Declarations...

The things you say and believe about yourself matter.  Every time you open your mouth and speak something is released into the atmosphere around you.  What you declare about yourself, your circumstances, your future, and your destiny carries weight.  Declarations steer your life.  It is so critical to declare things that are in agreement with who God says you are.  The bottom line is this: The things you say and believe about yourself is what you will live out every day.

This is something I am very passionate about.  Words are containers of power.  Every word you speak has the power to create or to destroy.  I have seen the importance of being vigilant about the intention of my words.  I want every thing I think, do, and say to release life and light into every atmosphere that I occupy.  This is one way that restoration can enter into this broken world.  I believe it is time to become very intentional about the things we say and believe about ourselves.  One of my favorite ways to declare life-giving and true things about myself, my circumstances, my future, and my destiny is to simply ask God what He thinks about me.  I did it just this week and the things I heard Him say were humbling to say the least -- in a good way.  I was in tears of joy by the end of that sacred time.  Another thing I love to do is to ask Him how I'm known in heaven.  Doing these two things really helps me align my words and declarations about myself with God's heart.  He loves diclosing His heart to His kids.  In fact, that's one of my very favorite things about Him.  I love the fact that He longs to know me intimately and that He longs to be known intimately.  Try asking Him simple, but very specific things.  It's fun.  It's life-giving.  It's intentional.  It provides joy.  It is a way to stay in constant awareness of His goodness, His presence, and His intention toward you.

Masks...

Has the enemy ever tempted you to wear a mask?  He tempted me just this week.  I thank thank God that I did not give into the lie that the mistake I made was inconsequential and that a mask would patch it up and gloss over it.  I am so grateful that God gave me the grace to receive His loving confrontation in order to bring the mistake I made into His light.  Mistakes left in darkness are extremely dangerous.  Masks are the mode of operation to the enemy.  They always empower lies.

Every time we make a mistake it is so important that we bring it into God's light.  As we take His hand, and courageously own up to and admit our mistakes, masks fall away and we are healed, delivered, and set free of the chains that these masks bring.  God's truth is that as long as we find security in our masks, we cannot know the fullness that belongs to us in Jesus.  I want to live a life that is free of masks.  It's the only way to know real healing and authentic freedom.  Making the choice to wear a mask has a high price.  They are costly because they inprison us in so many ways.  Masks trive on and empower fear, shame, and condemnation. Being who God created you to be is so much better.  Living authentically honors God and it disrobes the enemy of power and authority.  I am all over that.  Don't be afraid to risk authenticity.  God rewards it in huge ways.  Be brave.  Admit your mistakes, bring them into God's light, and begin to experience what real healing and freedom are all about.  Don't give masks power.  Disrobe the enemy of all authority.  Don't give him any territory.  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.   

In God's Waiting Room...

Every mile I gain with God teaches me one thing consistently.  This one thing is relentless in its pursuit of my heart: He is the best Teacher and He's my favorite. I have come to learn that He is my favorite Teacher because He is endlessly patient, exceedingly kind, and outrageously good to me.  I adore walking this life with God as my Partner and my Source.  He makes everything so much richer.  With every lesson He brings into my journey He asks me a question and He gives me a choice.  The question He asks is, "Lauren, Will you partner with Me in every circumstance you face and in every season of life that you walk through?"  This question may be a hard one to answer but my answer comes quickly and without hesitation. "Yes, Father, I will partner with You in every circumstance and in every season."  This question and its answer really come down to trust. Will I trust my circumstances, the seasons in my life, and my future fully and completely to a God that knows me better than I know myself? My answer to that question is a loud YES because of my history and track record with a good, faithful, kind, trustworthy Father.  Honestly, I cannot grasp how people walk without God.  I wouldn't last a second without His counsel, His love, or the intimacy I enjoy that comes out of a relationship with Him.

Recently, He and I have walked through a lesson on waiting.  Let me just be honest.  Waiting is hard.  As hard as it is, I have come to find that seasons of waiting are rich.  Waiting with God requires that I rest.  When I say rest, I mean He wants me to rest actively.  As I think about how to actively rest, the word that comes up in my spirit is TRUST.  I think that is the definition of waiting actively on God.  I have to choose to trust that He will not waste this lesson or season of waiting.  I also trust that His timing is different than mine.  And His timing is so much better.  He's also teaching me that as His daughter, I am not in charge of His timing of things.  Wow, that takes so much pressure off me.  My job is to believe, to trust, to pray, and to partner with Him in the waiting.  I've made a decision to do all of these things no matter how long the seasons of waiting last in my journey.

Through this lesson on waiting, God has shown me how important it is to choose to wait well.  I want to wait in a godly way.  I want to wait in a way that honors Him and makes Him smile.  I've learned that waiting well requires me to believe God has something good in store. I need to trust that He formed me and He knows every single yearning and desire of my heart in a deeper way than I do. I need to pray about my dreams, desires, and needs and release them into His care. I need to partner with Him so that He can cultivate, form, and create mature fruit in me throughout the process of the waiting.  Here's the thing that I know that I know that I know: God does indeed have gold in store for me.  I've made a decision to hold out for it.  Here is a quote that the Lord has authored in my spirit that I repeat often as I wait on His best for me:

"Keep confidently believing for it; ruthlessly trust Him; and never settle for less than His best for me."

 

The Power of Gratitude...

I have come to find that there is so much power in being grateful.  Gratitude positions us to experience what, in the Psalms, David calls "fullness of joy."  I love that.  I have seen the immense power that choosing to be grateful holds first hand.  It intensifies blessing.  It demands celebration.  It is not passive in the least.  In fact, it is very active and it catapults us into worship.  My favorite thing about gratitude is that it ravishes God's heart.  It grabs His attention.  As one of His kids chooses to be grateful, He lavishes their lives with untold amounts of blessing and favor.

I can't speak for you, but I know I want to hold the attention of my King.  Gratitude forces us to look at our circumstances not as problems, but as front-line praises to God -- in the heat of any battle we face.  Being grateful forces us to see the intentionality of a loving Father.  Every circumstance and trial we face is meant to bring out the ways God loves us and provides for us.  Make a choice to be teachable in times of trial.  Yes, it can be difficult, but trust me, if we remain teachable, there is no doubt we will come out of the trial allowing Jesus to form us more into His image.  I hope you have a wonderful Thrusday.  

Someone Who Restores...

My church is in a season of learning to live into a call to partner with God in the restoration of all things.  I really like that.  A question I've begun to ask myself is, "What does it look like to live as a woman who restores?" That is someone I want to be.  I've always loved meditating on it.  I believe restoration is immeasurably powerful.  I believe complete restoration is entirely possible.  God is all about restoration.  I love that I get to partner with Him in bringing restoration in all things.  As I've thought about being someone who restores here are some thoughts that have been dancing around my brain:

Restoration demands a choice. A person is either all in or all out.  You cannot be the least bit wishy-washy.  You cannot have one foot in restoration and the other somewhere else/  If you decide to be all-in, the process of restoration will change you.  Choosing to participate in restoration, in all the many facets of its work will mark you as different in the eyes of the world.  Honestly, I'm more than OK with that.  Remember, as kids of the King, we are supposed to be set apart.  I can't speak for anyone else, but it's a no-brainer for me.  I choose restoration all the way.

God created restoration to be something that is carried out through the lives of His people.  We are created to be vesels of restoration.  God desires complete restoration to be a normal part of life on the earth.  Becoming an agent of restoration is in the job description of being a servant of Christ.  As restoration happens, Jesus is revealed in all His fullness.  I want to be a woman who carries a spirit of restoration.  I want to witness restoration taking hold of this planet through the lives God's dearly beloved and specifically chosen people.  God said it can and does happen, so I confidently believe that I will see it with my natural eyes.  You know what, I completely believe I will.

As we learn to partner with Holy Spirit, restoration is invited to invade atmospheres and cities.  I absolutely love that this is entirely true.  Holy Spirit loves to partner with us to bring restoration into the atmosphere in order to completely change cities for God.  In fact, restoration is one of the first things God loves to invest in before He graces a place with the gift of His presence.  Restoration invites God's presence.  I am all over that.  I'll do absolutely anything to have the sweet presence of the King.  I want to help usher in the work of restoration in order to experience the reality of His glorious presence.           

Fill Me Up...

Being in God's presence is my favorite thing about this journey of walking the earth.  Nothing on the earth compares with times of being still before my Maker and allowing myself to be fully and completely loved, transformed, and empowered.  I absolutely adore the intimate, soul-to-soul connectedness I experience when I take time to seek and encounter His presence.  There is no sweeter place to be on the planet than to be bowed in spirit, soul, heart, and mind upon the altar of His heart.  Tuly, it is the central source of my entire existence.  To have my heart so passionately pursued is the life-blood that fuels my devotion and commitment to confidently believing in and becoming the woman He has created, called, and desitined me to be.  As you spend time in His presence, you will see that it begins to color overtake every area of of your life.  Once you experience the reality of His presence, you will be hooked.  I promise.  Try it once.  I dare you.

You may be asking yourself, "How do I begin to experience time in God's presence?" The answer is to invite Him to abide and inhabit wherever you are.  He is wild about you.  He cannot wait to connect heart-to-heart with you.  Just ask Him to come and invade your space.  The completely awesome and totally astounding thing is: He will!  The way I seek time in His presence is through  times of soaking (and no, it is NOT in a bathtub).  Soaking is positioning yourself to love on God and to allow Holy Spirit to come and love on you.  It's really simple. Get in a really comfy place and just say something like, "God, I come into this time to experience your love.  Come and have your way.  Fill me up."  It may sound kooky or weird at first, but TRUST me, it will completely revolutionize your life.  Another thing, remember the really comfy place I told you to find? I'ts totally OK to get in that place and find that you may fall asleep.  The first time I soaked, a lady fell asleep so hard she snored really loud.  God knows what you need to receive.  Soaking really is coming to a place where your soul can rest.

I look at soaking as a radical weapon of warefare.  I believe it is an essential tool to have in any believer's arsenal.  It infuriates the enemy and totally annihilates any power he holds.  As you spend time in God's presence, you are completely untouchable to the enemy.  He cannot be anywhere that God inhabits.  I love that.  One of my favorite things about soaking is that in these uninterrupted, unhurried times of intimacy, God and His Spirit will talk to you, friend-to-friend.  Like anything else, it takes time to create a continual, reciprocal, relationship.  I promise you, once an intimate atmosphere is established, you will be given access into the heavenly realms and the heart beat of the supernatural like never before.  God's presence brings me extravagant joy.  It is the place where I am filled up in order to have something to pour out for the sake of the world. 

An Invitation To Go Deeper...

This week is Summit (formerly known as Lectureship) at ACU.  I went to my first Summit lecture of 2012 tonight.  Chris Goldman of Northwest Church of Christ in Seattle, Washington was the keynote speaker.  His text was Hosea 4:1-12.  His theme was the difference between knowing about God and intimately knowing of God.  The entire time Chris was speaking the Lord kept whispering, "I want you to know me deeply and intimately, Lauren." Throughout the lecture I could hear my spirit responding, "I say yes to your invitation to go deeper, Lord."  One of my very favorite things about God is that He desires to be intimately known by His sons and daughters.

The question I've been asking myself tonight is this: What does it tangibly look like to go deeper with God? I think He's revealed the heart of His answer.  I love that when I ask God a very specific question, He delivers a very specific answer. The answer to my specific question was really simple.  He said, "Spend time with me.  Spend time in my Word.  Meditate on and respond to what I say.  Don't make me an afterthought bringing only the leftovers of your energy, passion, and attention."  As I reflect on those words, I am reminded of the importance of making my pursuit of God my highest priority and my highest pleasure.  I want to create space so that He can reveal anything He wants me to know.  I want to live in a posture of constantly seeking Him.  I want to live a life that is completely lived around His agendas, timetables, and activities.  I want to be interruptible.  I want to go into deeper realms with God.  What specific things has He revealed to you lately?   

Overtaken by Joy...

Here's something you my not know about me.  I adore joy.  It is my very favorite fruit of the Spirit.  If my existence could be summed up in one sentence I pray that it is this, "Lauren was a woman who pursued and lived in joy no matter the circumsance."  I have a friend who has talked time and time again about a "no-matter-what kind of faith" and while I want that as well, I want to spread a "no-matter-what kind of joy" in the world.  In fact, more than that, I yearn to be overtaken by joy.  I pray that it defines every single fiber of my existence on the earth and in heaven.  Here are some things I've learned about joy:

Living in joy is so much fun.  The posture of joy invites fun into every area of life.  It lessens the pressures of life.  Part of the fun of joy is learning to let it spill out of you and onto everything you do.  It has the power to change circumstances, people, and atmoshperes.  That's fun.  My favorite fun part of joy is that it partners with heaven.  Every day is different and full of ways to trust, rely on, and place confidence in God.  To me, that is fun.

As a believer, I am made to abide in joy.  I love that pursuing joy is not supposed to be a passive activity.  I am supposed to dwell in it and its power.  God wants me to learn to stay in posture of joy through all that life throws at me.  As I choose to abide in joy, He supernaturally equips me to gain more territory in Him.  Abiding in joy ensures that I go to a deeper, richer, level of fullness.  I want that so badly.  Choosing joy allows me to saturate myself in the goodness and kindness of God.  I love that.  My prayer every day is that I will abide in a posture of joy.

Joy is meant to be spread and shared.  I want to be a woman who allows the joy of Jesus and life in the Holy Spirit to spill into the lives of everyone I come in contact with.  God created joy to be spread in everything we do.  He created it to be contagious.  That fact ignites a fire deep in my bones.  It gives me purpose every day.  All people deserve joy.  Life is so hard without it.  Joy adds vibrancy and life to the world.  Knowing that, why wouldn't we be looking for ways to spread it?  I found this little treasure today as I began a word study on joy:

"The ransomed of the Lord will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." -- Isaiah 35:10


 

Lessons in Intentionality...

I love being in the classroom of God.  I love the process of learning.  I love how things tend to settle into my soul as I'm being taught by God.  He is my favorite Teacher.  Every time I am invited into His classroom, I feel giddy because it is a phenominal experience to go beyond the veil of everything that I know and discover a new facet of His character and majesty.  The fact that He longs to teach me anything just gives me goosebumps.  I love that I serve a God who longs to be known and experienced by His kids.  What a treasure it is to be taught by and loved on by the King of Kings!

The most current lesson He's teaching me is intentionality.  I love how He times everything perfectly.  Just today I read a blog post about the importance of being picky and intentional.  It seems that the refrain to be intentional in every area of my life is constant.  I'm loving it.  I'm learning that intentionality takes time.  One of my favorite things about that is that God isn't in a hurry to teach this lesson.  He wants to be fully invested in this one so that the fruit that is born of it is beautiful.  A person learning to be intentional must take time to weigh the decisions and choices they make.  I really like that.  I don't want to live a passive life where I settle for second best.  I want God's best the first time.  Taking time to learn about intentionality will have big rewards later.

I loved this piece of wisdom from Holley Gerth in her post about intentionality: "Take time to look at the character of the people you trust in life."  I believe it is crucial to surround yourself with community that live lives that are full of the character that you are partnering with God to cultivate.  I want to be a woman who is first of all humble.  I want my heart constantly bowed upon the altar of God's throne.  I want to be a bold encourager.  I want to be fiercely committed to every bit of God's fullness for me.  I want to exercise the authority God has given me effectively to plunder the camps of the enemy.  I want to be wise.  I want to love people as fully as Jesus did.  I want to live in unapologetic passion and pursuit of God's heart.  I want to be a woman who knows and follows the coice of the Holy Spirit.  I want to remain teachable.  All of these are areas that God and I are working on and they are all opportunities to grow in intentionality.  For that I am immensely grateful.  Have a wonderful Monday, blogworld.       

Thoughts Change With The Seasons...

Hello friends.  It's Friday and its the beginning of September.  I don't know about you, but those facts make me giddy.  Remember, I'm a cold weather, autumn-and-winter-loving woman all the way.  Knowing that it is September and inching closer to fall just does something to me.  I love knowing that my favorite season is well on its way. Here are some places my head starts to go anticipating getting cozy for Fall:

Baking: I absolutely love baking.  Seeing as I don't cook at all, (the microwave is this girl's best friendas well as my handy-dandy toaster oven), I don't really know how to bake.  So, I guess you could say I love the idea of baking.  There's something immensely satisfying about the combination of autumn and baking.  I also adore the smell of anything baking away in the kitchen.  It is so welcoming. 

Crafting: Confession time.  There is not a crafty bone in my body (I need to spend time with my sweet friend, Ashley in the hopes that some of her phenominal creativity and inner craft goddess will rub off on me).  The closest I come to exercising my craft muscles is bringing out my knitting needles.  Is that an OK admission to make as an almost 30-year-old?  I have been browsing different colors of yarn and I've let out many a happily delighted gasp the last few days.  I don't have any shame in the fact that I'm a knitter.  I love it.  It brings me peace and the needles feel really good in my hands.

Candles: Every day during Fall and Winter you can find me burning a candle in my home.  I absolutely adore being welcomed by the wonderful smells candles bring into the atmosphere!  Candles burning make me feel embraced and at home wherever I am.  Smelling candles in a home also lets me in on a tiny peice of the favorite things of the homeowner might be.  Candles also signigy hospitality to me.  I love hospitality.  I need to get better at inviting people into my home.  I think hospitality is really important in getting a new friendship growing.  The Lord is talking to me as I type these things about hospitality.  It's about inviting people into your heart and life. 

I've enjoyed giving you this little glimpse into my brain during my favorite season.  Where do your thoughts turn during Fall?

I'm a Fall Girl...

Hi my dear readers.  I'm so excited.  The calendar has turned to September, and for that I'm grateful.  I'm an Autumn girl to the core.  I love high school football, I love college football, I love the holidays that hit during the fall months, I love candles burning, I love the cool crispness that somehow is ushered in during the fall. I love the beautiful clothes, and accessories.  Fall could be a year-round season and I would be totally in heaven.  In my mind, Fall is the perfect mix of all the seasons.  It can be warm, but the crispness is a lovely touch.

I also love Fall because it holds my birthday month.  October is the best month if you ask me.  This year is very special.  I turn 30.  I am excited about that.  I'm really thankful that I was born during the Fall.  I absolutely love the coziness of my favorite season.  Wrapping up in a blanket, while burning a candle, getting lost in a good book, while drinking my favorite Earl Grey is just my definition of Fall perfection. 

I also love traveling in the Fall.  I'm thinking a birthday celebration trip is in the works.  Going on roadrips with my family is so much fun.  We love visiting Fredricksburg during the Fall.  Of course, we go to all the away football games on Friday nights and that is fun too.  One of the things I love is bringing the cold weather bag to football games on these trips.  It means my very favorite weather is upon us.  What are some of your favorite things about Fall? Where do you love to travel to in Texas?

Some of My Current Loves...

Since it is Monday, and almost 10 PM, I thought I'd go light on this beginning of the week post.  I don't have enough brain power to devote to meaty subjects at this time of night.  Here are some of thethings I am in love with right now:

Married To Jonas: I sat down and watched this show on E! just tonight, and I must admit, in my estimation, its a million times better than Keeping Up With the Kardashians.  I'm looking forward to my weekly dates with Kevin and Danielle Jonas on Sunday evenings.  Plus, whenever I did watch the Kardashians I felt really guilty and that I needed to find a cofession booth immediately or the nearest priest. Married to Jonas leaves me with a very clean conscience. 

Some of my readers may already know of my undiagnosed obession with scarves.  It is an addiction, but a very cute and fashionable one, if I do say so myself.  I always feel so put together when I add a scarf to my wardrobe choice for the day.  They make me feel sophisticated.  I'm only permitting myself to wear lightweight scarves right now.  There is no way I could do pashminas.  Texas summers are just too hot.  Scarves are a small accents that I can add to make it feel a little more like Fall has arrived and will be staying for a while.

Tea: If you've known me for any length of time you know of my adoration for tea.  I drink it ice cold in the Spring and Summer and piping hot in the Fall and Winter.  I feel like it also incorporates a tradition of another one of my favorite things: all things British (except for blood pudding. That's where I draw the line.)  I love the process of making tea, I love the smell of it steeping, I love its taste, and I love how a good-sized cup of it feels in my hands.  It's therapeutic to enjoy my tea.  My favorite blend is the classic black tea.  I'm very much a traditionalist when it comes to this.  It's always my drink of choice.

I'm loving that school is back in session.  It is during this time every year that I think of Kathleen Kelly's famous "...bouquets of sharpened pencils" line. There is a huge chunk of my family that are reachers or administrators so the beginning of school is always a huge life event every year.  I love everything about it.  It means a fresh start.  It means learning at deeper levels.  It means making new friends.  It means dreaming new dreams.  I love learning so when August rolls around, I'm a happy young woman.  Plus, this year is special because all of my family, my mom, dad, brother, and sil will all be back in the same town.  I am so excited.  The beginning of a new school year is always wonderful because in some part, I feel like the fantasy of becoming a real-life teacher might actually come true.  Playing school was always my very favorite way to spend my time as a little tiny girl.  I used to have a very strong Texas twangy accent when I taught, and the refrigerator make for a fabulous chalkboard.  Here's to those special memories...

What are you currently loving these days?  



 

Worship is Warfare...

Happy Monday, dear reader!  I hope your week is beginning well.  As most of you probably know from the info provided in my bio, one of the three most formative passions of my life has been worship. I flat out adore it and I have from the very beginning.  The act of worship is unfathomably powerful.  It breaks down walls, it is intensely inclusive, it ivites God to do the impossible, and it is one of the main points of access into the activity in the heavenly realms.  My very favorite thing about worship is that it completely incapasitates the enemy.  He absolutely has to flee whenever worship is a part of an atmosphere.  He abhors it. I love that.  When we worship, he loses all authority he may hold over any part of life.  All his lies lose power the milisecond one word of praise is uttered from my lips.  Is that not exciting?  I want to just stomp all over him in celebration and victory whenever and however I can.  Worship repels him and it steals his intentions.  The lessons I write about here are lessons that I have had experience with God in.  My intention is to share them as a means to show how a person can walk with God into all of His fullness or how someone may be able to find a way back to Him and in that complete freedom.  I am most certainly not sharing here to pat myself on the back or to shine recognition on anything I have done.  It is all to the glory, honor, and praise of my Papa God.  Now that that is said, I'd love to share three of my beliefs about worship and why I think it is so essential for a Christ-honoring and fulfilling inner life:

1) Worship is a lifestyle.  It most certainly is not just something you do in a building or only on Sunday mornings.  Worship is tied to every single thing -- little or big; significant or insignificant that you do every minute of every day.  Worship is washing dishes, or changing diapers, or tithing, or driving in your car.  The thing that defines whether or not it is an act of worship is the attitude of your heart and spirit as you live it out.  Living life through a lens of worship makes us different.  It causes people to wonder, "What is the it that this person has and is receiving life from?"  An authentic lifestyle of worship leads to Jesus being seen most clearly.  I believe that a life lived every second in every day throughout every season is the richest and most formative way to live.  Worship invites Papa God into every experience.  Claiming worship as a lifestyle is full of rewards and blessings.  It allows you to go into community and communion with God in a deeper and richer way.

2) Worship builds community.  I believe absolutely anyone who desires to live authentically in worship draws people to them.  Authenticity and a true pursuit of worship also draws the activity of God into life in a more relational way.  One thing I've learned as I've gained some milage with God is that you cannot in any way, shape or form fake a life of worship.  You're either intentionally pursuing it or you're not.  God knows.  There is a marked difference.  Another thing, people can tell whether you are actively pursuing a life of worship.  People who are looking for life-giving and lasting community are not interested in fake or counterfeit worship.  Life is a beast and community needs to have a place in the church and in our daily lives.  A life given to worship builds the richest and most treasured community.  If community is not built on a foundation of authenticity it will not serve a godly purpose.  Community is so very needed in society today.  Don't be someone or something you're not.  Make a decision to live out of a place of pure worship and gratitude.

3) Worship invites the reality of heaven into every day.  Two of the purposes of worship is to usher something in and to help create an atmosphere.  As we worship, we release something.  I've heard it said that whatever you behold is what you become and whatever you become will be released into who you are and everything you do.  I can only speak for me, but, I want everything that heaven has.  It is entirely possible to live in the reality of heaven now as we walk the earth.  Jesus said it, so I believe it.  Try it.  All you do is use your mouth to invite heaven's atmoshpere.  It's that easy.  You won't be the same.  It will ruin you for anything less.  Worship partners with heaven to see the miraculous occur.  Worship attracts miracles. Relentless and intimate pursuit of God through worship makes Him eager to accomplish what is seemingly impossible.  It's genius.  It's beautiful to behold.  It's even better to experience. 

Bottom line: Worsip is the most powerful weapon we have in our arsenal.  I pray that we live it; that we begin to use it to build authentic community; and that we learn to partner with it to see heaven manifested on earth!  May you know that this is attainable for you.  Worship is a wonderous gift.  Learn to use it to see God move on your behalf.     

      

My Spirit is Full...

Hi, blogworld! It has been awhile once again.  I have been on a journey this summer, and let me tell you, it has been quite a wild, divinely-orchestrated ride.  As a result of this aforementioned journey, I've been filled up to overflowing with new posts.  You can expect to find a new entry in this space every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday/Saturday.  That last one is dependant upon which day I can most easily sit down and put the time and energy into organizing my thoughts.  I am really excited about sharing the parts of my heart that can be shared.  I realize that some of this journey that I've been on can only be between me and the Lord, but I'm hoping that by sharing where I've been, what I've learned, and what I think about a certain topic can help bring anyone who visits this space a little more authenticity.  I am big on authenticity.  Another thing that is immensely important to me is building a sense of community wherever I am.  I thrive off of these two gifts.  These two things take time to grow in any environment, and I am completely aware of this.  I desire this space to be a place where authenticity, vulnerablity, and community will break out over time.  I belive with all my being that the only way to fully enjoy and embrace this journey of life is to do it with complete authenticity in every area.

My hope and prayer is that this can be a space where anyone can come and find joy for their journey and also that they might find some tangible and life-giving steps toward knowing complete and unashamed freedom in their pursuit toward what lasting fullness of a life lived well looks like like. Many blessings to you, dear reader.  May you know how fully the Lord delights in you right where you are today!

Long Time, No Blog...

Hello, blogworld! After a seven-month absence from writing consistently, I'm not sure I have any readers left.  You may or not be asking where I've been, but I began to feel like I needed to take a break from posting for a while in order to truly find the purpose of this space.  I feel like I'm just now beginning to resurface from a time of refueling and fillng by the Lord in my writing.  Out of this season of trying to listen to the Lord about what He wants to do through my writing I've come to rest upon three goals that I hope to use this place to accomplish.  First and foremost, I want to honor God and be authentic here on my blog.  I want to be honest and transparent, but I also want to wisely discern when to not put every thought and season of my heart's development on the internet.  I've learned that some things need to stay private.

Another goal of this blog is to encourage others.  Encouragement is one of the passions of my exsistence.  I believe I was created to encourage all people in all seasons.  As I've grown into my position in the Kingdom of encouragement, it has been so thrilling to watch and listen to the Holy Spirit as to who and how to encourage a specific person, family, or church. I feel alive when I encourage someone else.  It is so life-giving and energizing to point out the signifigance of people and God's activity in the world and in people's lives.  I love being used by the Holy Spirit to speak life into others.  I pray that this blog is a place where people can stop by and be filled with strength and the joy of the Lord.

The last goal of this blog is to become a place where I can grow as a writer.  I want to rake risks and begin to discover how the Lord might grow and challenge my development as a scribe for His glory.  I believe that God created me to write.  He has confirmed this in so many different ways and I want to develop this gift to fullest measure possible.  I have no idea how far He will take me in this area, but I am over-the-moon excited to occupy this medium in all of its levels! So, I hope to authentically lift up the Lord, to provide refreshment, joy, and to let all people who stop by that they are signifigant and fiercely loved by a huge, beautiful, and life-giving Father,