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 done 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 longings, 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

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

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

surprise

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

bad lighting

“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...or Mimi! 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