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.