Feeling like I can Breathe again

Hey Girlfriends,

I have really missed chatting with you!!!  My life has been a whirlwind since I got a "part-time" job (25-32 hours per week) at the end of summer last year.  It has been a blessing  providing some financial relief, but at the same time it left me with very little margin.  Because of that I had to cut out some things and not having the mental energy to blog it was one of the first to be let go.

Fortunately I was able to cut back on hours for the summer and I am now just beginning to feel as though I am awaking from a heavy fog of fatigue that oppressed me continually.  It's late at night and I am writing my first post in months....hmm...I guess the fog will be back tomorrow.  If it is, it will be well worth it!!!  I've missed sharing my random, heartfelt, sincere thoughts. 

Friends, I do have so much to share and will share this more fuller soon, but before I go to bed I want to leave you with something to think on.  The Lord has burdened my heart with a verse:

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."  John 10:10b (NKJV)

Girlfriends, my hearts desire is that each one of us would experience the abundant life that Christ spoke of!!!  I'm not saying a pain free, trial free, easy life.  I'm saying a life that is rooted in the knowledge of Christ and the depth of His love so that despite the daily trials and sufferings there is a deep abiding joy!!!  The kind of life that knows the comfort of the Spirit and comforts others with the same comfort they received....the kind of life that does not look at what is seen, but the unseen and places her hope in the eternal.  Girlfriend, that's my prayer for you and for me!!!  

I need to go to bed, but I will write more on this soon...for my heart is filled with a burning desire for us to get this!!!

Peace! Be Still!

Jesus Calms the Storm

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” 

Matthew 8:23-27 (NIV)

Recently I found myself anxious about the many things in my life that were beyond my control and I felt powerless to stop the incessant  worrying.  My mind kept dwelling on the worst case scenarios, all the "what ifs".  There was no rest for my soul, no peace, and no joy in my heart.  Just a constant sense of impending doom.  I desperately wanted to find comfort in my God, but I could not hear His still small voice above the clatter of my own anxiety ridden thoughts.  Then it happened, it was so sudden like a gale wind that appeared out of nowhere.  His voice broke through to the depths of my heart "Peace!  Be Still!"  Instantly the weight of all my fears and anxiety had been obliterated as I embraced those life giving Words.  As I lingered on those words I felt a spreading warmth sweep over my entire being.  The kind of warmth that happens when you know that you are truly loved, through and through, just as you are.  

How amazing and Humbling it was for me to have Jesus respond in such a gentle, patient, and loving way.  He could have been angry with me and rightfully so for my lack of faith, but instead He remembered that I am just dust.  He was not surprised by my thoughts or my giving into my fears since He knows them all already and yet He loves me anyways.

Dear Sisters, Jesus wants to calm the storm raging in your hearts today too!  Can you hear His still small voice echoing in the inner chambers of your mind "Peace! Be Still!"?  Those Words are not just for me, but for you too!  Stop for a moment from what you are doing and reflect on the One who has the power to calm the fiercest storms even those that rage in our own minds. 

John 14:27 (Amplified Bible)

"Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]"