This is what I heard God say today:

“Find the Joy in the Journey! There are many things that come to distract you and take your eyes off of Me. Fear is a big one. I did not send fear but I gave you a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. I reveal the truth while the enemy uses fear. Whenever you feel the grip of fear settling upon you-

“Look Up! I am your ever present help in time of need. There are a lot of unknowns in the world around you but I am the One who sets the times and seasons. Seek Me first. Seek My Kingdom first and the liar and his lies must flee. I came to give abundant life and no one can take that away from you.

“The Key-Seek Me and My Kingdom and I will give you Peace- My Peace, not that of the world. Come fellowship with Me. Come and draw near to Me. Come and let Me overwhelm you with My Love, Peace and Goodness. Put away all of the distractions and get rid of all the clutter and rest in My embrace as you experience and live in My overwhelming, deep, reckless and intimate love. (2 Tim 1:7; Psalm 46:1; Daniel 2:21; Matt 6:33; John 10:10: John 14:27)

Hi, My beautiful child.Do not worry, do not get weary for I am here. I am in the Storm. I told you about a storm coming during one of your visits to PA (side-note: I will share that one later). MaNy have tried to stop this storm but I am in it. It is My Storm. Nothing can stop what My storm is to accomplish. Be prepared. Stay prepared. Be like the five wise virgins who had plenty of oil. Read My Word. Pray. Worship. Fellowship. Share My Gods News. Keep you eyes fixed on Me and not the distractions caused by the storm. I am with you always, My child. I am Who I say I am. And I will do what I say I will do. Rejoice always, again I say Rejoice! You can Rejoice and have Peace in the Storm for I am here and I will never leave you nor forsake you. Peace be still My child and watch what I am about to do. (Matthew 25:1-10; Philippians 4:4-7; Psalm 46:10; Galatians 6:9; Mark 4:35-41)

“Life can be like the waves of a rough sea, when there are warnings of rip currents and you feel like you are being tossed around, pulled under and at the mercy of what is going on around you. You can feel as though you are being broken into small pieces and that you no longer recognize or know the person God created you to be, like broken shells on the beach. You can feel as though wasteful and unwanted things that do not belong are being tossed at you and you’re left holding them like the trash scattered up and down the beach.

You can feel like everything you know or thought you knew is being pulled out from beneath you like eroding sand being pulled out to sea. You look at the things going on around you, things left in your possession but not understanding what it is or what it’s used for thinking that it’s not important or just clutter like seaweed on the beach. 

But I am with you. I am the Great I Am and even though you are going through things you don’t understand, I will take these things and use them for good. I spoke to the storm and tossing waves and said “Peace be still.” I created you in My image. No matter what comes against you, no one can take away who you are in Me, who I created you to be or Whose you are. You are Mine beloved.

When you feel as though trash is being thrown at you or left at your feet, don’t stand there looking at it hoping it will go away or get cleaned up on its own, I have given you My authority. I took back the keys to the Kingdom that were stolen by the one who tried to usurp My authority. Close doors that have given him access and change what you need to in your life that will keep the doors closed, forgiving those who hurt you.

When you feel as though the sand you are standing on is quickly moving out from beneath your feet, your eyes are not fixed on Me and your foundation is not built on Me. My love is the foundation that no one can move. It can not be shaken or pulled out from beneath you. Walk in Love, be love, in all you do- love. But it is not enough for you to love, for how can you love those around you if you do not know the width, depth, height or length of My love toward you.

Nothing can separate you from this love. You do not need to do anything to earn this love. I have freely given you all My love. You can not fathom how much I love you but as you begin to walk in the heart knowledge of My love, you will begin to understand it more and more. I am your foundation. My love is your foundation. My love never fails and will always remain when everything else has eroded away. I have given you hidden treasures wrapped in plain packages like seaweed.

Will you just discard them thinking they are a waste of time or will you search deeper, longer until you find all that I have for you like perfectly preserved shell protected by seaweed or lost treasure at sea or buried deep. The things, treasures, that I have for you will take a lifetime to find. Everyday that I have made, I made for a purpose. You have a choice. You can seek Me and find Me and know that I am good or you can allow the distractions of the world, the arrows of your enemy or your selfish desires take your eyes off of Me.

The choice is yours. Each day I place before you life and death, blessings and curses, Choose Me for I am your Anchor in the storm, your strong Tower of protection. In Me all things are possible. I never fail. My love never fails and always remains. Rest in My love and the assurance that I have always loved you and that nothing can separate you from My love.”

His love is our foundation. It is a safe place- a place of Rest.

When I looked at the rose bush, the bud was completely gone. We believe an animal decided to make a meal out of it. This morning I looked again.

There are two new rosebuds.

 
We may feel there are times when everything is taken from us and His promises aren’t going to happen. He is Faithful and He gives abundantly.

Keep your eyes on Him.

Keep falling more in love with Jesus and I do believe He will surprise you with how He fulfills His promises.

At that time I did notice that the other house had a two car garage as compared to our three car one and that the garage doors faced the other direction, but thought nothing of it. As I continued to walk and expand my route, I still did not notice any other houses that looked like mine. But one day God opened my eyes…

I began to see that even though this one had a brick front, (which mine did not) or that one was a different color than mine, those houses were the same model as mine. I began to see models where the driveway was right in front of the front door as compared to mine which is on the side of the house. I saw a house which had a window in the bathroom that was a different shape than the one in my house.

As I am writing this I have realized that if someone walked around the neighborhood and looked at my own house that they would notice an additional window than what is in their own.

So why share this with you?

God began to reveal to me that we are kind of like the houses. We expect to find people who believe exactly like us. We expect others to think or react like we do. We tend to look for friends or want to socialize with those who think like us more than we do those who are different.

We will sometimes only hang out with someone because the qualities that we see in them remind us of us. As I walked through my neighborhood and continued to see houses that were the same model as my own that I had not noticed before, God continued to show me that we as His people are like those houses.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we all have the same foundation, Him. How that looks or comes across to those around us will be different.

As a mother of four children I can testify that no two of them are alike. Yes, they may have some similar likes and dislikes but they all have unique life experiences and personalities through which they process and respond to situations. Are we as God’s children any different?

He is a good, good Father and gives us the best gifts. We may find others who walk in gifts that are similar to our own but just as even the first house I saw, there will be differences because He created us all different.

I want to celebrate what God is doing not only in my own life but in the lives of others. Instead of criticizing others because they don’t respond to something like we would, let’s celebrate what God is doing in their lives.

Is someone drawing closer to Him, are they sharing their faith with others, are they building others up in Christ and encouraging them in their faith, are they…?  May God begin to open our eyes to see that even though someone may not react or respond to another like we would, it’s okay.

It was actually encouraging to me when I began to see other houses that looked like mine. I think it was encouraging not because I wanted there to be other houses like mine but because God wants us to encourage, comfort and edify one another no matter what differences we see. He wants us to be one in Him, united not divided.

Blessings to all!

You see for many years I tried to be like others. I would see different qualities or characteristics in them that I liked and then would try to imitate what I saw. As I have gotten to know ‘me’, the person He created me to be. my life has changed. I no longer try to be like others but have fun being me. I have learned that I am so accepted and loved by God that no one can make me feel rejected (unless I let them).

So why start a blog. Like I already said, I had no plans to start one but God had different plans. As I have gotten to know the person He created me to be and am walking in that knowledge, I am learning to listen to His voice and how He speaks to me in ways I didn’t in the past.

I love to walk outside, being surrounded by God’s creation. As I walk and listen, God will speak to me about things going on in my life or bring revelation to me that I didn’t have before. I believe that God wants me to share the things that He is showing me to bring encouragement, comfort and hope to those who read these posts.

I want to share with you now something that brought me comfort right after my dad passed away.

I found out early on the morning of October 20, 2015 that my dad passed away. I was able to fall back to sleep for a short time after hearing the news.

After I fell back to sleep, God gave me a dream. In my dream I was sitting at a table and had fallen asleep. I woke up to the sound of phones vibrating on the table. I handed my husband his phone and then answered mine. When I answered it, I very clearly heard my dad’s voice. He told me to hold on a second and when he came back I knew that I was on a conference call with other family members.

I asked him how he was and what he was doing. He didn’t say how he was but his voice was full of life, joy and excitement. I had not heard his voice sound like this in about a year because I watched his health decline and his once strong body become frail.

In the dream he did share with me what he was doing. He said that he would have to soon go because he was going to go intercede with Jesus. We talked for a little while longer but I do not remember what we talked about and then he said he had to go because he was going to go pray with Jesus. At this point in the dream I handed my phone to my husband and went to do something. I did not hang up the phone at that time. When I came back, my husband handed me the phone and said  your dad never came back. I took the phone and hung it up.

After I had this dream I knew that it was not just for me. I shared it with my husband and children, which helped bring comfort in the midst of grief. In the days that followed on one of my walks, God told me that I was to share the dream at the Celebration of Life service that was held for my dad.

It is my prayer that the God of all comfort will bring His comfort to those who need comfort. Blessings to all!