. She forgives freely... fully... happily. She is eager to forgive.
*A child is guileless... unaware of what is acceptable and unacceptable. She has no self- consciousness. A child is free and not encumbered by self-imposed limitations or introspection. 
*A child confidently tries to do things and believes that she can! She can fall many times while trying to walk, but she ignores the falls and keeps on trying. She is happy to try. 
*A child loves freely... unconditionally... fully. 
*A child believes. She is open to faith. She trusts. 

So, when I told My disciples to be like a child - that unless you become like a child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, these are a few things that I was saying. 

What's wonderful about your desire to live your life in Me is that this is all that is required! This desire is what Your Father loves; what the Holy Spirit empowers and what sustained Me as I faced the cross. It was the joy set before me. 

The Holy Spirit is with you, in you, every second of every day to help you... to fill you..  to free you... to use you. 

So Rest in Peace! All is well! You have chosen the One Thing and it will never, never be taken away! All of heaven is yours! The Father's generosity is truly beyond comprehending. His desire for you cost Him greatly. Now, nothing in all of creation can separate you from His Love. Indeed, in Me..the mysterious Three in One...you already live and breathe and have your being. Rejoice and RIP!

- So yesterday, I was at the dining room table, having quiet time, and Stella, the deer that I feed, came around the bend. There were about seven other deer in the yard, feeding on the newly-fallen leaves. Stella didn't bother with those. With the cutest, confident swagger, she strutted straight to the front of the deck where she could see me sitting at the table deep inside the house. She set her feet and perked her ears up (looking her very cutest) and stared. There was so much confident expectancy... such a faith that I would respond to her silent vigil. She was unmoving. I told her I wasn't going to feed her with all those deer in the yard...that she was going to have to wait until they all left. She waited. They left. Apples came her way!


+ This, My love is a perfect picture of how I want you to be - one who breaks away from the crowd to seek me on your own. I want you to come expectantly, knowing that I love you...confident that I love to bless you...that blessing you gives your Father great Joy! 
I want you to see her - your Stella - (aptly named because she is a little star among the universe of deer that inhabit your back yard) as a picture of Mary choosing the one thing. Let Stella teach you by her single-mindedness and her quiet audacity, to seek and guard your time alone with me as your only and best source of sustenance. Learn the sweet discipline of waiting. This little deer knows how to not only  survive, but to thrive! Apples, tomatoes and corn are so much more delicious than leaves! She knows you so well! She has learned instinctively from her Papa, her Maker, Whose eye is on all his creation. Be like this little, beloved creature. Live each day in joyful expectation. All the gifts of the Father are yours to receive. Come. Wait. Be filled. This is a simple plan for thriving in this one day before you. 

+My Holy Spirit hovers over you...every step...every day.
You are never outside looking in. You are in the consummate inner circle... the arms of perfect Love. Rest here and know that this love will never fail you. I know everything about you. I'm here for you. Trust in all the ways I've already shown you my unfailing love and kindness. Rest in Me. Don't fret about anything. Nothing is more powerful than My thoughts towards you. Nothing can impact your life more. Truly, it is for freedom I came. Bring me every single way you don't feel free and allow Me to show you the immeasurable power of My Love. Before your eyes, I will melt the chains that keep you bound. My Love is boundless, so shall your freedom be! This should make you so excited and glad and expectant. I love it when you display your confidence in Me. I love to show Myself strong on your behalf. I love to crown you with favor. I love to heal you and empower you to be all that I created you to be. Rest and wait. It pleases your Father to dress you up like one of his lavish fields...to pour out his blessings - Joy - Peace - Fruitfulness - and to have you dance in His arms, every moment in sync with the twirl of the dance...every move carefully following his lead...feeling the strength of His arms and the beauty of the dance. This is only the beginning. You indeed are ageless in the kingdom. Live your life this day steady in His arms, ready for the twists and turns, confident and overflowing with joy.

- Lord, I want this to be a special day...a turning point...a day of boldness in my mind and heart. I want this to be a day of appropriating the identity you suffered so much to procure. I choose this day to serve with all my consciousness, as best I can, the God of all creation...the lavish King, Who has blessed me so graciously. I choose to serve God, My wondrous and perfect Father, with all my mind and heart and strength.I will take the Joy He has given me and let it be my strength. Lord, You say You will never leave me or forsake me. Help me never leave You or forsake You in any way! Surround me with Your purpose which cannot be thwarted. Guide my steps and show me Your face. Lord, You know I long to hear Your voice. Remove this heart of stone (any way I am unresponsive to Your will ) and give me a heart of flesh. Lead me. Celebrate in me as I live this day to honor and serve you. 

+Your trust and continued faith in Me are the best ways you can serve Me. These lead you into an obedience that is radiant with promise. It is like the obedience of the golden retriever, who is so happy to do the master's bidding, who is the perfect illustration of exuberant obedience.Ah! But you know you are so much more to Me!  I want you to know that right now, you are on the sure way to total fulfillment and peace and continual, sustained and unflagging joy. This joy acts as a bridge over every piece of shaky ground in your life. I Am the Bridge! This is and always was the plan.