A journey of the heart

If we think this earthen journey is about achieving life's goals ...... oh wait, you won't like the sound of that - achieving has undertones of striving, acquiring,  racing, no matter the cost etc. So let's go with reaching - if this is all about reaching different goals in life,(with God's blessing) such as job, certain education, good wages, house of your own, maturity, get married, family, position, etc. etc. if that's how we live, if that's what we think God is all about, we are missing something entirely.

What are we missing?
                                          connection to the deepest part of us and of God
                     
                                          I truly believe we are on a journey of the heart!
                                         Why - because that's what God is after, our heart.
                                                                                                                         Pure and simple.

            photo by; www.tbphotographypdx.com

Our journey is filled with so much detail, so many encounters, adventures, lessons, opportunities, but if we skip along the surface enjoying the sights to post and tell about, then hurry along the dry and darker alleys whilst filling our mind with memories of sunny days until the hard ones are over - hopefully tomorrow!! If that's how we live, without listening to God's voice underneath - without tapping into what's really going on in our heart. If we don't t look hard at the possibility that maybe there is an opportunity to mature, to heal, to build faith, character.....we are missing the point.
                                                 
                                                     We are missing out, is what we are.

                   We are missing out on the desire in our heavenly Father's heart to restore ours!
                                  - to heal it, to mend, to renew, straighten and bring freedom.


For me it started with trust,- trust that God really existed, then to trusting that he really loved me - as I was.... not as I desired to be, or gave out to be.
From there it required surrender to his love, his will, his healing and restoring.

And as I walk with him I know he is intricately interested in me and what I am up to
 - why..... because he loves me! His interest in me is rooted in love - not control, - love!

He is also passionate about the condition of my heart, the pureness and wholeness of it for therein lies the freedom he also desires for me to live out from.
In all encounters, adventures, hardships, sorrow, joys - in every day and season - he desires to reveal himself to me, and to set my heart right where it isn't. Where it's been broken, mis-taught by lies, gone astray by wrong desires - out of love for me he calls me gently to greater freedom in showing me and teaching me truth.
When I know what isn't right in my heart -
(some will forever put blame on others and never take ownership of their part)
then it's my choice and opportunity to either let him fix it and walk on in greater maturity and freedom or to shy away in fear/shame/dis-trust ...... or thinking if I just try a little harder I can handle it myself, be a better person, I just need to keep that door shut tight, keep a better handle on my thoughts, attitude, actions etc......
                                                Well good luck with that!!
                                      (where is the freedom in that lifestyle??)

You see, God is not into behavior management or issue control, he sees the root and at the root lies the issue that needs healing to bring freedom! God is into complete restoration.

Wherever we go our heart goes as well and eventually what is in our heart is lived out - we want to live out only the good stuff, but sometimes we are caught in an unguarded moment and woops....
There's just no way of separating ourselves like that - although it is often tried by starting over, moving to a different place and such.....but that's like trying to separate ourselves from our shadow
- we might fool ourselves as long as we stay out of the light.
                                           
                         Where ever we go - our heart goes as well, and all that's in it.

A journey of the heart is what we are on my friends
 - and the offer of greater freedom, joy and life abundant lies in each and every day.

We are not meant to be bound by fear, shame, guilt from past events, by jealousy from feeling neglected and overlooked or that we are forever just shy of reaching the par line -

We are meant to live abundantly and unashamed in complete freedom with a restored heart, and knowledge flowing through our veins of how incredibly much and deeply we are loved by God!

Jesus did not give his heart in pieces, he gave everything, completely, wholeheartedly,
- wholeheartedly he went on a journey of reconciliation
                                   
                                                ..........  a journey of the heart for you and for me.

-b

It's your house!!

This earthen vessel, this temple of ours, was not created to house grudges, rooted in pain, lingering in the shadow waiting for revenge...its acid causing deterioration from the inside out!
- rather this earthen vessel, this temple of ours was created for glory, to echo with the songs of freedom, deliverance, victory and eternity's joy!

Let's not forget who is the holder of the key to the front door and decides what/who comes in or is asked to leave. Sometime spring cleaning is called for no matter the time of year.

It's your house, but who reigns?

-b

Fashioned love

We were giddy with joy and excitement over being surrounded by snow, our noses almost touching the  windshield, necks trying to do the 'owl thing', in order to take it all in. The Jeep barely at a halt before we scrambled out the door, but once outside we had to just stand still and breathe, in awe and wonder at this amazing beauty that went on as far as our eyes could see.

              photo by: www.tbphotographypdx.com 

Turning a slow circle, seeing the trees behind, on either side and ahead, their branches drooping, heavy with snow. All's quiet except when snow cascades of the branches and you find yourself inside a snow-globe...... peaceful, serene, majestic.

When you look at all that 'whiteness' it's hard to fathom that each snowflake is different from the next one - they are innumerable! To us at least, as the stars are......

Loving macro photography, I soon had to switch from the 'scenic'  lens to the 'up close and personal' one, and through that lens I get it - the fact that everything is uniquely unique.

And I realized that as unique as we are, you and I, so is God's love for us. His love is fashioned for us individually. He loves us all equally, not me more than you or visa versa - but His love is fashioned to me as it is to you. We are different, you and I, no dispute about that, and the way we need to 'be loved' is just as different too.

      photo by: www.tbphotographypdx.com

Think about it - a family of multiple children, the parents love them all, yet still loves each child differently.Not more, not less, just differently.
If your child needs hugs to feel loved, you hug them, if your child feels loved by doing things together, you do that - bake/cook/build or create things, if your child feels loved when you listen to them, you take time to sit and hear their thoughts/concerns/dreams etc.
I have observed where this has been reversed - where the child would pick the activity loved by the parent and pursue that in order to get time with and/or approval/love from them.
Sad as that is, how often do we as children of God fall into the same behavior....... doing things/behaving perfect in effort to gain/attract his love. We haven't found the rest in the knowledge of His love for us individually, experienced how uniquely He shows his love for us.

Could it be that shooting star was just meant for you? Did you see that beautiful flower in the shrubs behind the tree on your walk - did it make you smile? A stranger's smile/ compliment? A piece of music to cause you to unravel, fall apart and in the end be more at peace than before?

 Have you sat still lately to let Him love on you? Listened for Him to 'speak' to you as only you'd hear him?

You are his beloved! His workmanship. Woven, knit together before anyone but he, was aware of your existence. His love for you is unselfish and so filled with risk.
The risk, that you wouldn't accept it, acknowledge it, reciprocate it - even be aware of it.......


                                          "Taste and see that the Lord is good" Psalm 34:8

When this revelation hits me - that I am loved, not just in the big scoop of humanity "God loves us all", but that His love for me is also personal, intimate and unique and fashioned to 'fit' me -
when I can fully receive that truth and let it penetrate my mind and heart,.....
                                                     
                                                            then striving ceases.
 - then the child-like call; "see me, see me, mom/dad see me" becomes quiet in the knowledge that I am seen, loved and embraced.
 - then the need to perform for approval/acknowledgment dies in the assurance of His love for me is based on who I am, not what I do.
 - then the comparison to, and desire to be/copy someone other than me, falls away in the revelation that I was created as one of a kind and I am loved as me.

-b