I Love You and I Like You

It is no coincidence that you have always been drawn to dancing. I am giving you dancing as a weapon of warfare, and a tool of breakthrough and JOY! 

Beloved, let Me teach you the steps. You carry My goodness, you are good in Me. Reject all self-loathing as sin. I want you to learn LOVE for yourself. Remember at the beginning of this year, I told you this is a year for learning to love well. This is an important part of that journey...learning to love yourself. Not just tolerate yourself. Not despising yourself and blaming yourself for the state of your health. 

I want you to learn to see yourself as I see you - beautiful and good! Emanating Light! I don't just love you because I have to - I delight in you! I really like you! You can like yourself too. 

You are creative! You have skill with needle and thread. I have filled you with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge and with all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs (Exodus 35:31-32). You are compassionate, caring, a great encourager. You have a good eye for the hurting and skill in drawing people out. You are a good friend. You have style, originality, a spark of uniqueness. I love your flair. You are pleasing to Me. I love you, and I like you!

Easy and Joyful

I lead you in this dance, Beloved. You know how good and how easy it is to dance well in the arms of a skilled dancer and gentle leader. Surrender to My leading and all striving will cease. This is your tool for breakthrough, My Precious One! Lean into My arms, and I will sweep you around the floor, and through the difficult moments, with such joy rising in your spirit. 

I can dance you through brain fog. I can dance you through debilitating fatigue. I can dance you through migraines. I can dance you through homework and children's tantrums and fights and whinging. I can dance you through stressful morning routines and double drop-offs so that it feels easy and joyful! 

As you follow My lead, the tension will leave your body, you will relax, and I will show you new things. My dance can turn the drab, grey days into full-colour. It will create opportunities for you to connect with your kids and your husband in ways you long for. 

Dance with Me, Beloved!

Keep Dancing

Remember that revelation that I gave you last year, how dancing with Me could carry colour and joy into every activity of your life. The enemy has tried to steal that revelation from you with all the hard circumstances you have faced in the past six months. 

Consider this: if you do not want to lose that connection with Me through a day, do not choose activities that I would not wish to dance through. Sometimes your choices of entertainment are not "harmless" because they distance Me. Keep dancing with Me, through each moment of each day. When you are feeling stressed and when you are letting your natural man rule, close your eyes and picture us dancing again. Let your spirit man be in the forefront. Let My Spirit guide you. 

There is no circumstance that you face that cannot be danced through. When you lose the connection and find yourself in beggar's rags, sulking and tantrumming, wallowing in the pit of self-pity, just look to Me and I will take your hand, pull you out, clean you and dress you again in Strength and Dignity, and begin the dance where we left off.

Dignity and Strength

Beloved. Get up off of the ground - do not wallow in your shame! Stand, receive My forgiveness and forgive yourself as freely.

You cannot hate yourself without hating Me, for My Name dwells in You! Step forward into the destiny that I have for you. You are a daughter of the King of Kings! You are not a beggar child, and should not conduct yourself as such.

Remember to walk in Dignity and Strength - I have given you these as robes to wear. Do not exchange your royal robes for torn rags.

As you weary, draw aside to Me. Do not just throw yourself down in the middle of the road to be trampled. Come aside with Me and renew your strength in My Presence.

I love you, My Beloved. Rest in My Love!

A Surrendered Mess

I see your sorrow, your disappointment in yourself, your body, your emotions. I see your weariness. Hating yourself does no good! It does not help your family. It does not help you function! 

Look to Me and see the grace I offer. Come stand under the shower of Grace. Let it wash away self-reproach and self-hatred. My Grace is sufficient for you! My Power is made perfect in weakness. This is how I can best use you, Beloved! Weak, barely able to stand, but surrendered!

I don't want you to do, I want you to be. Be a surrendered mess for Me. I will use you without your awareness to minister to others. I will minister through you. It is My Spirit who works, not you. Just be, My beautiful mess. Let Me do the rest. 

You will move forward through one surrendered step at a time. Many are the plans of a person's heart, but the Lord directs her steps. Keep your eyes fixed on Me, Beloved. Surrender your body, spirit, soul, mind to Me every day and watch Me guide your steps. Even in the chaos, confusion and brain fog, I help you make the right decisions. Stop second-guessing, and just trust Me. I can break through your brain fog. I can redeem your tears.

Here in the River

Here in the River, your spirit is free to be One with Me! You sense the complete freedom from stress, the utter joy as your spirit dives into the depths of the River of Life, twirling, swimming, leaping and twisting. 

This is rest, Beloved. Rest is not passive, lying around all day. This is active rest. This is the rest that restores your spirit and your body. This is the rest you crave every day. And here it is, constantly available to you. 

I hear you ask Me, "Do you like me?" Yes! Beloved, I delight in your presence! That joy you feel as you dance in the River - My Spirit takes the same joy in you! Yes, really! 

This place of active rest holds the greatest adventures you can imagine. This is the source of your energy and strength, here in My River of Life. My Presence! This is what is missing from your daily routine...diving into the River. 

Moses did not believe what I said about him. He did not trust that I could speak through him. He had thoughts in his head about himself that I did not have about him - he sold himself short of what I had for him, and it cost him later. 

You cannot afford to have thoughts in your head about yourself that I do not think about you. Reject those thoughts as lies from the enemy of your soul!

Love Well

You are worried and burdened about many things, Beloved. You have so many hopes for this year, so many ways you want to do better and to be better. But I want you to focus your heart and mind on learning to love well this year. This includes learning to love yourself, in spite of your foibles and failings. Learning to love your husband more fully. Learning to love your children in the ways that they need. Learning to love your friends, and truly learning to love the unsaved. 

"But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)

I want you to learn to love others more and more. This is your mission. I know it costs you to invest in people, but trust Me in this. Of course you will say yes, because it is I who asks. You know it is best!

"And now may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do..." (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

"You yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that is indeed what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more..." (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)

Love people with the tender, unconditional love you have for your babies. Love people with patience and endurance. Love people more and more, as I myself teach you. This is not a command to just "do more stuff", but to tune into Me for direction on how to love people more. I will show you what is needful, and I will clear the way. 

"Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in Christ and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves." (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13)

Beloved, as you let Me teach you, your love for others will increase. As you spend more time with the Lover, your love will increase. Trust Me in this. Love well!

"...your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

Love and faith go hand in hand.