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“I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift.” (Shauna Niequist)
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Rom 15:13
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I used to think the dark was very dark…until I learned that in the dark was light…sometimes beginning only like a shadow – other times as a little spark far off in the distance. Yes, there is light in the dark and I think more often than not we are walking in that little glimmer of light in the dark…more often than walking in the light, void of the dark. I used to think I walked in clarity….with “sometimes episodes” of blurry, but came to understand that mostly I walk in blurry, but in the clarity within the blurry. Life is a paradox. We live in mystery. We live in faith.
“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” 1 Co 13:12
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Single-hearted…
Strive to be.
Misunderstood in the din of distractions…
And the grasps of gratifications.
But…
Single-hearted…
Strive to be.
“Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire.” Ps 37:4
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Slipping and sliding through life…
The rush of the path,
Cushioned by the flow of water…
Until all dries up…
Painful the burn of the journey…when all comes to a standstill.
Oh dehydrated soul
Whose busy-ness of self has forgotten the Source.
Thirst for the living water…
that immerses, that saturates, that floods.
Float back into the current of grace.
Again…Slipping and Sliding through life.
“A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit. Do not drive me from your presence, nor take from me your Holy Spirit. Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.” Ps 51: 12-14
After a month sabbatical there is an important truth that I have learned….
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Allowing yourself to be LOVED
By HE who is LOVE….
Draws others to HIM.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. ” 1 John 4:11-12
The Word of God is NOT chained….(2 Tim 9:9)
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Not in you…not even in the darkest recesses of your heart…
Not in your neighbor…not even in the toughest hardness of their hearts…
Not in that hopeless situation…not in that unanswered prayer…not in that battle of good vs. evil…
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The Word of God is NOT chained.
What confidence should flood our hearts in the knowing and the living…
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The Word is always victorious!
“Indeed the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” Heb 4:12
Stepping from the whirlwind of life…
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I’ve made a decision…again it wells up from within…renewed conviction…
To be PRESENT…
Fully alive to the gift of today….
Immersed in the wonder of the now.
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Allowing it to fill this chalice to overflowing.
Lifting it upward…
In profound gratitude.
My footprints upon the earth…receiving, believing, and adoring.
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On the narrow road that leads to home.
Heart of J is back after a brief respite
Back on the road….will you travel with me?
There’s plenty of room in the “I am” of this day….everyday.
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“You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and love ill pursue me all the days of my life; I ill dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.” Ps 23:5-6
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Patchwork Post…
End of the year shuffle…graduations…traveling guests…days at beach…sunburns and sweet ice tea…friends…heart to heart talks…good news/bad news…joys and trials…laughs and tears…summer heat and barefoot…being grateful…being humbled…to do lists…bucket lists…books that inspire…”Word”s that convict…kaleidoscope skies…sleepy saturdays…zumba and park runs…prayer and presence…dogs and lemonade…stray kittens…going fast…going slow…family…taking deep breaths…inhaling/exhaling…joy in the eyes….laughter in the voice…fresh peaches…juicy tomatoes…flowers galore…fresh cut grass…the smell of jasmine…whirlwind days…everything’s connected…all is Grace…
the Stuff of “Life”…
Busy but Beautiful…
Bountiful and Blessed…
A “Gallimaufry”… (isn’t that a fun word?!)
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“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds. I will delight and rejoice in you; I will sing hymns to your name, Most High. ” Ps 9:2-3
I’m knee deep in the “gallimaufry” of life…but promise to be back soon! From the Heart of J!
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Today I must walk…
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Today I must pray..
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Today I must give my heart away.
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With Jesus in me, I walk to the blind, trusting that He has seen what I’ll find.
He speaks to the heart. I speak to the mind. Together we walk as I learn to be kind.
Not my place to judge but my place to care, to show the unwanted that Jesus is there.
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Lord help me to listen more than to talk, to whisper your love and continue the walk.
(written by a friend Bridget Hannahan)
“But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another” 1 John 1:7
Do you ever feel like a cracked pot?
Leaking from various cracks and crevices?…
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You may not even be aware of it until you find yourself exhausted mentally, physically, spiritually…
your joy long misplaced.
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In answer to our pleading prayer, the Heavenly Father adds water of grace….kneads us back to mold-able…pushing and pulling the grace into the hardened areas…into the air pockets of our self made plans and mind, body, spirit disarray…
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remolding us…refashioning us…into our unique, one of a kind shape.
He throws us up on the pottery wheel…
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Spinning us over and over again until dizzy with the motion…
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The wheel stops and we are thrown into the kiln. Fire baking us, setting us, strengthening us to be that vessel which once again may hold the grace given..the love poured in…in order to be poured out.
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Surrendering into the Potter’s hands we are molded into the masterpiece of who we are.
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Giving Him permission to shape us into glory.
“Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” Is 64:7
through Him with Him in Him... 