Reconnecting

Why does it feel so difficult to connect with God sometimes?

Because fear is a shape-shifting obstacle, always making itself out to be bigger than it is. And because lies hold great sway in our hearts as long as we believe even a small bit of them.

But if we can sidestep fear and rejection for a moment and exist in a space of simple confidence - the middle ground between haughty and forsaken - to presume upon One whose very nature is a mystery...we just might find the other side of living. The kind of living that lights up EVERYTHING.

And if we can do it once we can do it again, and if we can do it multiple times we can establish a pattern in our journey that is cooperative with the benevolent Unknown.

from the other room...

"Here it comes. Here it comes. The joy-life. Seeing the future. Running with power. OH YES! Here it comes. Here it comes. Your Kingdom here on earth...just as it is in heaven."


(Little people echoes...filling the space with Greatness. )

HERE IT COMES
(Todd Warren)

I'm never so much alive as when I'm dreaming HUGE...believing You for things
No one's ever seen before...no one every knew could be done
The Spirit just calls us on...Your Spirit just leads us into
The reality of the bright glory of
Your sons being princes...your daughters princesses
Your children knowing who they are
Your children moving with Your purposes

HERE IT COMES
HERE IT COMES
THE JOY LIFE
SEEING THE FUTURE
RUNNING WITH POWER

HERE IT COMES
HERE IT COMES
YOUR KINGDOM HERE ON EARTH
JUST AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

So here is our faith...small as a seed but bright as the sunshine
Here is Your power...our of Your kind, good intentions
We're not stopping...we're throwing all of ourselves into your faithfulness
You will not fail us...for You have finished everything needed
The truth renews our mind and our environment changes
And we'll stay right here until our destiny comes full force

Plan on it, baby.
Thanks Jones and Shiloh for singing Daddy's song on your own time.
I needed that.

The Door

I'm sure that I saw Jesus today at the coffee shop.

Everyday banter with a stranger...bundling up and packing his books to leave...I say, "it's not getting any warmer out there." He says, with true grit, "yeah, I really feel for the ones on the street who don't have a home to warm up in." That was all.

He leaves. I watch him walk away. Hot drink in hand, I lead the child procession out the door into the five degree weather...weeping and wondering...tears freezing as they fall.

Comments and questions in the car on the way home center around, not our own comfort, but our welcome mat. Still wondering how to lay it down.

Timeless Christmas Cheering Section

(from the archives...and just for YOU)



The brightest STAR in the heavens fell to the earth over two thousand years ago.

I wish I could've been there to CATCH IT...

to hold in my hands the G-L-O-R-Y of God that had fallen to fill our darkened world with LIGHT...

and to grace us with its illuminating Presence.

BUT I WAS NOT YET BORN.



It's beauty was beheld by all who had eyes to see its [value], and the lives of those who looked upon this WONDER OF THE WORLD were forever changed.

It was a sacred star, and though it faded out of sight for a brief moment in history...

it was destined to RISE AGAIN, return to the sky, and take its rightful place in the universe.

And so it did.



The story of its falling and rising has been told for centuries...

and those who have ears to hear come to understand the M-I-R-A-C-L-E of its significance.

For me, this moment of truth came when this very same STAR fell into my heart and touched my e.x.p.e.r.i.e.n.c.e.

At ONCE, I realized that these hands of FLESH could never grasp such a mystery...

but my SPIRIT caught it's essence...

AND I WAS BORN.



As I stare at the STAR on the top of my tree this Christ-mas, I am deeply reminded of the REAL LIFE that I have been given in Christ...

and the high calling to GIVE IT AWAY.

It is my privilege to share it with you, my friends, and to bless you with all the Goodness, Hope, Healing, Peace, Beauty, Faithfulness, Redemption, Passion for Life, Freedom, Joy, and LOVE...that Jesus has to offer.



MERRY CHRISTMAS & MAY GOD BLESS YOUR NEW YEAR!

And Another One for the Record...

'We don't wait for breakthrough, we live in it. It is a decision to position yourself for sustained increase. It's living from heaven's reality, which transcends time, and putting full confidence in Father's good intention to fulfill his promises.'

(This was taken from a friend's status on Facebook today. They just keep coming. Breakthrough is not a destination or goal. It is not striving. It is not 'out there.' It is from within...internal to external and it ALREADY IS. HE DID IT!)

Now LIVE.

MATCHSTICK LANGUAGE FOR BREAKTHROUGH

Breakthrough is not a stop-start effort or victory. It is the continuous exploration of the Goodness of God. It is the Truth that He IS...internalized. It is the seamless reality and representation of Christ at home in our hearts, resulting in super-love-abundance that animates and satisfies completely. Smooth.

RIGHT NOW

Whenever my children ask to do something...some fabulous stream of consciousness thought that pops in and becomes the best idea they've ever had...they want to make it happen...RIGHT NOW.

Why not? I think that may be the best way after all.

I read a quote the other day that has stayed with me. Something about "the smaller your life becomes, the bigger it gets..." This moment... RIGHT NOW...takes the tiny-focus to epic proportions...because we welcome Infinity when we are completely present.

What are YOU doing...RIGHT NOW?

Long Lived Kindness

Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances. ~Saint Vincent de Paul

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Be thoughtful of others and you will not be shy, for they are incompatible addictions. ~Robert Brault

There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment. ~Robert Brault

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia


The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~Charles Kuralt


Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~Plato


The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth


Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. ~Author Unknown


Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown


A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

I love kindness. It's that "thing" in the eyes of Christ that I see first. It's the compassion... that covers and deeply cares and holds me here. I am love-locked. I will stay here forever.

And then I go and marry Kindness seven amazing years ago...and I get to live with a man who writes stuff like this...with his living...



A healthy perspective is that life is a together-journey. That as we love others our own self-worth is nurtured. That as we comfort someone in need our own needs are tended. So today, how can we consider someone else before ourselves and be a spark in their life that encourages them to live boldly? What specific thing can you do for that one person today that will water the seed of their true potential and remind them that an eternal, benevolent Being is on their side making all things possible and dazzling? -William Todd Warren

There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential. - Rusty Berkus

Yadah!

I have been working on a project on and off for about seven years. Between getting married, birthing four babies and taking care of the family, it has been a stop-start kind of progress. And finally, I can see the finish line.

The project is the development of a new art form...a holistic exercise/meditation program with body postures and movements based upon a specific theme. I can't give too many details right now as we are working on trademark and copyright. But I've had a lot of fun formulating these body positions and meditating on who God is in the midst of exercise.

If it sounds a bit like Yoga, it is. The deal is, I used to love doing yoga...I love exercising, stretching, calming, meditating. However, when I began to study the roots of Yoga, I realized that there had to be a redemption of it in God's thoughts. So I asked. And what followed was an amazing journey of excellence and revelation.

Needless to say, I'm excited about this. The expression is called Yadah which is one of the Hebrew words for praise. The meditations are not an emptying but a filling and are God-centered, focusing on openness and internalized Truth rather than self and nothingness (no-mind). No offense to those who practice Yoga. These are just my travels and experience.

About 4 months ago, my husband asked if I wanted to have another baby. I thought he was sooooo done. I've been the one that's been aching from the inside out for more (you know, the womb is never satisfied, right?). So I was surprised. But a funny thing happened...

Instead of jumping all over him in excitement, ready RIGHT NOW, I immediately said..."Wow, yes, I'd love to...but I have to finish Yadah first." It was like God was speaking through me and letting me know His order for things.

We set a timeline for the completion, the finish line indicating the beginning point for a try at baby number 5. I'm working each afternoon on the content and the last round of body postures. I don't fully understand how it will play out or how it will be released. But I do know this is something that I'm to produce that will be a blessing to all the earth. And I'm partnering with God to make it happen.

I was sharing the idea with an old friend I recently reconnected with and she really liked it. Within months, she had asked me to present Yadah in a session at a conference next June. And I'll be starting some experimental classes here in Denver in the spring.

Balance, order, and form. God's Word brings order. His Spirit creates form and causes things to take on their intended shape. Balanced living is the result. I'll keep updating.

Grace-In-Action Star

This is our beautiful new bunny-love. We call her Gia-Star. I really like rabbits...but this one is different. This will be our mommy bunny. We don't have a daddy yet, but I'm intending to begin a breeding project with the children. So we'll get one soon. And we'll start small. The return is a SURE THING. I want to allow these young spirits to see creation and increase in a new way... forcefully ADVANCING. We named her Gia (for Grace- In- Action) and I am sure she will SHINE... since rabbits have no trouble doing their thing...

This is our spiritual journey as well...in our home. The learning and the re-learning how to live inside of Grace...how to sow it, how to reap it...how to see through it...how to fall deeply in it. It never stops. It continuously multiplies itself in us, through us, around us. It is the covenant that Father keeps. It is new LIFE in every moment.

And the only thing that can thwart its progress is stepping back under the old way of rules and regulations and judgment and have tos and shoulds. Ugh! Nothing is birthed in that environment except a bunch of dark clouds. Once HAVING to live that, now SET FREE to en-joy my days with an all-access pass into heaven's kingdom of celebration. It is GOOD NEWS after all.

Remember? Day 3

Hey, remembering is a good thing. Let's go another round...

Remember the sparkles and sunshine and falling stars, the feathers and happy-dances and visions for days. The oceans of hope and desire and the mountainous passion that God breathes into our dreams... that create momentum in our spirits for flying . The miracles and the magnificence... The magical melodies that weave through our life-song. They are still ringing out loud and clear. Hear them now? (Listen...)

Remember the brilliant Word spoken that created everything that we see...and the undertones and the overtures contained in that One Word. And remember? Our hearts were formed by that Word, too. And it's THAT Word that gives them wings.

Remember that He doesn't forget. He goes behind and before. He must REMEMBER the future. He is timeless...and even still, He stepped into time to help us out...so we could jump into His shoes and try timelessness on for size. Who thought that one up? GOD DID!

Remember what an amazing thinker He is? And how all His thoughts are perfection? And He says we can have His thoughts if we will believe that we can. Glorious.

There's a verse in the Scriptures that says, "Let heaven fill your thoughts." I don't think that means throw yourself into the future and think about how amazing life will be in the after. I think it means we should let Heaven fill up our mindspace and take OVER so that we are constantly in the flow of life-giving, mind-altering, earth-shaking, breath-taking Abundance...right NOW. It takes that kind of thought to make a difference. It takes a multitude of those kinds of thinkers to change it ALL.

Remember how He called you by name to be one of THOSE people? Or if you can't remember that...maybe it's happening right now. Christ in you the hope of glory. Remember?

Hugenious! Hooray! NOTHING is lost. All can be found in HIM.

Remember? Day 2

Remember the countless times God has come to the rescue...just in time? A Hero in flight...never giving up. Making sure that those who trust and wave that faith-flag get His attention every time. And even for those who can't raise their arms, I am sure He probably imagines them flying some invisible faith with super-vibrant colors in hope. He's creative and helpful like that.

Remember the spontaneous praises that produce lift-off and ignite us again and again. He is always deserving, fully present, never stopping, forever loving, our Eternal Home. He is safety. He is shelter. He is trustworthy and True. He is the Fresh Force of Faith working itself into our lives daily in order to produce the pure Goodness that shines like diamonds. The Goodness that cannot help but multiply itself...bringing Increase from the inside out. God is gorgeous!

Can we forget that kind of Beauty? I don't think it's possible.

Remember?

Remember?

Remember God? How He is always there. How He never leaves, not ever. How He cannot fail.
How He loves and loves and loves and loves and loves. And how He searches and doesn't stop until he finds. And how He collects hearts and fragments and pieces and puts them back together and it seems like He's just mending something that's been broken...but when He puts in that final piece, it will not only be complete. It will be new. And how He promises so many good things... and because He is the Author and Finisher of those promises, there is no way we will be disappointed.

And the soothing and the comfort and the hope along the way. Remember that?

Will He ever stop doing good? He can't! He is only good. There is no darkness in Him, no lurking disdain or disapproval. He sees us as we are and accepts... and yet there is this overlay of purity and perfection that He places upon us. And He sees us through that filter. And it's so beautiful. He is filled with happy thoughts and oh how much He delights in His children.

Remember.

Truth in Tow

I have this friend who seems to always have the right answer at the right time...just when I need it. She is a kindred-spirit, a life-giver... she is a woman who is ready in and out of season to offer hope with words, faith without fail, and who seems to have Truth in her pocket perfectly fit for any and every situation. I definitely want to be like her when I grow up.

She always pulls up an imaginative heaven-scene...a visual dictionary, if you will...that further aids in driving the truth to its destination and giving it a home. The gift of the great See-ers runs through her veins. And I am the blessed receiver.

Most of us are caught in a belief-web specifically designed for us by the Destroyer, the Deceiver, the Death-Weaver. The enemy of our souls spends all his energy and purpose trying to prevent us from understanding who we really are, what we were created for, and how we should be living. It produces everyday wreckage...and we call it normal. "This is just life, the way it is."

We have brilliant minds capable of comprehending what is possible, what should be. And yet...the thinking and the knowing are two very different things. The implementation escapes us somehow.

There are these "background singers" that really run the show inside of us if we are not carefully conscious and fully aware of our Being. We, living in the spotlight of our lives, can be singing of greatness and continuous lovedrifts...while these subtle show-stealers get the best of us. And most of the time their steering goes unquestioned while we lay down in submission to... less -than -desirable life circumstances that present themselves as if in answer to the "song of the subconscious."

No one is immune to this. We are a cracked and fragmented lot of humanity in need of a Savior... in need of Truth to invade our inmost being and multiply itself exponentially until every last fire-lie is extinguished.

So I'm revealing a bit of mixed-up history to my sweet friend a few days ago. I'm unpacking my pain and a few bitter remnants for show in hopes of some healing. And she says, "So...we need the Truth to cover the Untruth that you've been living...and then you can get to the Goods." I could never recount how many times I've been at this intersection. It is the Cross in real life, in slow motion, and with heavy traffic all at the same time. And each time I pass this way, I am an amateur driver with slow reaction-time and very little re-call of former lessons. I need to be reminded once again that Truth covers Lie like "paper covers rock." God wins. It's as if I'm a child again trying to grasp a new concept, just trying to learn my spiritual abc's.

And I think that makes perfect sense. Returning to the child-like place where the heart readily receives WHATEVER it is given... seems the ONLY way to recreate a life.

The "background singers" get replaced. And if they try to echo a refrain in the distance, it cannot be heard above the angels singing for joy. I can LIVE in the light... where the truth has been branded on my soul like a tattoo. It becomes my life-message. With or without words, I carry Truth in Tow and the very essence of Christ going before and following behind me.

Listening

When we listen, we learn how to speak and act upon what we're hearing...from the inside out.

It's one of the ways I help my children learn how to read. We do these phonemic awareness exercises that help them learn to really listen to sounds and discover how all things work together. If we pay attention and bring our focus into the present, it can help us gain understanding. We get used to hearing certain noises in our daily life and learn to tune them out. But every one of the parts has purpose. They are constant and significant. And each sound is a pathway to wisdom.

In the same way, God is speaking to us. In a whisper, sometimes in a shout...speaking life and abundance and encouragement to our hearts...in every way...in every moment. We must learn to be still and listen. We must be brave enough to hear God's story and perspective for our lives. He has good plans and strong strategies for living that he wants to empower us with. We gain confidence, and our creativity and resolve are multiplied by hearing His words.

The reason most people don't listen is they're afraid of what they will hear about themselves. I can promise you that the Voice that spoke us all into existence has perfect thoughts about you. They are beautiful and extravagant...and they never stop believing in your Holy Potential. If you have trouble hearing this kind of Goodness at first-sense, listen again. Listen behind the noise and all the mind-chatter. Listen for the truest kind of Truth about who you are... from the Voice that can never be silenced.

Turn your ears on. It's worth the risk. Right now. And forever.

Worth

Everything that I am is VALUABLE.  Everything that I do is PRECIOUS. 

Everything that I say is IMPORTANT.  Everyone that I touch is GOLDEN.

What is your WORTH?  I'm guessing it cannot be told... 

From the archives (journal Dec 2007)

"A few weeks ago I was drawn into a vision where I was covered up with what looked and felt like hardened dirt, grime, caked on, layers thick that I was actually wearing like a suit.  I had the sense that God wanted to take off the dirt suit and reveal a new me.  The knowing was that I had been living with this earth-dirt-suit for my entire life and once and for all God wanted me to be clothed with something else entirely.

This vision has been continuous since it began.  I am constantly aware that  God wants to finish the unveiling.  He started with my left hand.  He took His hand and touched my fingertips with His right hand.  The dirt and caked on layers (on my fingertips) instantly melted away into nothingness and when He pulled His fingers away from mine I noticed the letters W-O-R-T-H on each of His fingertips.  Then when I looked at my own fingertips I had the letters imprinted on my fingers in such a way that they felt ink-wet and I knew that they would always remain that way so that whoever I touched from then on would know their worth (would be imprinted) the way I had just experienced it...with a greater anointing and power than I have ever known.  Everytime I hug someone or touch anyone, from inside I hear the sound of chimes (it almost sounds like a wave of the magic wand sound from cartoons and movies).  And since I have never been an affectionate person, I'm finding it really amazing that I want to touch and hug everyone that I see.  Jesus continues to uncover and to reveal as I am ready.  It seems as though it could take as long or as short a time as I want it to.  But it also seems as if I'm outside of time in these days.  So it's not a focus.  What I am focused on is the vision-like reality of my life right now.  This is not the charismatic, spirit filled experience that I have known for awhile now.  This is sustainable, and reproducible and incredible with no break in my experience of His presence.

So...I've had a lot of supernatural experiences since day one of my encounter with Jesus.  This one is different.  It's a newness that cannot be explained.  I'm just gonna go way out here and say that it feels like I'm getting a new body to live in, a glorious one without limitation.  I'm not tied to this thought, I'm just saying what it feels like.  It is pure bliss...and I can't contain it.  It's getting harder and more difficult to have the wrong responses to situations and what's in front of me.  The struggle is fading away.  The sun is up all the time.  It feels like I'm hanging out in the transition from glory to GLORY with only moments to Christ's return."

Everything that we are is VALUABLE.  Everything that we do is PRECIOUS.  Everything that we say is IMPORTANT.  Everyone that we touch is GOLDEN.

Believe.

I live more fully when I'm writing.  When I'm not writing, I may not really be living at all.  So I'm writing.   I can feel the pull of darkness...I am moved by the strength of light.  I am caught in a waterfall of sudden blessing and rapid healing...falling to the deep...surrender in my bones.  

Nobody Told Me How Amazing

The horse.  My entire life I've never understood the fascination that A LOT of people have with horses.  I just never got it.  Until about a month ago...

Over Christmas, at a ranch down in Texas, I got to really ride a horse for the first time ever.  I was exaggatively afraid to get on.  But I was promised it was an easy 45-minute trail ride and everything would be fine.  My niece Bessie was the coercive force behind me saying "yes."  She wasn't afraid.  Why should I be?

Oh my...it was crazy amazing.  These beautiful creatures.  All this power underneath you.  The trust and friendship that is formed between human and horse.  I feel like a kid again just thinking about horses now.  What service animals.  They have served and served people for so long.  They just remind me of Jesus.  How He lives to serve us.  How he loves to befriend us and move us in His power with strength and grace.  At whatever pace we can handle or is needful.  I'm in love with the horse...and if this post is just plain sappy, ask my husband.  I am all sap when it comes to horses these days.  

He took me to a dancing horse show the other night.  Again, amazing.  I was filled with such emotion when the white horses came out.  Something about it all.  Can't wait to ride again.  

And surely if people can train those horses to do the cha-cha-cha, etc., I can train one to poop outside.  Then it could be an indoor/outdoor horse.  That would be kind of fun(ny).  And I'll probably try it someday.