{Read The Passages, Before The Blog} Can You Feel It? Can You Hear It? He’s NEAR.

Spirit-filled Jesus lovers- you HAVE to hear this.
Read these books in the Message version and tell me if you have the same experience!

This is by FAR the boldest post I’ve ever made, but I guess that’s why happens when you tell him you’ll say WHATEVER He wants you to say. It’s SUPER uncomfortable and simultaneously AMAZING!

I’m re reading the old prophetic books:
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi- in the Message. That’s just what I’ve gotten to so far.

My heart feels like a pacemaker under an MRI. Literally being RIPPED OUT.

For the lost!

And the fence sitters!

And the prodigals afraid to come home!

For the dispassionate and lukewarm believers that are being blinded with busyness, and lies, and fears and all the things!

I have been ALL of these.

It took me hitting rock bottom for me to cry out.
And I’m asking God some of the same things Habakkuk asked. {Basically how long? How long until we hit the bottom so they can see?}

Please – “as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy!” – Habbukuk 3

“God, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you,
and I’m stopped in my tracks,
down on my knees.

Do among us what you did among them.
Work among us as you worked among them.

And PLEASE – “as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy!” – Habbukuk 3

😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

You all- LISTEN- it continues on…

“God’s on His way again…
Skies are blazing with his splendor…
PLAGUE marches before him {HELLO!!!}
Pestilence at his heels {😬😬😬}.
He stops.
HE SHAKES THE EARTH…
Nations tremble.
The age-old mountains fall to pieces;
ancient hills collapse like a spent balloon…
I saw everyone worried and in a panic {Do you see it?!}…
Mountains saw what was coming.
They twisted in pain.
Flood waters poured in.
Ocean roared and reared huge waves…
Angry, you stomped through the Earth.
Furious, you crushed the godless nations.
You were out to save your people,
to save your especially chosen people….
When I heard it my stomach did flips.
I stammered and stuttered…
I staggered and stumbled…
I sit back and wait for Doomsday to descend on our attackers….
Though {the equivalent of basically, the world is falling apart and the economies are failing}-
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
I’m turning cartwheels of joy for my Savior God..
Counting on God’s rule to prevail,
I TAKE HEART AND GAIN STRENGTH!”
{from the prophet Zephaniah, chapter 3}

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And just like him— even alongside the heart- ripping anguish for the people caught up in the world, simultaneous the hope in my soul feels like a metal detector that has found TREASURE!!! 💍

With every passage I read, truth reverbates in my deepest core and it’s like a beep beep beep that tells me it’s CLOSE!

VERY CLOSE!!

We are almost there.

He is NEAR!

And that’s both exciting and terrifying.

But he is reminding me that it’s our enemy who should be afraid, and we should remain as close to Him as we can!

For all those who have strayed- it’s time to come home!

Prodigals- it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, he has already forgiven you and wants to welcome you back with a feast! {I know, I was afraid and ashamed too and He did it for me!}

Lukewarm- get his Holy Spirit fire inside you and get fired up!!

Busy, dispassionate, drowned- throw it off! All of it! It’s burying you! It’s not worth it! He’s so much BETTER!!

Fence-sitters- DECIDE! Before it’s decided for you and you get left behind.

Lost- LISTEN UP! Listen close. He’s calling out to you personally! He wants you to be among the saved! But He won’t override your free will. It’s your call!

And those already making the Most High their shelter- he says hang on TIGHT! He knows it’s a bumpy ride but He’s got us. He might be the destroyer of the enemy, and the one shaking the world, but he is our father and protector!
DO NOT FEAR. HOLD ON TIGHT.

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You guys, my fingers are typing this and just barely able to keep up.

This feels intense and urgent and to be honest I’m shaking as I post this.

Some may say I’ve gone off the deep end.
{It’s true, He is DEEP.}

Some may unfollow me because it’s too much.
{I get it.
Don’t follow me anyway, follow HIM!
I don’t even want to be a leader,
it’s very uncomfortable that he’s asking me
to share this.
I am tempted always to “just do me.”
But He in me CAN’T.}

And now, I’ve done what he’s asked me to do for the day, and I’m going to go enjoy my family.
Because I still can, and it’s a gift,
and if the anniversary of losing my dad has taught me anything-
It’s that whether or not the world ends soon,
Every day is SOMEONE’S last.
And we never know when our day is.
So it’s best to be sure we are always ready.
Not worried, but ready.

KEEP, EVEN SLEEP, WITH YOUR ARMOR ON!

Write My Own Story? No Thanks. I Want To Live In The Story God Is Writing For Me!

We have been tricked, y’all. Lied to by the world.

We have been told that we can write our own stories-
we have been inspired to,
coached to,
pushed to.

But can’t we see that’s not entirely true?

Can’t we see that even the “prettiest” life pictures we build up around ourselves, can’t fill us with all the security and all the sense of worth we’d hoped it would?

{The great news is that God offers those freely!}

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Can’t we see that there are some “plot twists” that we are NOT in control of?

When we die. When loved ones die. When people get sick. When jobs are lost, when business dries up, when the economy totally tanks. When the whole world goes crazy. When COVID.

{The great news is that, despite any of those things, we don’t have to go through “rock bottom” alone. And that, at the moment we feel hopeless, we find an EVEN GREATER hope!}

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We have been told that if we don’t build our own kingdoms, we will spend our whole lives helping someone else build theirs.

{The Truth is, that’s the very best thing that could happen to us! Embracing who we were made to be- both daughters/sons AND servants in HIS Kingdom. Trading in the “rent is due daily” life for the knowledge that the rent has FOREVER been paid by Jesus, but that we still g•e•t to use our gifts within his Kingdom, which is fulfilling!}

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And we have been told that if we are savvy enough, or helpful enough, or convincing enough, or educated enough, or kind enough, or if we pay enough for special “insider training”- not only can we build our own kingdoms instead, but that others will WANT to help us build ours.

But the thing we are forgetting to take into account?

None of it matters, if it’s not for Him.

“If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.

If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.

It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.

Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭127:1-2‬ ‭MSG‬‬

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“Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ.

Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection.

If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing.

If your work passes inspection, fine;
if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over.
But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:9-15‬ ‭MSG‬‬

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Y’all. I’m a writer.

I tried my whole life to write a story
I could be proud of,
others could be proud of,
He would be proud of.

Turns out- simply embracing the story He had been writing for me all along, {as I was trying to edit and fancy up and “plot twist” and all that}, has been the very best.

I don’t like surprises.

I like to be in control.

But control comes at the cost of heaviness.

Anxiety is the grinding, the rubbing,
of our own plans and control against God’s.

When we learn go with HIS flow,
the anxiety goes too, for the most part.

And the moments of it that still pop up are simply reminders that we are trying to do our own thing again.

I’m learning to let him be the author.
He’s much better at it than I am!

Even In Fear & Trembling

“Fear and trembling” are the words from the Bible that popped into my head, as I went to record podcast episodes 1 & 2 these past two weeks.

Fear and trembling, not so much about what people would think of me, but that if anyone is listening who is not a believer- what they would think of Him because of what I said.

I have the Fear of God in me.
Which does not mean that He is scary.
He should only be scary to those who are not on his side, not his daughters or sons.
The Fear of God is more like a deep reverence. Respect.
Concern for what He thinks.

I feel a fear of rejection, but not the same old one I used to have, that would have to assuage myself with reminders that “it’s not me they’re rejecting {when I was in direct sales}, it’s the opportunity.” Because in my heart I would rather someone reject me personally than reject the opportunity to get to know my friend, Jesus.

So I just want to “get it right”, you know?

I don’t want to just turn on a mic and ramble,
as if what I say doesn’t really matter
because if I believed that then I wouldn’t be doing it at all. Because podcasting vs. writing is NOT comfortable for me. Not one bit right now.

And yet it feels that way at times.
{Like I’m just rambling}.
And I have to fight that feeling too.
The lie that I’m just a rain drop in a hurricane.
That in this season of utter chaos, the “ripple effect” has gone out the window.

Because there’s already so many voices out there-shouting-
and here I am,
flesh overwhelmed by all the “noise”
like a deer in headlights,
yet soul provoked more than ever to speak up for TRUTH.
So that I find it impossible to be silent, even when my flesh would rather be.  

Fear and trembling,
Because I’m afraid to “preach it” wrong.
Or predict it wrong. {That Jesus is coming soon.}

But in prayer He reminds me that
I don’t need to call myself a prophet or a teacher-
Jesus will come when He will come,
But what people do need to know is that
the Holy Spirit is already RIGHT HERE.

An ever-present, real-time, available-to-us HELP.
A comforter.
An advocate.
A friend.
An intercessor.
THE FILLER.

Because too many of us are living dried up,
Trying to get filled, in the world.
Trying to fill others in our own power.

And all the while there is a better Way.
Him.
HE is THE Way, THE Truth, THE LIFE.
And only through Him do we eternally succeed.

And though our own salvation has zero to do with works, we do have work to do- which is extending the opportunity for salvation through Jesus to others,

And He makes himself available to help us accomplish this.

And so  even when it’s scary,
or out of my comfort zone,
or it feels like it doesn’t matter
(because I’m just one voice amongst millions),
or like there are plenty of other better-equipped people out there to spread God’s message…
Because He asked me to share and keep sharing,
I will.
I will trust that it matters because He says it does.

I will take this imploring personally, and I will exhort other Jesus-followers to as well:

“…Be energetic in your life of salvation,
reverent and sensitive before God.

That energy is God’s energy,
an energy deep within you,
God himself willing and working
at what will give him the most pleasure.

Do everything readily and cheerfully—
no bickering,
no second-guessing allowed!

Go out into the world uncorrupted,
a breath of fresh air
in this squalid and polluted society.

Provide people with a glimpse of good living
and of the living God.

Carry the light-giving Message into the night
so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you
on the day that Christ returns…”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:12-16‬ ‭MSG‬‬

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Enjoy daily encouragement?
Want to check out the podcast?

Here are the links.

•Apple•
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-full/id1586362401

•Spotify•
https://open.spotify.com/show/5eRd94Me9sDJNtxjiXXpq0?si=S_FBrTDLQBO8LZIfbiOZrQ&dl_branch=1

•Anchor•
https://anchor.fm/from-full

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