Be Steadfast! is the message that keeps popping out at me... climbing up hills over the rivers and through the woods... be steadfast.. battling demons and painful emotions... be steadfast! Wishing.. hoping... praying... dreaming... Be steadfast!

For love always hopes, always trusts and always perseveres!

i just might like to say that persevering can be rather painful... especially when you may be completely insane for persevering in the thing you are persevering so painfully through.. But, love takes chances and endures it all.

and if i'm nuts... i will have learned a lesson out of my absurdity that is for sure!

Ya know what's really worth persevering for? It's Jesus. He is the one sooooooo worth pushing through anything this world could antagonize as a battle stance against me.. He really is so worth my devotion to love Him. Even if I cant remember who I am in the midst of the battle.. I can remember who He is.. and that He is so worth it... pushing through.. or even just standing.. steadfast.

Message From The Ones Yet To Be

pic from: lilsugar.com

Ya know how you were born one day, suddenly popping out into this wild new atmosphere of fresh air and loud noises and no more happy water surroundings. And then, peace engulfed you as you were swaddled in your mother's arms. And you slowly began the journey, discovery... your existence. Well, what about your existence prior to your existence on planet earth?
Abba knew us before we were born. Maybe even before our spirits were born in the very forming of our mother's womb... because we are forged in the secret place from the depths of God's heart. "Every day of our lives were written about in His book before one of them came to be". We are deep treasures and expressions of God...Wow! He pondered us, created us, designed us... He knew us before we existed. Just like we were safely formed in our mother's womb, we were safely surrounded by His love as He pondered and created each of our unique designs.
So, what about Abba's special creations that are longing to be birthed and have not been given the chance? What about the unborn? There is a cry that I feel in my spirit..cries of those waiting to be born. Beautiful ones in Father's heart.
Just a reminder to remember the ones yet to be. It is up to us, the father's and mothers of this generation to carefully live our lives so that our children and the children of this world can be released to live the beautiful destinies that are straight from the heart of God.

Spirit Boundaries

Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! 11 Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. 12 For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. 13 So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. 14Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate, 15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom.16 Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. 17 And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; 18 as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God's people.

Spiritual Boundaries

If we think boundaries are just about managing a healthy relationship with others... we have forgotten a very real battlefield that we must learn to effectively fight and defend our bounds in: The spirit.

Our spiritual battles are ALL ABOUT BOUNDARIES!

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy... violating our spiritual boundaries. Only he tries to make us think we are fighting ourselves and our own struggles.

So, we need to take our God given authority and dominion and stand up for ourselves. The enemy cannot make us do anything any more than a person can make us do something. We have the privilege of choosing what we will do and not do, what we will think about and will not think about.

The enemy tries hard to get us to utterly hate and condemn our own selves, from frustration thinking that we are powerless in the war against own minds. But this is not true, for we struggle not with flesh and blood (which includes ourselves). He would rather us fight ourselves than fight the enemy!

We take every thought captive and make it obedient to the knowledge of Christ. Does that mean we are putting part of ourselves into captivity. NO! Who the Son sets free is truely free. We are putting the enemy's suggestions into captivity. and choosing freedom for ourselves. This awareness is rather helpful for self esteem. We are called to love ourselves, which makes us love others. And to hate evil. So, we separate ourselves from evil. If we don't do this, then we are needlessly battling our own selves. And the word says that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Ephesians exhorts us to stand, which means we cannot be divided against ourselves. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

So, stand firm. Set your boundaries. You don't have to scream and yell at the enemy- don't be aggressive. Be assertive. Love yourself, love God and love others. You, God and others are not enemies! And God has given you authority...

Luke 10:19 CJB

Remember, I have given you authority; so you can trample down snakes and scorpions, indeed, all the Enemy's forces; and you will remain completely unharmed. -Jesus

'Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus!

Hurray! Relief has come! If you have found yourself cornered by weaknesses and are so frustrated by your inability to heal yourself from the past twistings of life, I have found the peaceful and bliss of serenity for your worries to cease... 1 Thessalonians 5 has some lovely things to say to you...

"May the God of shalom make you completely holy - may your entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. The one calling you is faithful, and he will do it."

Now, put that in your pipe and smoke on it for awhile. He is the One who will make your entire being holy right now as you live your life waiting for the final holy transfiguration in the end. Trust now. Just trust Him.

A little wondering about Charismania

To all my charismaniacs and over-the-top revivalists, I have a wondering about something. After spending night after night in hyped up intensity beyond belief, entering in deeper and higher to activate the angelic realm to come and move and bring the presence of The Lord... for healing, miracles, deliverance, signs and wonders... at the end of the day, what if all that amazing bing! bang! boom! in the heavens is pretty much useless because of the most important ingredient being missing. The ingredient of love. (which, I am not saying that it is always missing, but it could be sometimes)...

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a gong or a clanging cymbal. If I can fathom all mysteries.. give all I possess to the poor, but have not love, I am nothing...If I surrender my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

I realized something. Jesus said that many will come to Him and say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name"... and He will say to them, depart from me for I never knew you. This tells me that we can actually be operating in the gifts and connected with God's angelic activity, but totally miss it, if we don't have love. So, love is the thing that makes all that matter.

I'm just saying this because it occurred to me that if love really is the one thing that makes all the bing! bang! boom! stuff matter, then shouldn't we be teaching, preaching, learning and seeking love MORE than all the amazements of heaven?

Not to snuff out the lovely raindrops of golden glory, miraculous wonders of Father's heart manifesting before our very eyes... Just to honor a very precious truth that will cause all of the golden glory glitter to gleam with depth and stick like glue to the fabric of our beings... get it in deep to the real connector places of relationship... Honor and value L.O.V.E.

Just something I've been thinking about.

Digging Up Treasures For The Garden Of Our Souls

Today, while weeding in my garden, I dug up some treasures. I had a little discovery about the process of weeding, organically speaking. You can either painstakingly, patiently pull with all your might to remove the unwanted weed waste from your garden while it is alive and firmly bolted into the soil... or there is another way to more easily remove them. You can cover them with something to keep them from seeing the light of day, and they will die. Then, the process of removal is rather cinch-like. After pondering this.. a little treasure party opened up to me: I thought, hmm that sounds familiar... covering! Just like love covers a multitude of sins. The lesson revealing that if we cover the weeds of our soul, keeping them from the life giving qualities of thought, meditation, remembrance.. and basically leave them to die, they will! And we can kindly treat ourselves to the truth, knowing that the weeds are not us, we are the precious fruit bearing plants worth pruning. If we cover ourselves with mercy and let our weaknesses and twistings of thought die, then we can easily come back and pull them up with out so much of a fight!

Oh My! It's Up To My Thigh!

Seemingly overnight my lettuce got refreshingly dowsed with plenty of rain water and is reaching up to my belly button! I had no idea lettuce did that! Well, I decided to see if it was still edible and discovered that the leaves may be bitter since flowers are now beginning to bud from it, but you can still use them in soups and stir-fries. And for the most exciting part of all, the lovely yellow flowers, which have not exactly budded yet, but probably will this week are EDIBLE!

Hurray for the pretty salads I shall be eating this summer!

A Spa Moment of Bridal Ecstasy

A friend asked me to pose as a bride for a new wedding clip he wanted to film to promote his cinema style wedding videography. He said, "Gretchen, do you have a wedding dress you could use?" I thought, "Oh, sure, let me just pull that out of my pocket! I might just happen to have an extra wedding dress sitting around somewhere in my Mary Popins closet... Let me see here...!"

Well, I dropped by the thrift store to see if I could happen upon maybe a decent wedding dress prop for maybe $10.00. They did have an array of used wedding dresses, but not exactly for $10.00! I spied one that looked simple and like it might possibly fit in some way.... looked at the tag and thought, huh? 80.00? Nevermind that idea! Well, my curiosity sort of got to me... this sudden desire to maybe just try it on for a brief moment of bridal ecstasy. So, I circled around the isles for a few minutes.... the lines were too long for the dressing room.... I happened upon the checkout counter and found that it was 50% off. oh, my $40.00 for a photography prop! Well, somehow, I was overtaken with this sudden urge of bridal wishing and convinced myself that it would be nice to have an extra wedding dress prop around for various photo shoots and things. So, I showed up at the park in this wedding dress pinned to my underwear, hoping it would stay up long enough to take some clips. And as I floated down the walkway, I became the center of everyone's viewing pleasure. All eyes looked to see the lovely bride strolling in the garden. There were gasps and oohs, and "look mommy... isnt she pretty!" A young married couple smiled and warmly said, "Congratulations!" I felt totally like a bride. It was like the dress changed everything. Suddenly I was this most special chosen one and the object of everyone's favor and worthy of compliments and warm smiles. It is as if the men suddenly were aware that some lucky fellow had won himself a lovely bride. The women were remembering their own bridal day with fondness and everyone was honoring the sanctity of marriage, love, honor, respect. It was amazing! I totally recommend it for all single women who have been single for a rather long while. It's like going to the spa, getting a massage, only better!

How do you take your music?

I had a wake up connection with Holy Spirit last night. It involved a mix of surrender, peace, freedom to be, excitement, and remembering that He is my favorite best friend- seriously!

Then, as I was waking up this morning, I caught a snippet of the dream I was dreaming:

There was this special man and alot of women present. It was as if we were there to each catch a special moment with him (like our one night with the king). Hoping that we caught his eye.

He came to me and the question he asked me was: " Do you eat music?".

For a moment I was confused.. what? Then, I remembered something and said, " No, we drink it." And then, I saw a sparkle in his eye! I had caught his attention.

He walked away... but I was still on his mind.

Interesting!

mmm... Spring, how delicious! I love the daffodills, buttercups, tulip and cherry trees, but my most favorite sight is the tasty green budding out... the fresh grassy patches, the bright green weeping willows bursting forth... It's so delightfully yummy to my soul. I confess, i just want to try a nibble or two.. its got to be nourishing that color of bright spring!

I know for certain when I see those delicious trees as I drive down the streets.. as the glory of spring overwhelms my senses completely, that creation is whispering a loud shout of truth to our spirits.

You cannot pass by this fresh beauty springing forth and not be raptured by a sense of hope dawning. A sense of peace that the winter is finally passing and colorful treasures are popping out to prove that the death has passed and resurrection life has come to us.

So take a drink... a deep drink of the bright new glory whispers in the flowers and trees. Let the new life get deep inside you and taste and see that the Lord is good.