common ground

"Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."

1 Corinthians 9:19-22

I always just assumed that HE had me writing HIS DAILY TEACHINGS as a way of me telling my story of what HE has done for me.  To inspire, to motivate others to give their lives to JESUS by just reading my writings.  What I am learning though is so much more.  I am learning that in every situation that I have endured through hardships, tests, trials, and deep sufferings, that my healing isn't just for my benefit, rather to help JESUS reach the last, the least, and the forgotten in letting the brokenhearted, the wrecked, and the battle weary know that HE SEES them.

Honestly, I thought HE would only have me write about my encounters with THE ONE TRUE LIVING GOD, not that I would actually be a part of the rescue.  This became especially true when my son died, and my mind was blown and I thought, "well this is it kid, forever until you die, you're going to cry, grieve, and mourn, and that's it for you."  I didn't SEE any other way, I hated the plan, and I was so devastated that this was my life now and forever more.

This morning, as I began to consume my portion of HIS DAILY BREAD, I couldn't help but smile, as I began to SEE my life once again in between the scriptures.  I smiled and thanked HIM once again for surprising me in a new and tangible way, as I began to soak in HIS TRUTH even more of the purpose of my life.  

I am honored to say that in every situation that I have endured, HE has let me know HE will not waste an ounce of it.   HE is taking me back through all the things I've gone through, showed me that in the way that HE taught me, is how I am able to SEE others through HIS eyes.   It's how I am able to write and share of HIS GOODNESS here in the land of the living.  

More than ever, I am SEEING the world as HE does.  More than every I am discerning WHO is in NEED of prayer, kindness, compassion, and tenderness.  Mostly I am SEEING WHO NEEDS to experience HIS UNFAILING LOVE.  I am SEEING how HE has instilled in me a common ground to help win souls for JESUS CHRIST.  I am truly living out HIS HOLY PROMISES for my life in every situation that I am encountering in my every day.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight"

Proverbs 3:5-6

I am truly experiencing what it means to have Monday Morning Faith.  To be in constant and continual prayer for all the saints.  For all the lost souls that are in NEED of a DIVINE ENCOUNTER.  I am truly living a life that I have prayed for all these years that I have been following JESUS.  More than ever, I am really starting to grasp the full commitment I have made to TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL MY HEART.  I have learned and will continue to learn what it means to NOT lean on my own understanding.  I am learning that HE has revealed to me the common ground on which I stand here in my life, doing my part in the body of CHRIST JESUS to help build HIS KINGDOM here on earth as it is in Heaven. 

Knowing this, I know that as much as I am answering HIS call for my life, my humanness, my selfish ambitions still get in the way.  As sometimes, even though I have common ground, I get frustrated and I forget how I NEEDED JESUS to show me, and I NEEDED JESUS to heal me, and I NEEDED JESUS to set me FREE, and how I NEEDED JESUS to RESCUE me from the mess I made, in the horrible choices I made in choosing my FREE WILL over HIS WILL for my life.  More than ever, I am remembering how many times I've made a mess in choosing to hold onto grudges, to be angry, react in anger, and frustration.  I'm remembering falling so very short of HIS GLORY, and I truly remember all the times where I have shut down, shut out even JESUS in my life because well, hadn't I suffered enough?  Didn't I do enough?  "Oh LORD JESUS help me to get my eyes off of me, as I've done NOTHING without you. "

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"

2 Corinthians 10:5

I know that it is imperative that I take every thought captive as how quickly my eyes will turn to me, instead of HIM, and I will allow myself to wallow in my own self-pity.  I will self-destruct in my pride, and my selfish ambition.  Knowing this, I am grieved, I hurt knowing I choose this in my humanness.  Therefore, I take EVERY thought captive when I find myself spiraling and I SEEK HIM, cry out to HIM, to JESUS to please HELP ME, as I am a sinner in NEED of a SAVIOR and JESUS is my SAVIOR.  

I am learning it is imperative that I continue to pour myself into a deeply personal relationship with JESUS so that I will become more like HIM.  To be willing to just sit in the quiet of our HOLY PLACE, and just listen, and wait for HIM to speak to my heart.  Tio allow myself to be encompassed in HIS HOLY PRESENCE and let HIS PEACEFUL PRESENCE wash over me.  This I know full well will be a part of a DIVINE ENCOUNTER that will require common ground between myself and whomever HE has sent my way.  

This is especially true in the capacity in the ministry of which I serve.  In the way I am no longer a consumer of the congregation at the church I am a part of.  Rather I go to WORSHIP HIM, and to pray intercessory prayers on behalf of the souls who are struggling to worship in their suffering, As I remember all the times where I struggled to sing of HIS GOODNESS, where I questioned whether or not HE truly was for me.  When my tears poured like rain, and I came undone in front of my brothers and sisters in CHRIST, and in their desperate attempts to fix me, to help me, prayed pacifying prayers that only drove me further into the pit of despair.  Encounters of "trying" to find common ground that led me to isolate even further.  This I know, I've experienced, I've lived, and because of that I know HE has created in me a desire to have common ground with the brokenhearted, the lost, the last, the least, the forgotten, the betrayed, the angry, the shutdown, the isolated, the lonely, the grieving, the ONE WHO HE will leave the 99 for, for them to have a DIVINE ENCOUNTER with JESUS, to BE SEEN, HEARD, KNOWN, and to experience HIS DEEP LOVE that is just.for.them.

Precious Dear Ones:

HE SEES you, this I know to BE TRUE.  I know HIS PROMISES are indeed HOLY, and that HE is STEADFASTLY FAITHFUL to remain with you no matter what.  HE loves you and wants to help you.  HE wants to set you free from ALL that burdens you, hurts you, and keeps you in the pit of despair, full of sadness, sorrow, and pain.  HE wants to free you from the anxiety and depression that has taken over your life.  HE is sending HIS LIVING VESSELS, HIS kids to help HIM reach you to win your soul, to reconcile you back to YOUR HEAVELY FATHER, YOUR ABBA, YOUR CREATOR.  HE has a plan, will you trust HIM, will you let HIM rescue you?  Maybe, just maybe the person whom you have common ground with NEEDS you, or maybe just maybe you NEED them.  In ALL ways, you both NEED JESUS.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With so much love, compassion, tenderness, kindness, and common ground,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

completely floored

"When Jesus had finished this sermon, the crowds were astonished at His teaching"

Matthew 7:28

I can remember the second time I went into treatment for child loss PTSD.  I along with 3 of my children were seeing a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with CPTSD, a double whammy (diagnosis carried over from my grief therapist) from my childhood, and then child loss.  A diagnosis that she prescribed two different medications to treat clinical depression and anxiety, as well as a sleep aid to help me stay asleep through the night.  

In my third month of treatment the solution that was given to me was that I would never hold a job, heal from PTSD, or be able to do anything more than just staying at home, raising and loving my kids, and basically just surviving my life until I died.  This is where the lie of HOPE for HEAVEN was solidified, as I had succumbed to the pit of despair in losing ALL HOPE FOR LIVING as I had already been begging, pleading and crying to the end of soul for JESUS to please come back. I was crushed by the solution, as I knew somehow, someway I had to do more than survive, but I didn't know how.... the only thing I knew was WHO.... JESUS.

HIS DAILY TEACHINGS today has been a culmination of the last almost year and half as HE has taken me through a HOLY RESET and has brought me to place of complete and total healing in my clinical diagnosis of anxiety and depression.  Honestly, I'm completely floored. and astonished by HIS GOODNESS, and HIS STEADFAST FAITHFULNESS to me and for me.  I am blown away by HIS amazing grace and tender mercies poured out for me to step towards healing and learning to THRIVE here in the land of the living.  It is because of JESUS that I am no longer suffering alone, I'm no longer suffering in grief triggers.  It is because of JESUS that I am able to BE ALL IN, to surrender fully, knowing full well what could be asked of me.

Honestly, thinking about what could be asked of me, should scare me, however because of JESUS I have been completely floored by HIS GOODNESS.  What I mean to say is, even if, even when, or even though the worst possible thing could happen again, honestly, I know whatever it may be, if I'm meant to survive it, JESUS will carry me through it.  That not only will I survive, but I will experience HIS GOODNESS here in the land of the living once again.  I know full well that no matter how much it hurts, I will survive, if it is to BE HIS WILL for my life.  I will survive, ALL FOR HIS GLORY.

I have learned in the hardest of ways to TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL MY HEART.  I have been completely floored by HIS STEADFAST FAITHFULNESS, and I'm so grateful to know, to TRUST that I am indeed BLESSED to mourn.  Not that it's a blessing to suffer, rather it's a blessing to suffer with JESUS.  Not that I am thrilled to be hurting, in fact I'm quite exhausted by grief, however I've learned to cry out to JESUS, and HE will give me HIS strength to endure.  

It is now the month of September, and October is on the horizon, staring me down, and the enemy is wanting me in shambles., drowning in a mess of tears.  JESUS though, has completely floored me with how HE has set up not only the month of September, but what is coming this October.  Such as holding HIS hand and keeping my eyes opened to experience ALL of HIS GOODNESS that HE has planned for me.  To not just pray the next few months away, or to want to shut down and shut out the world because living through another year is too painful.  

More and more I find myself being completely floored by HIS goodness, by HIS HOLY PROMISES that have been deeply personal just for me.   This theme of HIS STEADFAST FAITHFULNESS to remain has been on repeat in my every day of my life for as long as I've known HIM, and even further back, as in the moments where I let HIM into the deepest hidden pains within me, HE has healed me, poured HIS TRUTH as a soothing balm that heals me so much it's as if though nothing ever happened to me.  

Through being completely floored by HIS GOODNESS I have experienced immense healing and freedom.  So much, that I am now able to write from a place of TRUE CONFIDENCE as I know WHOSE I AM.... I know WHO I AM in CHRIST JESUS.  HE has restored me, revived me, healed me, set me apart, and is leading me to pray for the people whom HE has planned for me to encounter in this life that I have been given.  I am being completely floored by HIS plans for my life, as this past year and half has been WILD, and has left me speechless so many times.

So much HE has changed every aspect of my life.  HE has healed me in my body from high cortisol from stress and has brought me to a place of almost a ninety-pound weight loss.  So much that whenever someone sees me who hasn't seen me in quite some time ask me what I did, my response is, 'It's what JESUS DID, it's not me, and it's ALL FOR HIS GLORY."  So much I have been completely floored by ALL the GOOD PLANS HE has had for my life.  Plans that I prayed for, hoped for, but never really thought they would come true, as I had little faith for healing in that way.

Precious Dear Hearts,

Perhaps today should find you all cried out, desperate for relief, and reeling from the irrevocable changed you've been forced to live for your life.  Maybe you've decided to follow JESUS for the 1st time, even though you opened your heart to HIM many years ago.  Perhaps you've felt the conviction to ask, seek, and knock, and you're heart's desire has become to know HIM more, and for HIM to grow your faith even more.  Do you know HIS PROMISES are HOLY, and are deeply personal and just.for.you?  Do you know that HE has good plans for your life?  Will you TRUST JESUS, and be ALL in?  Perhaps this is the beginning, your beginning of being completely floored.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With so much love, compassion, tenderness, and empathy,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

even more

 Yesterday, during worship in church we sang about " ALL I want, ALL I NEED is MORE of YOU and less of me, take my life, LORD it's YOURS, have my heart, have it ALL."  As I raised my hands in surrender, I was reminded to open my hands to release that of which I was holding onto.  In the next moment I knew HE was bringing me back to the moment in my office on the morning of October 13, 2014, where I stood ALL in, proclaiming I trusted HIM with everything.  When I promised to go wherever HE leads me, that HE saved my life, and I TRUSTED HIM completely.

As always, my eyes welled up with tears, as I knew what it meant to surrender fully.  My eyes scanned the room and watched the hands raise high in the air, and I cried out in my mind to HIM, "OH LORD JESUS do they know what they're fully surrendering?  Do they know what is being asked of them?  Please don't teach them the way you taught me, please JESUS."  

As I wiped away my tears, I felt HIS tender presence surround me.  I felt HIS gentle, and kind hand take mine, comforting me, as HE knew why I was crying, and what my tears truly meant.  HE knew how my heart was broken on the worst day of my life.  HE was there with me, then, and now in this moment where my mind was flooded with all the even's that Ive had to learn to embrace.  The even if, even when, even though, through all the even's that I could think of.  

Yet, this morning as I sit here and write this very post HIS loving reminder is bringing me back to me pouring my heart out to HIM this morning in my journal.  Pen to paper I wrote, "LORD JESUS, how I love YOU.  How I love YOUR WORD.  I crave to know even more. To draw near to YOU even closer still"

HIS DAILY TEACHINGS today is HIM pulling me even closer still to know that there is indeed even more for me to know, to experience, to live.  That just when I think I'm starting to really understand what HE is doing, and has been doing in me, for me, and through me, I'm finding out there's still so much more, even more that I could possibly think of, dream of, or dare to ask for.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"

Ephesians 3:20

Today HE is wanting me to share what is required when you go ALL IN with JESUS.  What you're really surrendering.  Your life, your health, your marriage, your children, your job, your finances.  ALL of it, all that you hold tightly to, that is the very thing HE is asking you to surrnder.  I know this as I have had to learn in the hardest of ways, yet truthfully, I find immensely comforting that even if I were to lose as the world says we lose, I have gained so much more, even more than I ever knew could be possible.  Going ALL in has brought me to a peaceful surrender for myself, as I have learned that I am NOT in control of much of anything in this life other than my own thoughts, words, and actions.  I have learned that I cannot be anyone else's HOLY SPIRIT (this has been a suprisingly tough challenge for me, because I just want to help people whom I've discerned are battling lies of oppression.) 

I have learned that it's much more about what I pray to HIM WHO is actually able to do immeasurably more than I could think of in my humanness., HIS TRUTH that I NEED on repeat, to continuously remind me that HE is the SOVERIGN LORD, NOT me.  HIS TRUTH that even though I have been careless, or thoughtless with my words in the past, even in my prayers, by just praying pacifying prayers which is really just me going through the motions.

If I am truly wanting even more, then I must understand the commitment that is required of me, the dying to my fleshly desires to be liked, or adored by people As words of affirmation are what I have craved since I was a little girl.  This is because of the abandonment lie that was breathed into my soul at a very tender age.  However, because of JESUS, I have been set free from that very lie, and I am now standing confidently before the LORD going ALL in, wanting, asking, seeking, for even more.

Through obedience I am learning what is required is truly letting go of myself and picking up my cross to follow HIM.  That I have prayed to BE able to mourn with those who mourn, to love as JESUS does, and if I am truly committed to doing HIS WILL, and HIS WAY, to truly obey HIS commands for my life, I must meet with HIM daily in our HOLY QUIET PLACE, where I draw near to HIM, and HE pulls me even closer still.

HE is letting me know that if I am asking for even more, then even more will be asked of me.  Not because HE wants me to be unhappy, or rigid, rather so that my heart's desires will be aligned with HIS.  So that my focus will be on HIM, and ALL that HE is doing, so that I won't crave attention, or adoration for myself, rather I will have a pure clean heart, to do ALL things ALL FOR HIS GLORY.

I am continuing to learn that ALL in requires me to take every thought captive, and allow HIM to renew my mind daily, sometimes even multiple times a day.  Continuously, constantly making HIM 1st in ALL that I am doing.  Asking myself, is what I am consuming, does it exalt HIM?  Am I giving HIM ALL THE GLORY HONOR and PRAISE that HE deserves, or am I trying to skim off the top of my offerings to HIM, for HIM?  Am I merely just saying I crave even more so that it will appear that I fully invested in becoming more like HIM, or am I truly committed to do whatever it takes... even if.... even when.... even though???

In a moment while talking with my 17-year-old son last night, I said, "I'm not asking you to do, or go anywhere, any place where I haven't gone myself.  I'm not encouraging you to fight for your freedom in ways that I haven't already done myself.  I'm just letting you know that I was only able to learn to fight to get FREE to BE FREE, and to stay FREE because of JESUS.  HE helped me, showed me how, and HE will for you too."

Precious Dear Ones, I only write about my experiences, of what walking with JESUS has been like for me.  I write because I was once a person whom the busses of life were always running over.  I was as my husband likes to say the "underdog."  It was in the crossroads of my lfe, where I chose to RUN to JESUS, and my life has NEVER been the same since.  I write to share HIS DAILY TEACHINGS, as HE is the AUTHOR and I am HIS LIVING VESSSEL.  Willing, committed, to go ALL in, for even more.  Dear Ones, it is my fervent prayer that you as the reader of this blog, will be encouraged to go ALL in, to seek HIM, to know HIM in a deeply personal way.  I pray that you will have tanglible encounters with HIM, as you read these posts.  I pray that you will know that you are NOT alone, that HE with you.  That HE SEES you, HE knows you, (even the smile that you fake to appear okay.)  HE knows that happy face you show the world, and the tears that flood your soul.  HE is with you, and HE has a plan to help you, to hold you, to heal you, to RESTORE your soul.  May today be the day you allow HIM to lead you beside the still waters, to lie down in the greenest of pastures as HE RESTORES your soul.  May today be the day that you begin to crave even more.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With so much love, tenderness, compassion, and deep empathy,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

reverence and awe

  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

I could feel HIM pulling me even closer still this morning, readying, steadying my heart to receive HIS tender mercy for another deep belly grief moment.  A moment that would cause tears to well up in my eyes, with only one escaping.  Tender mercy that it was more than okay that I cried out "Oh my GOD, Oh my GOD, please HELP me JESUS."  This was the very moment where I came undone and collapsed in the driveway while waiting for the 1st responders to show up, to rescue me from the living nightmare unfolding within me, as shock and horror led to my body shutting down.

It has been in the healing through HIS mercy that HE has let me know that it was more than okay to cry out to HIM, frantically, desperately, as HE knew, HE was there, and HE gave me the breath to cry out, to release the agony of the overwhelming pain I was experiencing.  True to WHO HE is though, HE wanted me to know that I must always approach HIS THRONE OF GRACE in total and complete Reverence and Awe.  

I am learning this means that there have been times in my life where I have said, "oh my GOD," in a flippant manner of speaking.  I simply utter or muttered those words.  Or when I've halfheartedly proclaimed, "Praise GOD.," completely disrespecting the manner in which I have been called to approach HIS THRONE OF GRACE.  I've completely missed the mark and didn't realize that I was being casual and careless with my words, and I well because I know HIS HOLY SPIRIT dwells within me, I have grieved the LORDS HOLY SPIRIT, and that hurts my heart.  As I believe it breaks HIS, and if I am asking HIM to break my heart for what breaks HIS, then I must allow myself to be humbled to SEE where I have fallen short of HIS GLORY.

In my desire to become more like JESUS, HE is taking me even further into HIS TRUTH and revealing to me where my mind NEEDS to be renewed, and lies have to be removed and replaced with HIS TRUTH.  That just because I've always thought a certain way, or that I have been resolved to think, "well this is WHO I am, and how I will always be."  Nothing could be further from HIS TRUTH, as I am learning each and every time I choose to put HIM 1st, and meet HIM in our HOLY QUIET PLACE, that HE WILL meet me.  HE will draw me near, and we will be face to face, so that I can hear HIM, and HIS heartbeat for what matters to HIM.  HE is showing me another layer of HIS depth of HIS love for me, and desire for me to know HIM more.  I am learning that by the way HE is revealing to me the way HE created me.  To NEED HIM, to consume my portion of HIS DAILY BREAD so that I am able to look, love, and live like HIM, to be CHRIST LIKE, to BE like JESUS.

This has been my heart's desire for quite some time, and just when I think I'm finally starting to understand, HE reminds me through HIS BLESSED ASSURANCE that I couldn't possibly know or understand ALL that HE has for me, as I was created to NEED HIM forever, and in knowing that, I must understand that the process of sanctification will continue until I am called home, or JESUS comes back.  This is why I believe, and TRUST that HE taught me my life verse in the book of Philippians 13 years ago.  HIS word that would be impressed and imprinted on my heart.  Embedded, planted, deeply rooted, to which HE would cultivate good fruit from.  Good fruit that I am now experiencing an abundant harvest from.  

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1:6

I am continually in a state of wonder and awe of just how WONDEROUS are HIS WORKS.  HIS LOVE has truly changed my life.  HE has truly done a MIGHTY RESTORATIVE WORK within me, taken me through, brought me through, carried me through the REFINNG FIRE, a fire started by my enemy intending to destroy me, JESUS stood in the flames with me, and RESTORED me., and I believe this is WHY HE is wanting me to understand the power, the level of responsibility that I have to BE obedient to SURRENDER, to boast ONLY OF HIS GOODNESS, and to share my JESUS STORY for ONLY HIS GLORY.  

Looking back over these past 13 years of my life, I can now SEE that HE has prepared me for this very season I am living.  Preparation that began with repentance and surrender that then required total and complete obedience to obey HIS commands.  Obedience that began a GOOD WORK within me, to lead me to the next thing.  HE knew what I would endure.  HE knew I would lose Seth, and that I would suffer the deepest loss of my life.  HE knew and HE prepared me.  HE planted, and cultivated deep roots of understanding HIS character and promises just enough, that those DEEP ROOTS would remain intact and would carry me through the hardest season of my life.

DEEP ROOTS that taught me WHO HE is, and then I experienced what that meant for me.  DEEP ROOTS, that began to dig a DEEP WELL of EMPATHY for those WHO mourn.  So that I would know and understand my calling, my purpose to mourn with those who mourn.  To be able to listen without speaking and praying through HIS HOLY SPIRIT, all the while being filled with HIS power to discern what I NEED to pray for.  Losing Seth, Deep loss taught me, and showed me that I wasn't alone, and HIS GOODNESS that came out of my deep loss is the ability to be an intercessor of prayer for the brokenhearted.

Truly I have lived and experience HIS GOODNESS of HIM keeping HIS HOLY PROMISES to me and for me.  I have had tangible moments to recall of HIS HOLY SPIRIT interceding on my behalf, such as singing, "Cornerstone in the truck that night, saying "The LORD gives and the LORD takes away, BLESSED be the NAME OF THE LORD." Job 1:21 - and so many more tender mercy moments in the first few days of agony, that carried me through the last almost 12 years.  

Though the surrender of the suffering, allowing HIM to show me what HE wants me to know in the suffering, HE is strengthening and deepening my TRUST in HIM and for HIM.  I am falling more in love with JESUS and can't believe HE died for me, and then HE didn't stop there.  That HE continued to pursue me to know HIM even more, to set me FREE to heal me, all the while holding me, and helping me through the anguish, the heartache, and the desperate missing that I continue to live with as I know will always be a tenderness that HE keeps within me so that I will continue to dig and even deeper well of empathy for the brokenhearted, so that I will be able to hold space, to pray for, to mourn with those who mourn.  I am learning the imperativeness of my understanding and commitment to ONLY approach HIS THRONE OF GRACE with humility in total and complete Reverence and Awe. 

Precious Dear Ones,

HE knows why you say what you do.  HE knows why you think what you do.  HE wants you to TRUST HIM with your thoughts, as HE already knows and is just waiting for you to admit them to HIM.  May you open your heart to HIM and allow HIM to renew your mind, so that you may receive a heart transformation.  May this reminder to approach HIS THRONE OF GRACE with complete humility in total and complete Reverence and Awe.  HE died for you because HE loves you, HE knows you and wants you to know HIM.  May today be the day you open your heart to HIM, to let HIM hold you in the sorrow, sadness, pain, and may HIS TRUTH wash over you like a soothing balm everywhere you hurt.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With so much love, compassion, tenderness, and empathy,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

right on time

"I remain confident of this:

    I will see the goodness of the Lord

    in the land of the living.

14 

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong and take heart

    and wait for the Lord"

Psalm 27:13-14

I have learned that HIS PROMISES are HOLY, and TRUSTWORTHY.  This is because HE has taken the time to draw me near, as I have surrendered to HIM, I have drawn near to HIM, and I have experienced HIM pulling me even closer still.  It has been through the surrender where I have come completely undone in my humanness, and I have cried to the end of my soul in the struggle and suffering that I have had to endure for most of my life.

I thought that I only began suffering in October of 2014, however HE has brought me to a place of peaceful surrender in many moments of our HOLY QUIET PLACE where HE has drawn near to me and has let HIS grace fall like an avalanche over me.  Cascading like a waterfall reaching every single part of me, soothing all the hurts within me.  Letting me know that HE was there for every single moment of my life, whether I knew HE was there or not.  I know this as I've experienced many times in my life, moments of HIM taking me back to the moment agony, sorrow, and suffering began in my life.  There have been too many moments to count, and HE has healed me through each and every moment I've surrendered to HIM, and allowed HIM into the deep pain that I had buried in layers of self-protection so that I would be able to survive and not give into the darkness that was always on my heels, taunting me that there wasn't any other way out, but to end it all. To end the suffering by my own hands was the lie the enemy tried to impress upon me to get me to succomb to.

Thankfully HIS timing is perfect and is always right on time.  In just the right time, ever so gently, kindly, and deeply and compassionately HE met me in the sadness, sorrow, and pain.  HE held my suffering in HIS SOVERNIGN MIGHTY HANDS and poured HIS GRACE over me.  HE made sure I knew that I could TRUST that HIS MERCIES would always be made new each and every morning where HE ensured my eyes would be opened.  HE met me in the darkness and let me know that even though I couldn't lift my head up, HE encouraged me to turn my head from side to side, that even face down in oppression the enemy couldn't keep my eyes from SEEING HIS LIGHT.  

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it"

John 1:5

HE wanted me to know that HE understood how weak I had become, and just how battle weary I felt in having just to breathe another moments breath.  HE knew, and HE met me with even more grace, even more mercy, and flooded me with even more peace.  HE loved me back to my feet.  HE brought me out of the deep abyss of agony, sadness, sorrow, and pain, to the survivor's shore.  A place where I was certain was my purpose for the rest of my life.  This is because I had believed the lie that I would survive until I died.  

Thankfully HIS timing is perfect and is always right on time.  As slowly ever so gently HE taught me how to sit up again at first for just a brief moment, but slowly HE healed me to sit for longer periods of time.  After a while in HIS perfect timing, HE taught me how to stand again.  Holding me with HIS RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND, NEVER letting me go, HE remained STEADFASTLY FAITHUL HOLDING TIGHT to me.  NEVER letting me go, HE remained, HE stayed, repeating HIS HOLY PROMISES to me, over me and for me, over and over on repeat until I was able to speak to them out for myself.  It wasn't too much longer and HE let me know I was going to walk again, and for me this meant pray again, out loud, not in silence as I had been doing (this is because I felt as though I had a target on my back, and I was terrified of even more pain being inflicted upon me.)  To pray out loud to speak HIS TRUTH, HIS HOLY PROMISES for me and as always, HIS TIMING was perfect and was always right on time.  

HE knew I was terrified to walk more than a few steps, as we were still so very close to the shore and the grief waves were crashing the shore and pulling me back in and under.  At first, it took me a while day, weeks, and even at times months to recover) to get back to the survivor's shore.  However, HE remained, and once again HE proved to me that HIS timing is always perfect, and just like all the times before HE moved, HE carried me and led me back to me feet to be able to do the things HE had planned for me at just the right time.  

The theme I learned in those times of learning to sit, stand, and walk again were that HE will always be right on time, preparing my heart, my eyes, in pouring HIS TRUTH in me, equipping me with HIS strength to do what HE had prepared me to do.  HE didn't leave me out in the abyss all by myself, (even though at times it sure felt like it, as agony was hell on earth.)  I had to learn to DIG DEEP with HIM, to allow HIM to make my feet like that of a deer to be able to navigate the rough terrain of suffering.  Slowly HE planted and cultivated a DEEP TRUST in HIM and for HIM, through repentance and surrender of my will and my ways.  

Because of HIS HOLY PROMISES I have learned, experienced and lived HIS TRUTH that has been deeply embedded into my heart and is the very place that I am writing this blog from.  I have learned to NOT let the setback cause me to turn away from HIM.  That HE is always right there with me, and HE knows the disappointment that I am feeling.  HE knows how tired and exhausted I have become due to how much hardship and suffering I have had to endure.  I have learned in the hardest of ways NOT to walk away, and allow the lies of the enemy to sway my TRUST in the LORD, in getting me to believe that I am unworthy of HIS goodness, and that HIM promising me that I would SEE HIS GOODNESS IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING was just a lie, that it may be for others, but not for me, as I was unworthy, because I failed to be a "good little soldier" in HIS army.  A lie that leveled me for a very long time.  A lie that has been cast out and has been replaced with HIS TRUTH at just the right time.  To ensure me with HIS BLESSED ASSURANCE that I am indeed worthy, and HIS TIMING IS PERFECT and is always right on time.

I am learning that each time I choose to meet HIM in our HOLY QUIET PLACE, HE is already there, waiting for me.  HE delights in me and is so excited for me to know HIM even more, and even more than that HE loves when I seek HIM and find out just how much HE knows me.  HE loves to surprise me with HIS word as my life falls in between the scripture.  When I SEE that HIS timing truly is perfect and is always right on time.  

Precious Dear Ones,

My prayer for each of you today is that you will come to know JESUS as I know HIM.  That unlike people who hurt you, let you down, and break their promises to you, that HE will NEVER break HIS PROMISES to you, as they are indeed HOLY.  I pray that you will come to know and TRUST HIS WORD and know that it is indeed infallible.  I pray you will be able to TRUST HIM, to take HIM at HIS WORD that HE will NEVER let you down.  That HE will NEVER EVER forget you, HE will NEVER EVER leave you.  I pray today will be the day that you open your heart to HIM, that you will bravely surrender the pain, the anguish, the sadness, sorrow, and pain to HIM.  That you will allow HIM to sit with you, to hold you, heal you, and help you.  I pray that you will begin to SEE that HIS timing is always perfect and is always right on time.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With all love, tenderness, compassion, and deep empathy,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

the plan

 I've had to reconcile with the fact that the plan for my life I once knew was irrevocably changed on October 13, 2014.  That the life I was living was gone forever.  In an instant I was forced to look in the mirror and no longer recognize myself.  The plan had changed, Seth was gone, my baby, my little boy, our 5th born, their little brother had died, and forever for the rest of our lives one of us would be missing.

The plan consisted of saying goodbye, and the very thought left me feeling angry, depleted, defeated, and cheated.  The plan was so unbelievably unfair, and I felt so very betrayed by GOD.  My heart had been shattered, and my mind was blown, obliterated with just a flip of a switch everything went gray and was covered in a dense fog.  

For months I laid with my head on my bible as tears streamed from my eyes and pooled as oceans at my feet.  I drenched my bible in my tears.  I actually ruined that bible, and I kept it as a reminder of what happened during that time in my life.  I used to think I kept it as a memory, but now I know I kept it as a promise of HIS STEADFAST FAITHFULNESS to remain, to catch and keep every single one of my tears because HE taught me that they are so very sacred to HIM.

In the past 2 years I've grieved even more of the plan in my life.  Plans where I thought I would have certain people in my life, if not for the rest of my life, for theirs.  I've grieved with JESUS when I didn't understand the plan, and when it hurt so bad, and made my longing for heaven even stronger.  In my tears, in my questions, I poured out my grief to JESUS, and HE met me in the sorrow, in the sadness, and brokenness of waiting for even more healing.

These days I'm not much of a worrier, as it does me absolutely no good.  I've learned this in the hardest of ways when the reality that I wasn't in control of anything beyond my thoughts, words, and actions.  Currently I am giving all of my concerns to JESUS, my tears, my fears, my worries and anxieties.  ALL.of.it.  My heart is so broken and I'm doing my best to just keep moving forward with my life, even with a broken heart.  

I'm continuing to TRUST JESUS with ALL of my life as its truly in HIS hands.  I'm taking one step at a time, taking a few deep breaths if needed to recenter, while praying for HIM to flood me with HIS peace.  Even with all the healing I've received, I'm still struggling to understand the plan as the changes have been so unbearable at times.  Saying goodbye or not even getting to say goodbye has been a struggle for me all the while grieving the deepest loss of my life.

The plan to live life and celebrate Seth's life is one that I desire.  Yet truthfully, it hurts so much to have to celebrate him, without him.  October is coming, it's on the horizon and HE'S letting me know that the plan is for me to keep my eyes open to SEE HIS GOODNESS, to BE apart of HIS GOODNESS.  HE is wanting me to know that HE knows how I usually white knuckle my way through October and close my eyes and pray for it to be over.  HE knows, and the plan is for me to cry, grieve, celebrate, and keep moving. The plan is to keep living, even when it hurts.

For me, living even when the plan hurts, seems so unfair, and can be downright brutal at times, still I find immense comfort in knowing the plan includes HIS GOODNESS in the LAND OF THE LIVING. I am comforted to know that HE SEES me, HE knows the tears that fall from my eyes, and the unseen tears that cover my soul.  I am deeply comforted through songs, and writings from other's who they too have had the plan of their lives irrevocably changed. Songs that resonate with the desperation I feel in missing my son.  The deep sadness that floods my heart whenever I hear lyrics that speak volumes to the pain of my son living in heaven without me.  I am deeply comforted when I read HIS word and it reminds me that NOTHING I will have or will ever face in this life will ever be unbeknownst to HIM.  

I write often, if only, and its so many things, it says all the things that I would do if I had only known.  Things that as each day passes, I'm reminded what moments were stolen, how the silence would be so deafening, that I would have memorized Seth's voice, I would have taken more pictures, and videos capturing the very essence of his precious little self.  I would have memorized his little hands in mine, feeling him reach up, and his sweet little blue eyes looking at me, and the million times of kisses JESUS that I would have kissed JESUS a million more with him, if I had only known the plan. 

Precious Dear Ones,

Should the plan of your life change in an instant, my prayer is that you will know you are NOT alone.  Cry out to JESUS, reach for HIM, HE will reach for you.  Should you go to sleep tonight having to say goodbye too soon, should tomorrow have to start without a piece of your heart, my prayer is that you know JESUS.  That you will know HE is truly close to the brokenhearted.  HE is with you, for you, and HE will help you through the change of the plan. My prayer is that when your tears become your food, and you can no longer eat or sleep, and even though your world stopped, and time has stood still for you, I pray that you know that the sun will rise and shine once again in your life.  I pray that you too will SEE HIS GOODNESS IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING.   I pray that you will know HE is there, to hold you, to help you, and that HE won't rush you to accept or embrace the plan.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

Always, with so much tenderness, love, compassion from a brokenhearted Mama,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather

Deep Well

“I have heard many things like these;

    you are miserable comforters, all of you!

3 

Will your long-winded speeches never end?

    What ails you that you keep on arguing?

4 

I also could speak like you,

    if you were in my place;

I could make fine speeches against you

    and shake my head at you.

5 

But my mouth would encourage you;

    comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Job 16:2-5

I just love whenever I am led to the infallible WORD of GOD and as I'm reading, I begin to SEE my life in between the scriptures.  HIS DAILY TEACHINGS today is taking me back to a time where in the early stages of grieving through deep loss I stopped showing up.  In church, fellowship, community, and well in my life in general.  Not because I didn't need people, but because being with people, embracing life hurt so badly.  I was in a tremendous amount of pain, and no matter how much I prayed, cried out, begged, pleaded and came undone, I couldn't escape the living nightmare that was my reality.

Every morning I would wake up and my first though was Seth was gone.,, gone.... but how is that even possible when he was just here.  Afterall, Seth was here until he wasn't and that very truth hurt more than any words could say or begin to comprehend.  I was lost, I was in agony, I was desperate for relief.  I NEEDED healing, and I didn't know if I could wait for HIS perfect time, and even more I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

I remember clearly the day I decided I would no longer show up at church, and when I stopped reading my bible.  As NOTHING was bringing me comfort.  I knew HIS PROMISES were TRUE, but in the grief, and deep sorrow, all I could see was and endless gaping hole of where my son once was.  I was so tired of my falling apart being on display.  Keeping me vulnerable to the "hamster wheel" people, whom I knew they meant well.  I always knew when they would see me, and I would envision the "hamster wheel" of thinking that if they could just think of words of brilliance that would snap me out of the deep hole of darkness and despair.  I knew they meant well, but in my raw honest grief, I hated everyone, and everything, Equally, I didn't discriminate, I hated ALL things happy, good, smiling, and fun.  My world was so dark, as I was obliterated by Seth's death, and I hated knowing and having to go to sleep with the realization becoming more real that Seth was gone... gone.... only to wake up to a new day of fresh sorrow.  I hated my life, I hated living, I wanted JESUS to come back... or to take me HOME.  I wanted relief, I NEEDED a reprieve.  I so desperately NEEDED healing, yet with the thoughts of healing came the fear, the threat of people forgetting that though Seth was out of sight, he most certainly wasn't out of my mind, and that crushed me.  

HIS DAILY TEACHINGS today is revealing to me HIS GOODNESS, that what once a deep hole of agony, sorrow, darkness, and despair, is now a DEEP WELL of empathy, kindness, compassion, tenderness and grace. This I know and recognize in the scriptures as HE is having me soak in HIS TRUTH in the book of JOB.  Who was a man of complete integrity, who was blameless in GOD'S eyes., and is a written story of deep agony, sorrow, and despair as JOB lost everything in his life, everything except his actual life.  Each time I read JOB, I'm taken even further into what he had endured, how his friends "tried" to comfort him, they failed spectacularly, and JOB ended up speaking the LORD'S TRUTH to them. 

I am learning that each and every morning that I choose to meet HIM in our HOLY QUIET place that is where HE meets me right where I am, and HE waits for me to BE open, to TRUST HIM with even more.  This I know, as I am currently deep into the belly of grief, which is the deepest pain where memories flow that are still so very tender, and raw.   The memories of the first moments where the worst day of my life began to unfold.  Slowly, and gently, HE is guiding me to those raw, tender moments NOT to harm me, rather to heal me, in pouring HIS soothing balm onto my not so new wounds, however, in going back into them, the pain feels like yesterday yet it feels as though it was a lifetime ago.  

This I am now SEEING as HIM teaching me to DIG a deep well of empathy, compassion, kindness, tenderness, grace, and love that is NEEDED in order for me to mourn with those who mourn.   As I have learned in my own mourning that what I NEEDED wasn't always given, and what I was given wasn't well received, and ended up doing more harm than good.  In knowing this I am RESOLVED to mourn with those who mourn just as JESUS did and continues to do every single day of my life, and since I know this.  I am determined to being a comforter, and NOT a fixer or a solver of someone's grief.  I want to BE honoring to their pain, and to BE able to love, look, and live like JESUS to whomever I encounter.

I don't want to be a "hamster wheel" person who prays pacifying prayers. I don't want to be surfacy in the willingness to sit in their suck with them.  I want to BE where HE sends me.  To sit in the suck, to cry, to mourn, to grieve.  To give and hold space to the brokenhearted.  To BE a source of HOPE, light, and love to them, and for them.  I want to BE so attuned to HIS voice, that I am able to discern when speak words of life, and TRUTH, and when to pray those very things.  I want to BE honoring, to have a DEEP WELL of empathy, that meets the brokenhearted right where they are so that they will know that they are SEEN, HEARD, and that they will know and experience that they are so deeply loved.  I so desperately want to BE HIS LIGHT in the darkness, and despair.  To BE HIS MESSENGER of HOPE, as HE is the source of my HOPE.  I want to pray and lift up them to JESUS WHO is THE HEALER of ALL hurts.  

My life's prayer has evolved in taking my eyes, and focus off of me, and my eyes are fixed on HIM.  To teach, lead, and guide me, to show me how to BE ALL IN.  To live, love, and look like JESUS.  So that I am HIS LIVING VESSEL to help HIM heal the brokenhearted.  Not that I will do anything, rather what HE WILL do through me.  I pray daily for the readers of this blog that they will SEE HIM, and that they will SEE their own lives in my JESUS STORY, as HE is the SAME for each and every single of us.  I pray often over the numbers, not to boast in the stats of the blog, rather to pray over the number of souls whose eyes read HIS TRUTH here in HIS DAILY TEACHINGS.

Precious Dear Ones,

HE knows, HE SEES you, HE knows how badly you are hurting.  HE knows what you have endured.  HE knows what you're struggling to forgive, and why you can't forget what's happened.  HE knows how much you cried, and HE knows how much you loathe crying.  HE knows, and HE cares.  HE has a DEEP ENDLESS WELL of compassion, kindness, tenderness, empathy, grace and mercy that is just.for.you.  Dear Ones, HE is making a way through the wilderness.  HE will make ALL things new.  HIS HOLY PROMISES are TRUE, for me and for you.  Even if pulled away from HIM, HE'S there waiting for you to open your heart to HIM.  Even when all you see is ashes and embers of a life you once knew, HE promises to RESTORE all that you have lost.  (Truthfully this promise was one of my greatest struggles as HE wasn't going to RESTORE our life with Seth, however HE did RESTORE my precious memories of my son's life and brought me to a place where I was remembering more that he lived, and not just that he died.)  Even though, you're still seeing gray in your world, and the grief fog and cloud is hovering over you, HE promises to turn your sorrow into dancing, and will give you beauty for your ashes.  HE is with you, HE will NEVER leave you nor forsake you, even when you're struggling.  HE is STEADFASTLY FAITHFULL to REMAIN.  

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

With a deep well of empathy, compassion, kindness, tenderness, and love,

Your Sister in CHRIST JESUS,

~Heather