"I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem, until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation, like a flaming torch." (Isaiah 62:1)
When Elizabeth came into my life last Dec, I really had no idea about the life & weight she carried for me. It was my response to the Lord’s gentle nudging from within that had me get her from the local nursery, but little did I know that a journey of sorts had just begun.
Over the months, I saw her go from a beautiful, bright red-leaved plant to a dry, dull green-leaved survivor that honestly, was quite discouraging.
Presenting Elizabeth!
After a 3-week battle where I shifted her in and fought for her, I knew I had to let her go.
So I prayed for her, committed her to the Lord and sowed her as a seed in the ground before finally bidding her adieu.
Friend, how often do we hit a curveball like this in life, and then think it’s all over when it’s actually only a new beginning?
Had I simply dumped Elizabeth on the pavement, it would have been a different story. But committing her to the Lord as a seed buried in the ground has fetched me a completely different result.
A few weeks later, I began to notice the entire landscape & geography of my living space shift. The Lord had been working within me, through me and also on my behalf in a way that has served to release a most beautiful, diverse and buoyant plant family in my life!
These folks initiated the release 💚My first succulent planter 🪴Except that it’s a snail 🐌 🙃 Yes he is! 🌴In a capsule 🙂
All this to say that should you have lost any thing/person dear and precious to you, then take heart. All is not lost.
As surely as I grieve with you, I also simultaneously encourage you to sow the thing/person as a seed in the ground, for Jesus is faithful to receive your seed, honor it and multiply it. In the kingdom of God, what is dead and buried is often used to raise a harvest of righteousness and bring in newness of life that could never have been anticipated.
For me, it looks like a brand new plant family springing up to life in the wake of one seed – Elizabeth – that was an unwitting sacrifice. For you, it can look completely different. But what we do have in common is the perfectly righteous God we serve who can and who does use all things for our good and his great glory!
In a few days, friends, we will be moving into a brand new year. But as we do, may we look back on the year that has been 2021 – not to stay stuck in what we are gearing up to wrap up, but rather to reflect & learn so that we can grow as we go. For me personally, this year has been both, difficult + monumental. It has had me traverse the roughest terrain, navigate my way through snakes and adders, but it has also seen the Lord’s hand move me through my pain so mightily that it has grown me closer to His heart than I have ever been.
I call this the art of finding the ‘beauty in the brokenness.’
It will need us to get alone with Jesus for some time so that God is invited in to clean up the lens of our perception and show us the glory of what has been as He takes us into what will be in 2022.
The Father has good plans for us. For each and every single one of us. I believe that with all my heart.
For Jesus writes the script of our lives with grace, hope and promise. He does not plot our pain, but He does use it to evolve us.
So as we prepare our hearts this time of the year, let me leave you with some thoughts.
What was may not have been easy, but I bet it transformed you. I bet it gave you greater grit, purer faith and more strength of character than ever before.
I bet it developed things on the inside of you that couldn’t have been developed any other way.
I bet it taught you to turn your back on the inferior and pursue the superior.
I bet it introduced you to a version of yourself that reflects the image of its Creator better than it ever has.
And I bet that that’s worthy of celebration, sweet friend.
I bet that’s reason enough to tie a bow on 2021, receive the glory it carried and let that fuel us into the next.
“Performance was a big problem for me. As a child growing up, I always sought to perform for the approval and validation of people. I harbored a compulsive need to top my class, and I would work my tired fingers to the bone. Needless to say, I found myself on the hampster wheel of performance and ended up extremely weary, tired, exhausted, depleted – needing hope.
That was when I turned my life over to Christ. As I gave myself over to receiving mega doses of the Father’s Love, I realised that beneath all these layers of performance, the root of the issue that plagued my soul was –
…
To read the rest of this story from my life and the testimony of God’s grace, I invite you, friend to visit my guest post live with my creative friend, Jennie Denney!
‘The Beauty of Jesus’ inspires me, friends to cultivate gratitude for who He has been, who He is and who He promises to remain, for He never changes and ironically, He keeps getting better!
“The Son of God lays down his privileges, wraps himself in flesh and comes as a babe in a manger.”
The world awaited a Savior. Many prophecies and 400 years later, there was still no answer.
But then, He came.
He did not come as one would expect. No. Not with pomp and show, but rather with a humility and fragility that almost takes us by surprise.
The King of glory redeines and revolutionizes our concept of ‘Kingship’ by authenticating it through ‘Servanthood’ and translating this unique hybrid into the language, the identity and reality of “Sonship.”
Friends, we have a Savior in Jesus because we need relationship with the Father. We are not orphans or strangers with respect to the Father, but rather closely held, delightfully known and tenderly loved Children of the most high God who is Perfect in His heart towards us, and it was to reveal the height, the depth, the length, the width of this magnanimous heart that Jesus came.
Not as a military dictator – because that’s not who the Father is. But rather as a helpless babe in a manger – to identify with us so that we could identify with Him, for compassion is who the Father truly is.
Slowly growing up in wisdom and stature, the Son of God modelled for us the “Perfect Servant-King.” And the Bible tells me that as He is, so are we in this world.
I don’t know what your story is, friend. But mine has seen me discovering the truth of my identity as a Daughter of the King of kings and then also the beauty of my role through my relationship with the Father in the earth. What that means every single day is the hope that I awaken with and awaken to every single day.
So for the string of days leading upto Christmas beginning with Advent, I feel like we have a fresh invitation & opportunity from the Lord to seek to know Him – as a Father so that we can be known as much loved Children.
There is no fear in love, but Perfect Love casts out all fear. In a day and age where there is so much temptation to live in fear, anxiety or dread; I’d rather be defined by the Love of my Father and let His Love transform the story of my life.
Because He came, I’m going.
Straight into the arms of my Father. For who was once a helpless babe in a manger is now the Risen King of glory who is the Savior of the world, but also my personal, perfect, intimately connected and hugely involved – “Father.”
In response, its only natural to want to press in to know Christ this Christmas, friend.
So let’s do that!
He is our Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace.
To discover Him is to unwrap the gift of Christmas.
🎁
So as I knit my heart with yours, I hope and pray that the winter snow kisses you afresh and awakens you to the desire of the Father.
For to make you known to Him was also why Jesus came, and I’m guessing we’re going to make it count this season.
It has been a challenging time where the Lord’s Love has compelled me to take it slow and find the beauty in it. Having to match my pace with His has tried my soul in ways I can’t even articulate, but by His Grace, I feel I am doing much better now – being more rested, more whole, more free.
What I feel as a result, is that what most marks this season is ‘redefining productivity.’ By the world’s standards, I may not have been producing or creating much, but by the standards of the Kingdom, so much more has been produced in me, beneath the surface, in a way that is truly symbolic of Fall.
Sitting in the sun and basking in His glory have become my favorite winter activities. Digging in the Word while sipping some green tea mark my delight. Finding my rhythm in tune with that of creation brings such great joy, friends that I felt today to simply hop on and encourage you to ‘winter in’ with me.
What looks cold and barren on the outside often is growing deep roots beneath the surface. When growth is least suspected is when it perhaps is happening the most. It may not appear to be yet what was promised, but every oak tree was once a tiny seed.
May we know it, perceive it and sow it.
Even when its Fall. For the season of singing and pruning the vines will always come.
This is the Will of God for my life – 2 fish & 5 loaves of bread.
Maybe its true spiritually, but God doesn’t demarcate between the natural and spiritual like we do. It’s all one realm for He permeates all things, and uses the natural only to testify to the things of the Spirit.
So as I hobbled into the kitchen for my dinner, Mom had kept such a beautiful tray on display, friends.
2 fish & 5 loaves of bread.
(+ some excellently rich chocolate pastry, egg and mushroom soup 🍰🍞🍳🍜)
Sooo good!
This is where I discern Truth – for this must be the Will of God for my life!
😉😄
I had a gorgeous meal. For I not only relished what God had laid out in front of me, but also the Who it was that did.
I took many small bites as I ate today. I savoured the taste and took in the smell of this sumptuous meal. I looked up and thanked God. I saw Jesus face-to-face, smiled and then broke bread. We had communion.
Blessed, broken and given.
2 fish & 5 loaves of bread served to take me straight into the Heart of God.
And I kid you not. As I took time to commune with Jesus, the already sweet bread became that much sweeter and softer, and I knew that Heaven had just touched earth.
I learnt something more too.
I realised that sometimes all we have to do is be willing to open up our eyes to the miracle of the 2 fish & 5 loaves of bread that are right out in front of us. The tiny blessings, the slivers of grace ..
.. where we know He didn’t have to do it, but He did.
With the advent of social media, I have noticed that comparison seems to be quite a game of the enemy to rob us not only of our joy, but also of our power.
We look at the look of one another’s lives, and seem to believe the lie that everyone has it better off than us. They are more talented, more gifted, more resourced, more qualified. Therefore, God can use them.
Nothing could be further from the Truth.
For Scripture tells us that who God calls, God qualifies. It is His responsibility to give us everything we need to fulfill our destiny – the right opportunities, connections and resources. And He is not only responsible, He is Faithful.
So what’s the issue?
I think it has to do with us having the right heart.
Broken vessels
God isn’t necessarily looking for the most skilled or qualified people to use for His glory. He can and does use all, but just because we feel that we don’t have all our ducks in a row, God can’t use us – is a lie.
For the Truth is that God works with broken vessels so that whatever is done in them, through them and around them testifies to the power of God at work in their lives, and therefore, brings Him all the glory.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
(2 Corinthians 4:7)
So what I am learing is that our power is not in our gift mix or our skill set. It is in fact, in the anointing of the Spirit of God on our lives.
For it is the anointing that breaks the yoke.
It is NOT our gifting or talent that breaks the yoke. It is NOT the size of our platform or the number of our followers that breaks the yoke. It is NOT the processing or the packaging of our resources that breaks the yoke.
Those things are of value, but only with the right perspective. For without the anointing of the Spirit of God, even those things would be void of power.
For the Truth is that it is only and only the ANOINTING of the Spirit of God that can break the yokes off of peoples’ lives and set the captives free. For wherever the Spiritof the Living God is, there is liberty.
(2 Corinthians 3:17)
There is therefore, no need for us to compare or contrast ourselves with others. No need to want what others have and in so doing, not only devalue ourselves, what our Father is able to do with our lives, but also dilute the anointing on our lives – the potency and the power of that which is being cultivated on the inside of us.
Comparison and presenting the counterfeit have always been a snare of the enemy to distract us from the Truth of our real worth, value and mission.
TRUTH: We are of matchless worth.
The Great Deception
Creating a counterfeit version of ourselves, when God is mad about us just the way we are can perhaps be best described as The Great Deception. It started way back in the Garden of Eden, and it still carries on.
Allow me to recount the events. The enemy of our souls found a way to deceive Eve into eating the forbidden fruit because she really did not have a sound enough revelation of who she was as an image bearer of God, in the first place. Tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit, the enemy’s dialogue with Eve is something I strongly encourage you to take note of.
“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'”
(Genesis 3:4, emphasis added)
Notice what he says.
He tries to convince Eve to eat the forbidden fruit so that her eyes would be opened and she would become like God.
But wait a minute.
Didn’t she know that she was made in the image of God and therefore, was already like God?
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27)
There was no need for Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in order to become like God because as His image bearer in the earth, she already was.
She had nothing to prove to anyone.
She was free.
God had designed her to be free, but she chose to relinquish that freedom by attaching the affections of her heart to the inferior.
The Great Deception – is what I call it.
The Good News
But the Good News for us is that we can learn from this so that we do not have to fall prey to his schemes and tactics.
Will he try to tempt us, deceive us and distract us into things like comparison and performance?
Absolutely.
Do we have authority over him though? Can we choose better?
Absolutely.
Friends, I am learning that God cannot bless a pretend version of who we are, but only the authentic, the original, the masterpiece of His design and make.
That is something He can work with, something He can anoint, something He can endorse, something He can sanctify, something He can wield for His glory.
This is where I believe God desires a right heart – one where the posture of the heart is surrendered before the Lord and the affections of the heart are anchored in the Lord.
We are not talking here of perfection or performance, but rather of the power and beauty of an authentic, submitted and intimate connection with the Father. We are talking of what God can and will do with a life that is whole-heartedly yielded to His will. He is not looking for our perfection, but rather for our availability.
He is longing for us to come to Him just the way we are and trust Him with our broken pieces. He invites us to move past the point of our pain and dare to believe Him to do what only He can do.
There is power in authenticity.
Whatever is authentic, will be anointed.
For when we embrace our authenticity and dare vulnerability, power is released through our lives because it carries the sound of freedom. And the Gospel says that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free and he whom the Son sets free?
Is Free indeed.
Unlocking our authenticity is unlocking our anointing as there is power in our freedom.
And the Good News is that we have permission to embrace it.
SoulandSubstance27 