space

S p a c e……I need space! Yesterday was a long day. It was an awesome day, filled with incredible conversations and interactions. It started early and ended late. But it seemed like something was missing. What was it? S p a c e. I had not spent intentional time in the morning with God. It’s not magic. It just helps me center on what is most important to me….my relationship with Him.

What I say I want is to have all of my life reflect God…hopefully, that others would see Him in me. What doesn’t make sense to me is the relationship I say is the most important I can neglect. So many reasons why….I want to sleep in, I need to get a few things before I leave the house, or at night, I’ve already put in a full day and want to veg in front of the tv. So what gets moved to tomorrow? Sometimes, my time with God.

Thank goodness it’s different now than a few years ago. I work now to be more aware of God’s presence in my daily life, so my relationship with Him feels rich and deep. But I realize that when I don’t have my special time with Him in the morning…..I miss it. I feel a bit more scattered throughout the day…not quite as focused. And I love that I miss it…that I miss it because I love being with Him during that time and not because I feel guilty because I didn’t fulfill an obligation. I don’t think God wants us to come to Him out of obligation. I think He wants us to come to Him because we love Him and desire to just sit with Him.

May your times with Him be so special that when you are unable to spend intentional time with Him….you miss Him.

Peace,
Deb

desire

“It is a rare self-understanding today which lets one believe that his or her aches and yearnings are mystical.”

Richard Rolheiser

So many times, I ignore or push down those longings I carry deep within. To think about them creates an ache inside. To voice them seems inconceivable, opening me to extreme vulnerability.

I want to be able to trust God with these longing, to talk to Him about them. To allow Him to bring them to pass in my life if that is what is to be. To be able to get out of the way and allow God to use me, to move in me any way He chooses…even when it means fulfilling some of my inner desires. It requires a shift in my thinking…that God not only calls me to those things that I might find difficult and need to fully depend on Him to accomplish but also to those things that I deeply desire to do.

I invite you to spend some time in silence today, allowing those desires to surface. Share your thoughts and feelings with God and remain open to how and when He wants to bring them to pass.

Grace and peace,
Deb

presence

This past weekend was very stressful for me. What should have been an awesome time turned into moments of panic and fear. We had given our children tickets to a Broadway show for Christmas. This past Saturday was the day. On Friday, I looked for the tickets and guess what? I couldn’t find them. We are in the middle of a remodel of our kitchen and that was the last place I saw the tickets. What a crazy, panicked feeling! I looked everywhere and couldn’t find them. After about two hours of searching and worrying, I finally called the box office and they assured me I could still get my family into the theater.

Then, Saturday morning, we left for the train station and, once there, I couldn’t find my driver’s license. My train ticket said that ID would be required. I envisioned myself driving back home while my family got on the train to go to New York. I tore everything out of my purse and finally found my ID. Guess what? No one asked for it.

Then in New York, there was plenty of fretting…did we have enough time for lunch before the show, would we get into the show in time standing in this long line, would I miss any of the show waiting in the incredibly long line at the bathroom during intermission (I didn’t miss any of the show because they announced it about to begin and I immediately got out of the line (with only 4 more people in front of me)to go back in the theater and wait 10 more minutes for it to begin!), would we make it back to the train station in time to catch our train home? Notice a pattern here?

It was a lovely day that I allowed to be marred by worrying about everything when there was no need to worry. Worry is about something in the future that may or may not happen…most times it doesn’t but I, none the less, spend time worrying. That also means I am living in the future instead of in the present. That is not how I want to live my life.

God…help me today to be present. Help me rest in You today and know that whatever this day holds, with all of its twists and turns, is what You have for me. I want to live in the moment…with You.

Grace and peace,
Deb

Prayer of St Francis

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is jury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled,
as to console;
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is dying to the self that we are born into eternal life.

transformation

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine and she was telling me how she was seeing God work. He has a very specific way of speaking into her life. She is beginning to notice when He wants to say something to her and she creates space in her schedule to listen, to journal, to process. The things she has come to know about herself and about God are beautiful.


I am in a place of feeling incredible gratitude for being granted the privilege to listen and be a witness to these kinds of stories…to have a front row seat to holy transformation…to sit in the midst of sacredness.


Thank you to God….and to my friend for allowing me to be a part of it all…


Grace and peace,

Deb

silence

Today I was in a large group, end-of-the year, celebration. Women were sharing how the past year, being together and being with God had changed their lives. It was inspiring. In the middle our time together, one of the leaders invited us to rest in few minutes of silence. What a beautiful time. I am use to being in silence by myself…sitting still in God’s presence, but it is rare that I am offered the opportunity to intentionally sit in silence with a large group. It was restful and felt very much like worship.

Give yourself the gift of silence. Sit before God with no agenda. Open your mind and your heart to His presence and His love. It will change you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

love

The following is a response to the Florescents blog. A friend of mine, Carol, posted this on her blog today. You can check out her wonderful musings at http://carol-fromheretothere.blogspot.com

Wholly crap! God is Love!

(Warning! This is a long one!)
Okay, so huge light bulb moment these past several days!
I was reading a friend's blog(sacred encounters -the link is listed on my page)last Friday and it was about flourescent lighting and how it very harshly shows us each and every flaw and how when we try to repair these flaws in this lighting and we go out into the normal more gentle natural lighting, we could end up with a close resemblance to the infamous Bozo the Clown! And anyway, how we listen to those flourescent lighting voices in our head instead of the more gentle natural God voice and we(okay definitely me!) end up looking like Bozo. She goes on to say that God is gentle and kind.
TA-DA! Here is my light bulb moment! It says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..."
And then guess what I realized?!!! GOD IS LOVE! It says so in 1John 4:8 "But anyone who does not love, does not know God-for God is love." (Okay a little side note here for those of you that know me---no, I have not suddenly and miraculously gained the ability to quote and spout scripture word for word---I had to do a search and find the exact words---I knew the love is patient stuff was in Corinthinians somewhere and I knew I heard that "God is love" at some point but I wasn't sure where, to be completely honest---I think I sang it in a worship song---I've been wondering why that key phrase has been repeating endlessly in my head and now I finally know why-duh! sometimes I can be a bit thick headed...)
So, on to my point! GOD IS LOVE! These words can be interchangable! Hello! How freakin'awesome is that! Do you know what that means? Well, let me tell you!
It means the following:


God is patient with me
God is kind to me
God will not dishonor me
God does not get easily angered by me
God does not keep a score card of all of my screw ups
God is not delighted when I am miserable
God loves it when I get the truth
God protects me
God trusts me (probably a whole lot more than I trust Him sometimes)
God does not give up hope on me, because...
God perseveres
God never fails
So, now when I hear the harsh unkind flourescent lighting voices in my head telling me things like "you can't write, whatever gave you that idea? you're so stupid... you're an idiot, you are nothing and always will be nothing... you're an awful wife...you're an awful mom...you can't be an artist, you can't be anything or anyone." I can tell them to shut up! That is not God speaking to me. He would never say those things to me.

He loves me. When I am in need of repair, He lets me know and does so in a kind patient gentle loving way. My God would instead things like:

"You are a writer and an artist, because that is how I created you, sit with Me, let's write together, let's sketch and paint together. You are a wife and mother, stop trying to be the perfect wife and mother---love your family like I love you, patiently, kindly, lift them up. Stop trying to love them by doing, love them by being your true self. You are already more than nothing because I have created you. Just stop trying to be something and just be you. That is my heart's desire for you, Carol, just be you, creative, artistic, loving, fun, funny, and content in your love for Me. "

Wow, I didn't mean for this last part to come out, but I believe that it was meant to, so I'll leave it on here, unedited...

Bottom line here is, I get it. I finally get, God is love and God loves me...

Thanks for being faithful with your daily blogs, Deb! Love you!

identity

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said:

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

I love this quote. It helps me gain perspective on my life and my role. At the core of who I am, I am spiritual. I am made in the image of God. This is so easy for me to forget. I get so caught up in my life…my things…my plans. I can be upset about something that won’t mean anything two weeks from now, let alone be important in the grand scheme of things.

I can tend to live as if this is all there is. Fear sets in as I think of the years swiftly moving by and the knowledge that my days are numbered. I get so caught up in my earthly existence that I don’t give a thought to eternity.

Imagine what it would be like if we began every morning reflecting on the truth that we are spiritual beings on a human journey. If we constantly carried this thought with us through our day, how would it change the way we act…or react? What would look different? Be different?

I encourage you to think about this today. Live this day with the full knowledge that you are a spiritual being on a human journey. Look at all today holds for you through that lens and see how it changes you. And, consider offering today’s part of your spiritual journey to God, asking Him to allow that spirituality to shine through your human-ness.

Blessings,
Deb

My apologies for the late posts...I was in AZ last week with my mom and am not fully back on Eastern Standard Time!

surprises

Have you ever had the experience of praying for something and seeing, in your head, how it would work out? I do that all the time. But…you know what? It NEVER works out that way.

Or, how about this….you’re not sure what’s ahead, what’s around the next corner. You may be sensing that God is calling you into a new adventure but you cannot possibly see how it will come to pass. Or, you may be facing a very difficult situation that is full of uncertainty. If only you could see what’s ahead, then you could trust Him with whatever it is.

I used to fear these circumstances (sometimes I still do). I wanted to have more control, to be able to plan things out, to know what was coming next so I could better prepare. What I really wanted was for God to answer my prayers my way. This kind of living caused me a great deal of anxiety. But then, slowly, God began to change my perspective. I began to relax and truly trust that He knew what was best. I didn’t need to know everything.

I have been on this journey long enough to know that God always works it out. Not always in the way I want Him to and never the way I think He will, but, none the less, He works it out.

Now, instead of fearing what’s around the next corner, I am looking for the surprise. I know God loves me and that He will take care of me, even if it is in unexpected ways. So, instead of needing all the answers, I am able to live with the questions and anticipate the surprise, looking at it like a gift. It may not come when I expect it, be wrapped the way I think it should be or even be the gift I want…but it will always be the gift I need.

May your day be filled with “God surprises”. May you not be fearful and anxious about what lies ahead but learn to be open and excited about the surprises God has in store for you. Enjoy the gift; the gift that is, trusting Him with everything.

Blessings,
Deb

florescents

“If we can’t discern the Lord’s voice in our life, we will be at the beck and call of every other voice. The voice of shame, perhaps from some failure in our past…If we have heard from the Savior’s own lips how much he loves us and delights in us, it will silence the taunts of voices that put a makeup mirror to our face and point out all the reasons why Jesus couldn’t possibly be in love with such a blemished person.”
Ken Gire

Who is the genius who decided it was a good idea to put florescent lights in women’s bathrooms…or dressing rooms? I swear, I would go out of my way to shop at a store that had beautiful, soft lighting in the dressing room.

As women, we all know that fluorescents show each and every little flaw. You touch up your makeup to try and cover some of those flaws and step out into daylight looking like Bozo the clown! YIKES!

That is what can happen to us when we choose to look at our inner life through voices other than the voice of God. They will tell us that we are not worthy of His love. They tell us that we will never be good enough. They tell us that we might as well give up because we will never arrive. They are the mirrors that show us every single flaw and exaggerate the ugliness.

Jesus is the one who reveals to us what we need to look at. He is gentle, he is kind. All of our flaws are looked at in the light of His love…and in that beautiful lighting, we can come confidently before Him and allow Him to do the work that needs to be done.

Grace and peace,
Deb

transcendance

“Life is difficult
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

M. Scott Peck
I know so many friends who are going through difficult times. Often, as Christ followers, we have been taught that life will be good, absent of most difficulties, if we are living in God’s will. Where did we get such an idea?
Life is life. That means it will sometimes be better than we could ever have imagined and sometimes it will be more painful than we think we can survive. We live in a fallen world.
But, I believe that Peck is on to something. The more we struggle against the difficulty, the more it consumes us. When we look for God’s grace in the midst of the struggle, we focus much less on the struggle itself and more on the God we cling to within it. That is transcendence…moving into and through the difficulty where God meets us.

Grace and peace,
Deb

listening

“Many of us prefer listening to a pastor or a speaker rather than training ourselves to sit in quiet and listen to God.”

Jan Johnson

I wonder why this is? I think, for me, it is because listening to someone else speak is, for the most part, a passive activity. There is the ‘active’ piece of paying attention but because their voice is verbal and audible, we can take it in.

When I listen to God, it becomes more active even though I am silent and listening. It takes so much more of my resolve to listen to that ‘still small voice’. I not only need to be in silence and solitude, I need to bring something to this time. I bring the work of surrender. I need to abandon myself to the work of God and sit quietly and let Him ‘speak to me’. It is not audible but it comes in pieces through the days and weeks to come. It is a mosaic…a beautiful puzzle that I can begin to see parts of through circumstances, relationships, readings, movies, sermons and other surprises that come in all different ways.

Do not neglect listening to those who are in a position to speak truth into your life…but I invite you to not substitute it for listening to the One who created truth.

Grace and peace,
Deb
(Sorry for the delay.. I am in Arizona and had problems with a connection.)

substitutes

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

C.S. Lewis

What have you settled for? What mud pies are you making while your holiday at the ocean awaits? Anytime you settle for less than what God wants for you….anytime you settle for less than who God means for you to be, you are playing with mud pies. Ask Him to give you a glimpse of the ocean…the desire to ‘go on your holiday’ and the ability to experience infinite joy.

Grace and peace,
Deb

waiting

This is a beautiful poem speaking of the virtue of waiting. Allow yourself to sit with it today and see where God may be speaking to you.

Slowly,
she celebrated the sacrament of letting go
first she surrendered her green
then the orange, yellow and red
finally she let go of her brown
shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
leaning against the winter sky
she began her vigil of trust.

Shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground.
she stood in silence
wearing the color of the emptiness,
her branches wondering:
how do you give shade with so much gone?
And then,
the sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
clothing her with silhouettes
they kept her hope alive.

They helped her understand that
her vulnerability
her dependence and need
her emptiness
her readiness to receive
were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening
they stood in silence
and celebrated together
the sacrament of waiting!

Macrina Wiederkehr

Grace and peace,
Deb

empty tombs

“Leave yourself alone. Enter solitude. Be silent. Do your good deeds in secret. Make dead space into holy ground.

You will become less, it’s true. But you will also become more: you will discover your true self and meet more often, lose less often, the Lord of the holy wild. For out of empty tombs and dead spaces comes the living Christ. Be still and know that He is God.”

Mark Buchanan

“For out of empty tombs and dead spaces comes the living Christ”. How encouraging is that? I know that many days, I feel like an empty tomb. I feel as if I’m filled with dead space. I feel as if I don’t have one more good thing to give, to say, to do, left within me.

Those are the days that I know I am trying to do it on my own. I’m not consciously tuning God out…I’m just not being intentional about sitting with Him, about getting myself out of the way. When I try to be present with God, I am so much more aware of Him being the One who works in and through me and that what I am able to do is because of Him. It is in Him that I live and move and have my being.

Today…do you feel like an empty tomb? Do feel like you are hollow inside…filled with only dead space? Remind yourself that the Creator of the universe, the One who made the foundations of the earth, who crafted the mountains and carved out the seas….lives within you. And…that makes you the bearer of the Christ. Move and live and have your being this day resting in that knowledge.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sing

My life flows on in endless song
above earth’s lamentations;
I hear the real though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
while to that rock I am clinging;
while love is Lord o’er heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

Tradition Quaker Hymn

Sing your song today.

Grace and peace,
Deb

creativity

“And what of the human heart’s capacity to understand God? Here we need the help of passionate visionaries such as Dostoevsky. Sacred scripture is too important to be left exclusively to biblical scholars. Theology is too vital to be consigned solely to the province of theologians. To explore the depths of the God who invites our trust, we need artists and mystics……”

“Send in the artists, mystics and clowns. Their fertile imagination pours the new wine of the gospel into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38). With fresh language, poetic vision and striking symbols, they express God’s inexpressible Word in artistic forms that are charged with the power of God, engaging our minds and stirring our hearts as they flare and flame.”

Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust




I have many friends who are artists. Some act, some write, some paint, some draw, some make jewelry, some sing. I am always in awe of them. I draw ‘stick’ people. I paint walls. I make very basic jewelry that may fall apart by the end of the day. I have done some acting, some singing and some writing but I have never really considered myself an artist. Until recently.

God has given one of my friends a vision of providing a place for regular people like you and me, to discover the artist within. She believes that we all have an artistic side. We just need encouragement and a safe place to experiment. She sees each of us as an expression of God’s creativity and we, being made in God’s image, have that same creativity inside. Hmmm….maybe I am an artist. My ‘stick’ people may just have a beauty all their own.

What is inside of you waiting for the chance to express itself? Have you tried and been discouraged by someone else's comment or even your own voice telling you that you are not an artist? I invite you to listen to what God is calling you to…and how He wants you to express it. Remember…you’re expressing what is inside of you for the audience of One.

desire

Do you really want to live your lives,
every moment of your lives, in His Presence?
Do you long for Him? Crave Him?
Do you love His Presence?
Does every drop of blood in your body love Him?
Does every breathe you draw breathe a prayer, a praise to Him?
Do you sing and dance within yourselves, as you glory in His love?
Have you set yourselves to be His, and only His,
walking every moment in Holy obedience?

Thomas Kelly
A Testament of Devotion



How can one possibly live like this? For me, it isn’t a lack of desire. I so desire an intimate relationship with God. I know that I don’t ‘breathe a prayer’ every time I draw a breath (at least not consciously). I have ‘gloried’ in His love, at times, but I definitely don’t walk in obedience every waking moment. So, reading something like this can be discouraging.

But, I don’t think God wants us to be discouraged by these words. In fact, I think He wants us to be very encouraged as this is what we can aspire to. I used to give up after a day or two of trying to live up to words like these. In the last several years, I began to sense that God was only asking me to have the desire to live this way. He knows that, because I live in this fallen world, I will continue to struggle with brokenness and sin.

What I’ve noticed is that the more I desire intimacy with Him and set my intention on that, the more I realize I am living closer to the way He wants me to. Less effort, more change. It’s the Holy Sprit working in and through me…it is not because of my own efforts. Not that I don’t need to be open and cooperate with this work but it is so much less work when I let God take the lead.

I invite you to think about asking God to stir that deep desire in you for more intimacy with Him. It will be the beginning of a new season in your spiritual life. If you already have the desire for more, enjoy it and move with it as it takes you into a deeper place of being with Him.
Peace,Deb

life

“It is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t.”

Brian

I spoke with a friend today and she said she knew someone who used this saying a lot. Pretty straightforward. It is used to state that life happens and many times the only place I have a choice is in how I respond.

It boils down to this….do I trust God? Even when it doesn’t look good, doesn’t feel good, do I trust Him? Do I believe that He knows what is best for molding me into who I was meant to be? I do.

Grace and peace,
Deb

life

“Life is just a chance to grow a soul.”

A.Powell Davies

Life is filled with all kinds of stuff. Wow…I must be in a eloquent mood today! But it is true. There are the wonders of family…a great husband, children who actually want to be in my life, grandchildren who bring a new and unexpected joy to my days….to the gift of friendships, rich and textured, speaking love and encouragement into my life….the meaning of vocation, being free to use my gifts and abilities to usher others into a deeper relationship with our Creator…. the presence of beauty, art, music, color, fabric, nature. I could go on and on.

And then there is the part of life that is filled with pain. The loss of life, relationships, youth, hopes, dreams, health. The visions of the world’s groaning…poverty in India, genocide in Darfur, AIDS in Africa. The brokenness of the Fall lived out in Technicolor. Sometimes, it all keeps me awake at night.

But this is the stuff of life. The good, the bad and the ugly. And it is all part of what makes us who we are. Not so much what we experience but how we respond to it.

May you embrace all of it. May you be awake to all of it. May you love deeply and may you hurt over the things that break the heart of God. May your soul be shaped life…a life entwined with God.

Grace and peace,
Deb

friendship

This past weekend, while I was on retreat, I was surrounded by women I care for. I love spending time with them, learning about what is going on their lives and discussing spiritual things. I can be myself with them…no masks, just me. And they love me, just as I am. They also love me enough to tell me the things I need to hear about myself, like when I am off track, or when I am being critical of others or myself, or when I am not following my inner longings. They, to me, are like Jesus with skin on.

I hope that you have people in your life who are like Jesus, with skin on. I think this is how God wants us to love each other and share in each others lives. I know that my friendship with these women and the other women in my life continues to grow me deeper in my relationship with God. I am so thankful to God for their presence.

Think about who these people might be, in your life, and let them know how they reflect Jesus to you. To all of you who are in my life as reflections of Him….thank you.

Blessings,
Deb

awareness

One thing I want to increase is my awareness of God. I seem to forget that He is always near me, always speaking to me, always loving me. It’s like the verse in James that talks about a man (or woman!) looking in a mirror and then walking away and forgetting what he, or she, looks like. It seems like that sometimes, for me. There are things I know about God and about how He wants to be with me. I can think about it, talk about it, experience it and then within ten minutes, forget it. I don’t forget-forget, but it leaves my awareness.

I had written this in my journal;

“Our striving to be close to God is not so much a journey of finding Him but it is more of a journey of consciousness. He is here and He is in me in all the fullness I could ever imagine but I am not aware of the depth of it…right now I can see only glimpses of it…glimpses of heaven.”


My prayer today is that I would be more and more aware of God’s presence and movements in my life. I love praying a prayer that I know is close to God’s heart.

Consider taking a few moments this day to invite God to allow you to have a deeper consciousness of Him and His presence as He gives you glimpses of heaven.

Blessings,
Deb

There will be no post tomorrow as I will be on retreat....

fresh start

“Is there anyone I can level with? Anyone I dare tell that I am benevolent and malevolent, chaste and randy, compassionate and vindictive, selfless and selfish, that beneath my brave words lives a frightened child, that I dabble in religion and pornography, that I have blackened a friend’s character, betrayed a trust, violated a confidence, that I am tolerant and thoughtful, a bigot and a blowhard, that I hate hard rock?”

Brennen Manning
Ruthless Trust


I think this quote hits home for all of us. I know it does for me. I was reminded of the duality that we struggle with as I had lunch with a friend yesterday. (I know…thoughts resulting from another conversation. Soon, no one will talk to me! So often this is the way God speaks to me, so I think you may see this a lot.) We were talking about how, sometimes, we can hardly believe that God doesn’t just smite us (don’t hear that word everyday, now do ya!), that we both have thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that we know aren’t what God would want of us. But, the amazing thing is that He waits…He waits for us to come around, to acknowledge those things within ourselves, turn back to Him and allow His love to enfold us, once again. He knows that we live and move in a fallen, broken world and that no matter how much we try, we will never be fully whole until we see Him face to face. That means we will never be free of the struggle that Brennan Manning describes but it also means that there is hope and forgiveness found in God’s love.

May today be a fresh start for you. Know that we all struggle with the ‘dark’ stuff in our hearts but also know that God is waiting for you, desiring you to move back toward Him. Allow yourself to experience His love today.

Grace and peace,
Deb

prayer

“Prayer has less to do with getting things than with knowing God. It is more concerned with loving God than with lists of prayer requests. Asking for assistance and knowing God are related, of course, but coming into intimacy with the Holy One is the principal purpose and context of prayer.”

Howard Macy

Is this your experience of prayer? Not a list of requests but intimacy with the Holy One? Consider, today, just sitting with Him, soaking up his love and not asking for a thing.

Grace and peace,
Deb

awareness

I am nearing the year mark of beginning this blog. It has been an incredible journey. I have taken some time to go back and look at some of the earlier entries. I've decided to 'recycle' some of the ones I've liked best. So...in the vein of 'truth in advertising', I wanted to let you know, that, occasionally, there may be an entry you vaguely remember. My prayer is that it may seem new to you or it may read very differently because of where you may be in your journey with God. Enjoy....and...there will definitely be new stuff coming as well!

One of my favorite authors is Ken Gire. He has a way of helping me learn to pay attention to the movements of God in my life. He has written numerous devotional books. The first book I read by him is an excellent book called, Seeing What is Sacred: Becoming More Sensitive to the Everyday Moments of Life, (old title - The Reflective Life) that is written, specifically, to help you become more aware.

I want to share a quote from him:

"He[God] has much to say, not only from the Scriptures but from the circumstances of our everyday lives. However prosaic the pages of our lives may seem at first reading, within the lines or in between the lines God may be speaking. Every book we read, every movie we see, every person we talk with, every song we listen to, every moment in our lives, in fact, should be subjects for reflection and could be ways through which God is speaking."


Consider asking God to help you today...help you pay attention to where/how He may be speaking to you, perhaps speaking in ways you had not considered before. Feel free to share what you noticed.

May you see Him in a different way today,

Deb