Nothing is Wasted

Yes, I am the ultimate Up-cycler. 

You bring Me the broken, messy, ugly parts of yourself and I will transform them into works of art. Bring the shameful, dysfunctional, hurting bits. Give Me your circumstances and situations that seem all messed up and wrong. I love to work beauty out of brokenness. 

This is not a once-off exchange at the time of salvation; but a many-times-a-day exchange. Just keep handing it to Me. Nothing is too much. No bit is too small. My creativity knows no limits. Nothing is wasted.

The Ultimate Up-cyler

Just trust Me, Beloved! I know it seems that life is spinning out of control, but I have it all in hand, just as much as when you feel in control. Breathe deeply and trust Me!  

Trust is grown in the small moments of life. For example, when your plans for the week are thrown into havoc by yet another unwelcome illness, or when your plans for the next half hour are thrown into havoc by a sudden toddler toileting accident. These are not the disasters that you perceive them to be! Gritting your teeth to push through on strained nerves is not the solution! 

When you look to Me in expectant joy, and ask, "What now?", you give Me the space to turn your perceived disaster into something else entirely. This is real life - the training ground for victorious living. I am the ultimate up-cycler! Genuinely ugly mess surrendered to Me can become a thing of beauty! The trenches of motherhood surrendered to Me can become the heights of joyous adventure and discovery. Yield the mess and the unutterable exhaustion to Me, and watch Me re-purpose it!  

Spend Time Deliberately

You know how important it is in your marriage to spend time deliberately remembering the reasons that you fell in love with your spouse. You know how important it is to spend time deliberately recognising and appreciating your husband for who he is right now. You know how important it is to spend time deliberately dreaming together for the future. So it is in your relationship with Me. 

Take time regularly to deliberately reflect on and remember what I have done for you, and how I won your heart. Take time regularly to deliberately recognise and praise Me for who I am and what I am doing in your life right now. And take time regularly to deliberately dream with Me about the future. 

Just Listen

Listen. I know that you are fretting about many things these last few days. Every time you plan to come away with Me, you are interrupted. I know, Beloved. I hear your fretting. In the  moments you grab to be with Me, you feel that you are not getting any answers. Just listen.

When your baby is fretting, what do you do? You hold her to your chest, where the sound of your heart beat and the sound of your  breathing calms and relaxes her. This is the safest place on earth for her!

Listen. Rest your head on My chest and listen to My heart beat. Listen to My breathing, and just relax. This is the safest place on earth for you, Beloved. Just listen.

Truly Rely On Me

I know you are weary, Beloved. These nights with a newborn and sick kids are so disrupted. But what if you allowed those disruptions to be times of connection with Me? How this would change your attitude towards having to get up! It would also solve your problem of trying to find a consistent time to seek My Presence. This can change the whole tone of your days. Just because you are tired, does not mean that you need to be irritable.

This season is so useful, My Darling, for you to learn to truly rely on Me to get you through each day. Not on coffee, sugar, entertainment, technology, craft, or your own strength. Truly rely on Me. When you have moments of weakness, turn to ME, not to any of these other gods.

Consistency and Constancy

Discontent. A telltale sign that your eyes have slipped from My Face to your surroundings. Your salvation is not in how clean you keep your house! you are already saved by My sacrifice, Beloved. 

When your eyes slip from My Face, you all-too-easily start believing the enemy's lies: "You will be happy if you can just...keep your house clean/ run a successful business/ raise obedient and charming children/ be fit and healthy..." All of these are lovely, but will not satisfy your heart's longing. 

This is not a new message, My dear. But I will repeat it until it sinks in. Until a habit is formed. And then, I will repeat it again because there will always be distractions. Fix your eyes on Me!

You long for consistency and constancy in your good habits. Remember the adage, "Live with them, get like them"? Well, the more time you spend in My Presence, the more you take on My characteristics. It's that simple! I am the one Constant of the universe. Spend time with Me and you will grow in constancy. Not through striving, not through your own strength, but by the power of My Presence.

Sit and Just Wonder

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3

It is good for you to take time to sit and just wonder at My works. 

Like opening a treasure box and slowly taking out each precious gem, one at a time, admiring each one. This practice stirs up gratitude in your heart that cannot and ought not be contained. Let this gratitude spill over into songs of praise and thanksgiving to Me. 

Remember, dear one, how I carried you through difficult months. Remember how I healed your girl's broken heart through creative miracle AND medical intervention. Remember, wonder, and thank Me on a regular basis. Let the tears of gratitude flow, and don't hold back!

Perfect Parenting Tips

When your children are being resistant and even hostile towards you, look to Me. I am the perfect Parent, and I long to share My parenting tips with you! Look at how I deal with you, My darling daughter, and learn from this.

When you withdraw from Me or act in a hostile manner towards Me, I do not come down hard on you. In these times, I know that you need extra reminders of My unceasing Love. You need extra time in My Presence. You need extra "hugs". 

Try showering your children with love. Give them the gift of your time - they value this so highly. Little sessions of time that is purely focused on them. No distractions. Just love on them. 

Blessed are Those Who Trust

"Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them - he remains faithful forever." Psalm 146:5-6

Reflect on My Faithfulness. Take today, for example...how many incidents can you count when you chose very deliberately to put your hope in Me, and I came through for you? Not always in the way that you thought best. Sometimes in a much better way that you had not even imagined. 

I want you to live in close dependence on Me, Beloved. Breathing through each anxiety, each fear, each "How am I going to face this?" moment by reasserting your trust in Me. As you do this, you invite Me to manage the details of your life, and allow Me a greater degree of creativity in working solutions to the everyday challenges that you face. 

Too often you long and pray for My involvement, but then try to strictly control the outcome. This is not trust, my dear. Trust leaves outcomes in My capable hands. Trust remembers that I made heaven and earth. Trust knows without a shadow of a doubt that I love you completely, unreservedly, unconditionally.

Blessed is the one who trusts in Me. 

Call on Me

"The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them." Psalm 145:17-19

When you can't think straight, just call on Me. Call on Me in truth...not crying out, "O Lord, help me!" with every intention of carrying on in your own strength (or lack thereof). Cry out to Me in Truth...in order to seek My Face. Cry out to Me in surrender. Cry out to Me in praise. Know that I hear your cry, and I will save you from yourself!

Stop Negative Declarations

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Psalm 143:8-10

I see your desperation, Beloved. I know how this lingering illness in your household gets you down. And now you can feel your own body succumbing to it again also. Oh my darling, I know how confused you are about My healing power, and how and when I heal the sick and injured. You do not need to understand everything about it in order to pray for healing. You do not need to worry about getting the wording "just right" - it is not a formula! 

I want you to move forward in this area, dear one. What you fail to realise is that you hinder your own prayers by the frequent negative declarations. I know you do not grasp the power of declarations, or how to speak out declarations in faith without constantly feeling like you are trying to will something into being; or trying to control Me. 

Let's start here: stop negative declarations! You pray desperately for healing, but then your thought life is rife with negative thoughts. You focus on how awful you feel. You think, "I feel rotten" over and over. You speak it out repeatedly through the day. If you started replacing your fixation on how awful you feel with a fixation on Me, you would notice a marked difference in how you feel.

Each time you catch yourself thinking or speaking about how sick you are - STOP and ask for Me to heal you and your family. This will shift the focus off of yourself and onto Me. This is a good start!

Lord of the Mundane

"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door to my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity and let me not eat of their delicacies!" Psalm 141:3-4

How you live your life matters, dear one. In the everyday little details, especially. Turning your heart and mind towards Me in the exhausting, frustrating and irritating moments of your day will change your response entirely. Life is made up of the little moments, Beloved. 

So the little moments matter - big time! I do not remind you of this to shame you or force you into legalistic rule-keeping! I remind you of this Truth so that you can realise the importance of letting Me into every area of your life. This is a choice you have to make again and again and again each day. To let Me be Lord of the mundane. 

Surrendered Weakness

The enemy would have you believe that just because you are seriously sleep-deprived, that you will therefore struggle to make it through today. Take a stand now - reject this lie and speak out My Truth. I AM your strength and your song!

Remember that I can work most effectively with surrendered weakness!  Too often, your "strength" gets in My way. So, do not feel defeated before the day even begins! Instead, rejoice that you have yet another great opportunity to let Me come through for you. Surrender your weakness to Me, and watch Me do My thing!

Share It All

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast the sum of them!" Psalm 139:17

Here in the secret place, I share My thoughts with you. This time is so precious...give Me a little longer, Beloved. There is so much I wish to share with you!

There are certain friends with whom you love to hang out without clock-watching. The exchange of ideas, opinions and deep feelings is worth fully committing to. Time is irrelevant when you are genuinely connecting on a deep level with another person. 

Dear one - this is how I intend our interactions to be. Come with the same expectation and anticipation. Open your heart and mind completely to Me. Pour out your thoughts and feelings to Me. I want to hear you express yourself. I want to respond to you. I want there to be a genuine back-and-forth exchange of thoughts! On any and every topic! Don't limit Me by only sticking to "spiritual" things. I am interested in every area of your life - your finances, your business, your marriage, parenting, friendships, physical health, emotional life. Your dreams, frustrations, the things that make you laugh, the things that make you cry. I want to share it all with you. 

And get this - I want to share with you My thoughts about each of these areas and more! Yes, I do have opinions. Do you want to go deeper with Me?