You Have Been Invited...

It's an hour til Christmas Eve.  Rivers and Roads by The Head and The Heart plays sweet melodies in my ears, as my eyes are lit by white lights.  I hear the sound of peace, and it rings quite loud in my spirit.  I can close my eyes and feel many rhythms pounding on this heart. It's quiet, and it's crazy.  It's loud, and peaceful.  I am deeply grateful for both.
In just a little over a day we will be celebrating Christmas.  I love everything about the Christmas season... The lights, the smells, the rush of buying presents, the cold (well, not here in North Carolina with barely getting below 50 degrees), the smiles & food.  But as it comes closer & closer, I believe the Lord has been allowing me to see things that I, on my own, wouldn't go looking for.  But when He shows us things out of the ordinary, even when it's heart to see, His peace follows us there.
It has really saddened my heart to see people struggle, to see them deal with something that is so much bigger than themselves while thinking they can control it, or they will just have to deal with it, when they could have absolute freedom and redemption, and a road marked with thanksgiving and joy rather than despair and heartache that will never be mended.
And since being home I've seen & felt so much in just 3 short months.  I've seen the peace that surpasses all understanding, I have felt the touch of my Daddy that completely destroys every other desire unworthy of my heart.  And I have seen the heartache, I have felt the despair, I know what hurting & loss of heart feels like.  And sometimes it's just in our nature to question, to ask why things have to be the way they are for some people and how we can be the ones to bring hope & joy & life back into their eyes & hearts.  But I was there.  And you've been there.  Maybe you are there right now...
But let me ask you this, would the good be as good if there was never bad?  Would the hopeful be as hopeful if there was never hopelessness, and would life be as beautiful if there was never death.

We have been saved from something.  Not just hell, or eternal damnation.  Yes those are incredible things to be saved from!  But we have been saved from a life without relationship with Jesus.  We have been invited into a life with Jesus... The King of Kings has sent a handwritten invitation, sealed with His very own sons blood... and inside He asks you to come.  To dwell with Him, to feast with Him, to live & breathe & rejoice with Him.  He doesn't tell us we have to get dressed up, or we have to fix things before we come... He's not looking for  the things we can we can do for Him or give to Him... He just desires us.
We have an invitation to see life like never before.  To see colors that don't exist to the natural eye.  To feel a hope that never brings disappointment.  To be in an eternal story.  To be Loved by Love Himself.

My hearts desire this Christmas, or my "Christmas Wish", would be for everyone to see the beauty of the Father, for them to see His desire for them, and to accept the invitation to be loved on for eternity.  Yeah, there will still be bumps in the road, and sometimes it may seem like nothing is getting better.  He doesn't promise us a perfect life.  But He does promise us peace and love, joy and freedom and redemption.  He gives us strength when we have none, and He calms our mind when we feel we've gone crazy.  He's so close and sometimes we forget He's even there.
I am so thankful for Jesus.  I am so thankful that He was born, that He loves so deeply and He isn't scared to get messy in my life... That despite the pain of His crucifixion, He died so that there would be no separation, so that He could have full relationship for eternity, so that His bride would marry the King.  How crazy awesome is that!

I know this is a little all over the place.  I feel I have so much in my heart that it's sometimes hard to get it out.  I guess my heart is just trying to say that Jesus loves you, so extremely much.  And He wants your heart to be free & alive.  And all the bad stuff that may have happened to you wasn't Him doing it to you... but He wants to use that to bring you closer to His heart, so that you can know a Father and a Love like no other.
You are loved & treasured and He enjoys being with you.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!  Love on the ones around you like crazy.  And rejoice in everything... the big, the small, the good, the bad.
And let the Lord love on you, cause He loves to.

love & peace to you.

 Oh Yes, and please enjoy this beautiful winter song by my life friends - Johnathan & Melissa Helser

Sweet Breeze in Ephesians

I went to bed last night with the intentions of waking up when ever my body said to, enjoying a cup of coffee in the sun and reading the Word... And that is just what happened.  May not seem incredible to you, but it is to me.  You see, for some reason I have a fear deep inside of me.  I thought I had dealt with it before... well, I know I dealt with it before, but it always tries to get me down again and again and again.  It's this stupid little insignificant fear that whispers in my heart "He won't come.  He's not going to speak.  You are wasting your time.  You could be doing something that you know the outcome of, then there won't be a chance for disappointment."  And a lot of the time I listen to it, and then I regret it & hope for better next time.  Well this morning, I took a step and decided to ignore it, and to see what the Lord had for me this morning.  Because there really has never been a time that He didn't meet me, that He didn't hear me & respond to me... And so my basis on this lie is, a complete lie.  And what to do you do when you fight against it?  The exact opposite of what it's telling you.

So I pour my cup of coffee into my beautiful ceramic mug that I found hidden in the treasures of my grandmothers humble abode.  I take out my Bible, open up to Ephesians... I pick up my pen & open up my beautiful moleskin... And I start reading, and I start writing, and I am quickly taken over by the beauty of revelation... There really is nothing like it.  It's pure, it's rich, it's alive, it's deep, it's soothing, it's beautiful, it's a sweet breeze on a hot summer day, it's a warm fire with friends on a cold winters night... It's the language that you speak, know, understand, love... It's life & it breathes it upon every sleeping place in your heart.  And so this is what He spoke... and I really didn't know whether to share it or not, but I believe it will bless you, or at-least I pray that it does.

Ephesians 1:3-4
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him."

I always have been and always will be Gods desire.  And before anything was created, His desire for me was so much that He chose me. Not just for His sake, but for mine.  You see, this love goes deeper than anything we've yet experienced.

It's a love that so desires our wholeness, our righteousness,

our blamelessness & our holiness, that against what we think

should happen & against what we believe we are worth...

He sacrificed it all.  For me.  For you.

To be holy & blameless...  There is no shame.  There is no guilt.  There is no intimidation or insecurity.  When you stand holy & blameless, you stand tall & courageous.  And this has always been and will always be His desire as a perfect Daddy.
And so He prepares us, like all good Father do.  Because He knows our flesh will come against us & the Truth, Beauty & Reality of this gift will be attacked.
He gives us all we need.
He makes available to us, inside of Him...
EVERY SINGLE BLESSING IN HEAVENLY PLACES.
[ you may stop here to dwell on the insanely incredible ridiculous awesomeness of that ;) ]


We have no excuse.  Our lack is erased.  We are holy & blameless before the King Of Kings!
But!  Will you choose it?
Because it's yours...
Will I choose it? Because it's mine.
Or will we ignore & reject all He has done, all He has said, all of who He is?  Will we allow our flesh to take over and pervert & distort the beauty of Jesus and His Father?
Or will we gracefully & mercifully enter into His gates with thanksgiving & His courts with praise... Because that is what we were created for.  He is who we were created for.

 I love when you're near.

I love when I hear you speak.

I love your touch... It restores this broken body.

I love your eyes that speak such healing glances

& captivates my soul in the deepest places.

I love your smell... sweet of honey & strong as rain.

It's a refreshing wind and it comes so swiftly...

it overtakes me inside & out

and it rearranges my mind & erases my doubt.

I love your desire, your selfless craving for me.

You don't push, you don't shove

but I am completely engulfed even more so than

a fish at the bottom of the sea.

Your releasing hold breathes life into this soul.

And in it forms of life spring up

like the signs of a new season coming through

Love & Hope abound once again

Peace and Grace begin to dance

Righteousness, Purity... show us their immense beauty

Truth is alive... it's rooted deep in the soil

Here I never have to hide...

You've made me alive...

Fully alive.