In asking the Lord what was on His heart for His children, I heard Him say He will provide rest for the weary. Rest for the weary is a promise we can hold onto and profess with great faith knowing that the Lord will provide for us His rest.
The Lord knows. He is not unaware of your circumstances.
He sees the enemy’s onslaught of attacks against you. And He has upheld you within the different storms you have found yourself in.
Jesus sees your pain. He sees your tears. He is not distant, but close, for He promises to be close to the brokenhearted.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all”
Psalm 34:18-19
Allow the Lord to give you rest, for it is His desire to provide healing and restoration for your wearied soul. Sit in the presence of Jesus, give Him your lament and ask Him to heal you. Then let Him shepherd you and lead you into a safe place with Him.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4
And remember, Jesus is not one to load us down with great burdens. Quite the opposite actually. Know His heart, learn His character and be reminded of his gentleness and kindness.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Rest is found in sitting in His presence. Take time to sit still with Him, to praise and worship Him, and to place your eyes on your Prince of Peace, the King of kings. Rest is for you, a promise you can hold onto, and rest is always found in Him.
I had a dream one evening where the Lord revealed something to me about myself.
In the dream, my husband and I were back in Southeast Asia and an incident happened, a small one, but it had brought attention to the local authorities of why we were there. We were then questioned by the authorities and afterwards led up a tricky and very tall staircase standing alone outside of a high-rise.
The stress of everything going on brought me to a place of fear and hesitancy as we were told to step onto a very small and slippery platform in order to enter a high rise.
I thought I would certainly fall if I stepped onto that platform, but I had no choice and continued to step up on it. As soon as I did I slipped and fell and was dangling in midair with my hands grasped tight to the small platform.
I, of course, cried out in a panic and then quickly felt a rush of emotion well up within me as I hung there. And then I started to sob from all of this overwhelming emotion. It was clear to me even in the dream that the built up emotion was from past wounds I had received in my soul over a long time.
And then I woke up.
It was not difficult for me to understand this dream at all. It was a confirmation of what I was beginning to believe as one of the purposes of my husband and I serving in that part of the world and only for a short season of 8 months.
Our intent, just like any overseas worker wanting to serve the Lord, was to build our lives there and be a godly impact with the people. And like I have shared in previous blog posts, our time there, however, was cut short because of my struggle with my mental health.
This dream was a gift for me. It confirmed to my heart that the Lord took us on a journey back overseas with a multi-purpose in mind. Not only was God using the experience to shape and mold our faith and character, and allowing us to be a light while there, but He also was using this experience to help me continue in my healing process.
Putting me in an environment of stress and change had allowed more wounds of my soul to surface. I had no idea that I needed more healing prior to leaving the States again. And if I had known, I would have never committed to doing so. Yet, the transition, the unfamiliarity of our lives and the strain of being in a new culture all over again revealed to us both that I was still unhealthy.
We go through some seasons of our lives where that season is dressed with turmoil and confusion, and we are not able to clearly understand God’s purposes in it. And then when we are brought out of that season and healing begins, we somehow, by God’s grace, can look back at that season and find the answers we were looking for within it.
This dream I had about our time in Southeast Asia was providing me a huge puzzle piece that allowed me to see the “bigger” picture of what the Lord was doing while we were there. Our time there was extremely painful for me, just like my dream revealed. And now knowing that all that pain was a result of a stress induced environment, where built up wounds surfacing from my past needed my attention, helps me to begin to close that chapter of our lives.
My heart is filled with gratitude.
Our shortened journey to Southeast Asia was a gift for us. For me, it was a gift of understanding what the Lord saw in me and what He and I needed to continue to work on. For my husband, it was a gift of continuing to prepare him for what he is currently doing right now, owning a business that is used to glorify the Lord.
I am convinced more and more that every season in our lives we live through is never a waste of time. God uses all things for His purposes and our good and, though we may not understand everything in the moment or perhaps for several seasons to come, we will one day see the faithfulness of God soon enough and see how He was always working for our benefit all along. That is how amazingly wonderful our God is!
God will not be mocked, He will not be made fun of. The enemy has no where to flee to and no where to hide.
“Though the rain falls, the sun will shine bright around my anointed while the flood rains sweep away the wickedness. I am crowning those who have remained faithful to me in this testing season with new authority in me. The sharp contrast with what my hand will do will be very evident and for good reason.
My rain pours out wrath and glory, judgement and mercy, and mixed together they will be poured out, each drop knowing their assignment and where to fall. As evil has decided to rear its head in grotesque form, I have prepared a remnant that know how to defeat such evil while remaining in me.
They know how to stand firm, they know how to fight back, they know how to remain fixated on me as they choose to be instruments of war for my name. The rain will fall and become their strength, while also being a judgment against great evil. Watch and see my words come to pass.”
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Welcome to another “uncut” video where I share with you from my heart what God is teaching me currently.
Sharing with you a lesson the Lord continues to press into my heart on not falling into the comparison trap with others, especially with how each of us are serving the Lord.
Jesus calls each of us to do specific tasks for Him as He sees best. Who are we to question our Lord when others are not given a similar task or their work looks different than ours? Our heart should always be ready to follow Him wherever He leads us. Hope this encourages you friends!
“When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
At two different times in separate seasons, my husband and I were called off the mission field back to the States.
And both times were for the same reason, because of my mental health.
This morning I was reflecting on our latest stint abroad and was remembering that in this very month last year we had just flown back. It is hard to believe that it has already been a year since our return.
Once we returned, a lot of different things happened that quickly pulled our attention away from our reality of re-entering back into our home culture and processing that return. So I was not surprised that my brain began bringing up those memories of our return now that it had been one full year.
I watched the second season trailer of The Chosen, a wonderful and beautifully done series on the life and ministry of Jesus. In that trailer the ministry of Jesus triggered in my heart the grief of us having to walk away from our ministry for Him in both Southeast Asia and East Asia.
The tears poured. And my conversation with Jesus went like this:
me: “I wanted to serve You.”
Jesus: “And I wanted to heal you.”
me: “But it has always been my desire to serve You as a missionary overseas.”
Jesus: “I called you to follow me… to follow me where I lead you and your husband… to follow me wherever that takes you in this life.”
And then more tears poured followed by a comforting peace that only comes from Him.
If you have had to walk away from an assignment the Lord had previously called you to and grief wells up within you because you miss being a part of that type of work for the Lord, have peace in your heart.
As long as you followed Him and continue to follow Him, then that is reason to allow yourself to be filled with joy that your service to the Lord, though it looks different now than before, has not come to an end and never will.
It is not about what we do for the Lord, for that can change in different seasons of our lives, but it is about continuing to have a heart that still responds to the daily call of Jesus to follow Him wherever that leads.
When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” John 21:21-22
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14
I keep hearing two different words simultaneously for two separate audiences. The first word is a strong warning I have felt in my spirit since January of this year for the disobedient and those who do not walk with and trust in God.
God longs to show the unrepentant mercy. He longs for all to know Him and to live an abundant life. When a lost sheep is missing, he is in great danger and his life is in peril. God goes after the one lost sheep, and the heavens rejoice when that lost sheep is found.
The Lord has been working to get your attention, to wake you up, to bring you back to His heart, but sadly to no avail. And His warning for you is that you are continuing down a road that does not end well; a very destructive and damaging road. He is calling you to Himself, to return to safety and security in Him, where your salvation alone is found.
The second word is a word of encouragement for those that are close to the Lord. He is about to move powerfully on your behalf and for His glory. Good things will come as a result and joy and rest are your portion, for He knows of your suffering and pain you are and have been enduring for righteousness.
Keep on persevering and trusting Him and His ways. He is not finished with you, on the contrary, He has only just begun His good work in and through you.
In this second part, I am continuing to share encouraging helps that will motivate you to share your faith more confidently. I will also be giving visual examples of how to begin sharing the gospel with new ears, something that is not complicated or overwhelming to discuss. And of course there is so much more to share when we discuss the gospel with others, but these are just the early talking points and ways to begin these conversations. Do not fear sharing your faith and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you!
In my time with the Lord this morning, I fell apart. I cried for a good portion of the time, lamenting and asking the Lord, once again, for help with a challenging situation.
This situation started with difficulty and has grown to be more trying over time.
I have been long-suffering and patient, truly relying on the Lord to be my strength and help. But I had no idea how to improve this situation or make it better.
Then, while crying out to God with great frustration coupled with sorrow with not knowing what to do, He spoke clear and gentle to my heart. He told me to research my situation on the internet and to gain the insight of others who were educated on this very issue.
While I was doing my research the Lord used it to speak to my heart with what He wanted me to do.
He answered me. He provided me a solution that I had never thought of before and mostly because I was lacking in knowledge in this area.
And as God gave me the solution, as my mind grew clear and my tears dried up, I was baffled to why I had never thought of this before. It seemed such a simple idea; a solution that was not so out of reach as I had thought.
I felt comforted by the Lord. I began to smile and I truly felt delivered out of a hopeless situation.
How many times do we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances, when just allowing ourselves to be educated more about the situation would actually be a helpful solution than to remain in our frustration and misery.
This has not been the first time that the Lord directed me to do my own research about an issue. He has led me multiple times to do so, and each time I am amazed that all I was lacking was a little more understanding than I had.
I have yet to implement the new things I learned, but I plan to do so. And having a plan to pull myself out of a stuck and miserable situation has lightened my heart. I am fully confident that the Lord provided this solution for me, and even more confident that He will help me follow through with what He has told me to do.
If this solution had come to me only a month prior, I would not have agreed with it to be honest with you. My heart was working out of a place of fear within this situation, and moving forward with the answer God had for me would have been met with a negative response because of that fear.
But God was patient with me. He first had me deal with the fear. Once that was dealt with in my heart, then providing me steps of obedience would be received much more warmly and gratefully.
How many of us are crying out for help in our different situations, not receiving a solution or a deliverance out of it, because the Lord wants us to respond His way rather than our way?
In my multiple laments before the Lord about this situation, I was asking Him to intervene and just change it. But He would not intervene in the way that I was thinking or hoping. In fact, I wanted Him to intervene because it was the easiest way out and most comfortable for me.
Yet, because He knows what is best, He answered me with His plan to help deliver me.
His plan requires more faith and trust out of me, and it requires courage. I have to have a hard conversation with someone I love dearly, a conversation that I have been avoiding because I just wanted God to fix it. But He gently showed me that the conversation needs to be had and my research on the situation gave me confidence and understanding of not only what to do, but how to communicate in a loving way to this individual.
While crying out to God for our situations to be resolved or changed, let us be open minded and open hearted towards Him for His response.
We might want something our way so much, that when He does tell us what He wants us to do, or tells us how He wants us to respond, we could miss out on what He told us because it was not what we were wanting to hear.
Let us choose to not have selective hearing with God, only listening for what we want to hear and what we feel is the solution to our problems. Let us sit still before the Lord and hear Him for what He is truly saying to our hearts.
Often times the Lord is trying to get our attention, but we have allowed distractions, which dangerously have the potential to become idols to us, if not already, to keep us from hearing His voice.
For us to hear the voice of God, we must learn it and be able to recognize it. Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
Listening to His voice every single day is an activity, that over time, years even, will sharpen your discernment to recognize Him when He speaks to you. If you, however, are not familiar with His voice, then when other voices come at you it will be difficult for you to quickly shut them off and you can be easily deceived.
Knowing His voice in this season is so extremely important, because the enemy is working hard tickling the ears of men. Many are waking up to this tickling and growing a healthy distaste for it, but be wise and practice hearing God’s voice so other things out there parading themselves as truth does not get the attention it craves from you.
Knowing God’s voice will be your protection, and practicing daily listening to His voice will build a confidence in you to trust when He is speaking to you. God is calling us to know His voice.
