this year has been the best year ever so far & i believe with all of my heart, it will continue to be! my dear Father is a great Redeemer. the downs, lows, disappointments, growing pains & dark night of last season has passed! i can say that i am genuinely happy. His joy is becoming my strength once more! the fog of negativity & cloud of doubt has lifted! Hallelujah :)
friends, the Holy Spirit has reminded me that living in love with God is living. so. it's back to the simple. taking all the love i can get from my Papa! standing in the waterfall of affection from my true Beloved, Christ Jesus. i CAN'T be anywhere else. His love has taken me too far..by grace, i won't walk away from Him ever! He's all i want & need. my everyday is for Him & for people. not saying i do it perfectly, but this is the vision & even this, because He has chosen me. :) His love enables me to so walk. His love opens my heart to receive help to get back up. His love opens up my eyes to see the pieces of my heart in His hands, made into something beautiful. everything i do & say must point back to my King. i'm learning of the beauty of faith; because faith is the way by which Christ dwells in my heart. without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
My 22nd Birthday was January 30th & it's the best I've had yet! I celebrated twice, once with family in Richmond & once in Fredericksburg with friends. I asked the Lord for a great birthday, so He gave me two!! In RVA, I went to the dentist my birthday weekend & while I was sitting in the chair. I heard the Lord tell me that my dentist had back pain. I couldn't speak with all the utensils in my mouth, so I waited until my check-up was done. :) Afterwards, I asked Dr. W if he had back pain. He paused for a moment & said that just yesterday he hurt his back raking leaves. He didn't turn down my request to pray for him. I prayed & he felt heat on his back. I told him it was the Holy Spirit! Hehe! There is still more! Leaving the dentist office, I felt like the Lord wanted me to go to Old Navy for some reason. I brushed it aside at first & drove past the turn. I then heard Holy Spirit say, "Why are you disobeying Me?" I felt like I needed to listen to Him! So I turned around & went into Old Navy. I didn't feel much at first, but slightly drawn to one of the employees working there. So...I hung around her without trying to be too creepy. I think it was definitely funny that I was pretending to look through racks of clothes & praying for a word inside Old Navy! I felt like God told me, "She is in pain too but a different kind. It's her heart. She broke up with her boyfriend." So when she was away from the other employees, I asked about this "heart pain." Sally [name changed] told me that she was carrying pain for someone else. She said yesterday, her ex-fiance went to rehab. And she was in pain for him. Wow! what an open door the Lord opened!!!! I got to pray with her and be a witness of Jesus!
Back in Fred, I had a birthday party with friends :) Halfway through, we sat down to play CatchPhrase but it ended up being a prayer meeting for various things....and then..a Holy Spirit joy party...then prayer ministry for people at the party...lastly, when about 8 of us were left-brothers & sisters in Christ. We prayed for each other & it ended up in tears and freedom in God. Lies being broken over our identity. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!! Finally we went home at 3am hahaha!
Passages for this season::
Isaiah 43:1-2, 18-19 ...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; & through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, & the flame shall not consume you...Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness & rivers in the desert.
Song of Songs 2:10-12 My Beloved speaks & says to me: "Arise, My love, My beautiful one, & come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over & gone. the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come...
