Tag Archives: The Message

Daughters of the Star Breather!

20 Oct

WE ARE DAUGHTERS OF THE STAR BREATHER!
Made by the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Brought to life by the death and resurrection of the Son, called by name, placed here and now to serve in the army of saints!  Set in against the darkness to absolutely shine!

You are huge to the heart of God and He has given His all that we might be women

  • Steeped in faith
  • Living to love
  • Anchored in hope
  • Fueled with the Holy Spirit to burn Bright!

And here’s what I know Sister –A Holy Fire like that will not be contained!

 

A Body filled with those kind of women, no matter how small, will begin to believe beyond themselves, to love one another in the Name of Jesus, and to stand firm in the confident expectation of the Hope of Glory.

May it begin with us!

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Hearts of Love . . . Just for You

8 May

Our beauty is different from one another. Our personalities set us apart and our stories, our moments in time, are distinctly ours.

Sunday we will set some of those moments apart to celebrate Mother’s Day. Our celebrations will be as unique as we are. Some will reflect and remember with great affection as they gaze at an empty chair. Others will consider an unknown bloodline but rejoice in the life they were given by a woman they’ve never known.

My celebration will be with my Mom and my Baby Girl. The two women who more than any others on the planet have my heart. One of the greatest joys in my life is being the one God chose to connect their hearts to one another.

Individually God has done amazing things in, about and through each one of us.

AR-71

But when I slide my hand into my Momma’s and my Baby Girl grabs hold of mine, we move past solitary wonder and with our hands and hearts intertwined we are the holders of a faith legacy and a redeemed heritage that moves beyond the temporal blood flowing through our veins.

Beloved, if you are one who will spend some of your Mother’s Day moments looking at an empty chair or wondering about your beginning, don’t you believe for one moment that your God has left you alone. His plan for you surpasses biological ties and He desires to absolutely surround you with LOVE.

See no matter how different our lives may be or how divergent our beginnings, every single woman who walks this earth shares the unchanging and unfailing love of God. 

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

Psalm 139:14-16 (The MSG)

He knows this life is tough. He knows we need to have a heart beside us in the journey that mothers us. He knows we need someone to pour ourselves into and build up along the way. He knows the importance of being surrounded by people who love us when the ground is crumbling beneath our feet and He knows we need voices to join with ours when we are rejoicing in our mountain top moments.

God knows we need family.

And based on the authority of His word Beloved, I can tell you without a doubt that before time began the God of Glory planned to meet that need.

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.  Ephesians 1:3-6 (The MSG)

He sent His one and only Son, the Firstborn of All Creation, to plant a new family tree and establish a greater bloodline. Jesus, our Messiah, and our Savior, has welcomed you and I to be daughters of the King with outstretched arms.

The heart of God longs to embrace you as His beloved Child and gift you with Sisters who have eternal blood pumping through their spirits. He offers us the way into His family through His blessed Son Jesus Christ. The very One who gave you your unique beauty, your individual personality, and has watched over your every moment has hand-picked a family just for you.

On your own Sweet One, you are beautiful in His sight.

But when you slide your hand into the Sister’s on one side and hold tight, palm-to-palm, with the Sister on the other, when we raise our hands and lift our voices to declare that our family tree is the Cross of Christ, when we rejoice in the Eternal Blood that is our shared heritage, well Girlfriend, we leave beautiful in the rearview mirror and in the unity of the spirit we walk straight into absolutely stunning!

four hands sisters ribbet

Our different lives and varied beginnings knit us together in His Name. We rejoice and we mourn with one another. We laugh and we cry together. We remember with thankfulness, we reflect with sorrow, and we celebrate the here and now.

We radiate the beauty of His strength and we walk through every circumstance shoulder-to-shoulder. We applaud one another’s successes and we lament our losses. We link arms and we stand strong in the love of Jesus and the hearts of the women He has given us.

We trust in His plan, lay down roots at the foot of the Cross and with our hand in His follow Him straight into hearts of Love.

sisters at britt's shower 2 ribbet

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Blanketed by El Roi ~ Covered in His Love . . . The Mom Quilt

13 Aug

I cannot believe the unchanging nature and unwavering love of our God. He is constant in His care for women and their babies! Sister, His affection and His attention never wander. There are no unloved nor unattended to in God’s economy.   I know this to be true in the present because I have been blessed to be included as a contributing author in a tangible extension of His love entitled The Mom Quilt.

Savor the Moments by Marilyn Biddinger Page 62

Savor the Moments by Marilyn Biddinger ~ Page 62

The Mom Quilt is an ebook of stories about women, love, and the wonder of motherhood in its many shapes and forms from Sisters across the spectrum. Each of them poured their hearts onto the page in an effort to stitch together a blanket of words that speaks love to Mommas in need on the other side of the globe.

the Mom Quilt Buy Now

100% of the proceeds from the sale of this beautiful compilation will be donated to advance the $40,000 well drilling project at Mercy House in Kenya.

The Mom Quilt, compiled by Paula Rollo, Becky Mansfield, and Jodi Durr truly is a patchwork of raw soul stories sewn together one heart at a time to bring life giving water not only to the women of Mercy House but to the surrounding community as well. It is their mission to display the love of Jesus by offering concrete opportunities for women and teenage mothers around the world to rise above their cultural and societal circumstances.

Currently, the largest expense they incur is the cost of trucking in clean water and an onsite source is essential . . .

100% of the proceeds from the sale of The Mom Quilt will go toward drilling a deep well to provide water for not only the women of Mercy House but also the surrounding community.

100% of the proceeds from the sale of The Mom Quilt will go toward drilling a deep well to provide water for not only the women of Mercy House but also the surrounding community. ~ Photo Courtesy of Mercy House

Founder, Kristen Welch, wrote that right now in the eyes of the Kenyan community that is home to Mercy Maternity House,

“. . . Love looks a lot like water.”

Girlfriend, I declare to you based on the authority of God’s word, she is absolutely correct!

LOVE DOES LOOK A LOT LIKE WATER!

And this is not the first time He has appeared as such to the harshly treated, cast out woman and her unseen child . . . Genesis, the opening Book of the Bible, —the beginning of God’s love letter to us all—reveals His heart for a young pregnant woman in dire circumstance. Remember Hagar?

Imagine how she felt as she was banished to the desert with food strapped to her back and a canteen of water for her and her boy? What kind of despair must have rolled through her soul as the water came to an end and she laid her son under the shrub to die?

Genesis 21: 14-16 Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for Hagar, put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she left the child under a shrub and went off, fifty yards or so. She said, “I can’t watch my son die.” As she sat, she broke into sobs. The Message

Hagar is weary. She is alone and surely feeling as if no one cares nor understands her need or the needs of her baby. She has come to the end of herself. But Beloved, Hagar did not, nor will we ever, come to the end of Him . . .

Genesis 21: 19

Just then God opened her eyes. She looked.

She saw a well of water.

She went to it and filled her canteen and

gave the boy a long, cool drink.

The Message

And see, here is where the rejoicing gets really loud – Our God does not change. The same God who decided that His very first recorded one-on-one conversation with a woman would be with a young pregnant girl fleeing difficult surroundings is still choosing to speak today. He met Hagar in her journey, at the side of a well, and said in no uncertain terms . . . “I see you child.”

the mom quilt el roiSweet One, He is still meeting one-on-one with His daughters and have no doubt His eyes are still wide open. He sees the young women of Mercy House.

Yes, Hagar’s El-Roi, the One who Sees, had never taken His eyes from her and those many years later, there He was with the life-giving water she needed for her and her son. . . . And she gave the boy, a long, cool drink.

Sister, don’t you know at that moment . . .

“Love looked a lot like water.”

The same God who peeled away Hagar’s thirst and provided for her child is alive and well today. He will not fail to love the young Kenyan women just as tangibly. He will not leave their side for a moment and He will not cease to speak love over them.  He’s giving you and I an opportunity to join our voice with His in the pages of The Mom Quilt and Girlfriend, that’s a conversation I want to be a part of . . . I hope you do too.

My contribution on page 62 is a look at the many ways God has allowed me to see Brett and Britt walk side-by-side.

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Let’s Resolve to Love Like That

30 Dec

What would the coming year bring if we looked more deeply at His resolve?  What might unfold before us if we determined to place our faith in the Who rather than the what?  What might we see if we were to truly fix our eyes on the Author and the Perfecter of our faith?

These are the same types of questions I was asking myself and sharing with you all when Glimpsed Glory posted for the very first time in 2013.  Seeking hard after Him and letting Him determine the what of my life is still my greatest desire.

I know what I’m doing.  I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you,

not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

Yes, when you get serious about finding me

and want it more than anything else,

I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (The Message)

I believe Him when He tells me that He will make Himself known to me.  I have no doubt that when I come to Him, looking for Him with eyes willing to see, that my heart will be filled with the Who of Him.  It may not look exactly the way I picture it or transpire the way I imagine it, but God will be true to His promise and I will not be disappointed.  How can it leave us feeling short changed when we come out of our circumstance with More of Him than we walked in with?

Yes Sweet One, the promise is for you.  Take it personally.  Your God has determined that you will find Him when you look.  He is unwavering in His commitment to show His children lavish love, immeasurable grace, and endless mercies when they seek His Face.  This is the God revealed in the Old Testament and the Messiah who walked in the New.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  Deuteronomy 4:29

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Both sides of the Covenant line reveal a God who desires to be seen and to be known by His children . . .

Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand). Jeremiah 33:3

The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]  John 14:21

From the opening verse in Genesis to the announcement that will close out our chronos time in Revelation, God is revealing Himself – showing us the Who of Him– so that we will seek Him, perhaps feel our way toward Him and find Him.

actsduncanThe What of God flows from the Who of God.

God does not merely act faithfully – He is Faithful.

God does not simply love you – He is Love.

And the list could go on.  This is the declaration of the Word of God to you Beloved.  And the beauty of the Who of Him is that He will not change.  He was, is, and will be Who He declares Himself to be.

Our God has gone to great lengths to draw us near– can your prayer, can my prayer,  be anything less than to humbly ask Him to stir our souls with the enduring tenacity to seek hard after Him and bless us with an unsatisfied, discontented spirit when we do not?

Sister, this is the only hope for the transformation this time of year causes us to consider.  newcoffeeDo we really believe that the desire for the “new thing”, for the more, for the unimaginable originates with us?  Have we really convinced ourselves that the longing to change and be more than who we are today started with our own hearts?  Have we forgotten that it is God who lifts the veil and it is He who is about the business of transforming us from one degree of glory to another?

Be holy because I am holy.

Be transformed, renewed, and revived daily.

We may have usurped it, twisted it, and distorted it to serve our own purposes but being all about the “more” and the “new thing”, those are God’s specialties.  He declares that those who believe in His Son and proclaim Him to be their Savior are a new creation.  The old has gone and the new has come.  The old woman is put to death and the daughter of the King lives –that ought to change us.  We’ve been adopted by the King.  We are not who we were and the who of us must begin to flow from the Who of Him.

“Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and

— live in love,”(NET)

— “walk in the way of love,”(NIV)

–“walk in love.” (YLT)

just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us,

a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

No matter how you word it, it comes out the same – seek the Who and the what will follow.  Look on Love and step where He steps. Watch the Who and do what He does. Eugene Peterson translates Ephesians 5:1-2 like this in the Message:

Watch what God does, and then you do it,

like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.

Mostly what God does is love you.

Keep company with him and learn a life of love.

Observe how Christ loved us.

His love was not cautious but extravagant.

He didn’t love in order to get something from us

but to give everything of himself to us.

Love like that.

Girlfriend, there’s the key.  Keep company with God.  Learn.  Observe. Love.  It’s the only way to be transformed and to have the change your heart is truly yearning for.  Meet with the Messiah daily just as certainly as the disciples who walked beside Him did.  Gaze upon the face of your Father so often that you begin to walk and talk just like your Dad.

Living it out, real time, real life won’t just happen.   Purpose in your heart to make meeting with Him your priority.

I plan to “run into Him” throughout the day by setting my homepage to Bible Gateway so that every time I visit the internet the verse of the day is looking back at me. Keep company with Him Sweet One.  Seek Him– He will not disappoint you.

Be intentional.

Be purposeful.

Be resolute.

Let’s immerse ourselves in the Who of Him so that the what of us may be changed.  And perhaps, at the close of 2014, we will find that we have leaned in, learned from the Father, observed the Son, and begun to LOVE LIKE THAT.

wordcups

Happy New Year Sisters – around the world!

May God bless you as you seek His Face.

The Message:
The goal of The Message is to engage people in the reading process and help them understand what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather “”a reading Bible.”” The verse numbers, which are not in the original documents, have been left out of the print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today.

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