The Uncaged Journey

At the close of the year, whether it was a tough year or an amazing one, most people begin to hope. We look at the approaching year as a clean slate, a motivation to believe in ourselves and allow ourselves to dream again. So many make quiet promises that in all of the ways they let the year go by with unfulfilled goals, the new year will be a year of focus and commitment. Stirring themselves up, they decide to believe that anything is possible and lists of hopes and dreams are rewritten. I too have felt a great excitement about next year since November! However, this morning the Lord prompted me saying, "I am the eternal now." And, "I am enough." Because Jesus is The eternal now , and He is enough , each morning is our clean slate and the start of each day is our chance to refocus and stir ourselves up. He is the eternal now , ready to create hope in those who feel hopeless and revealing the passion inside of us that is able to move us to greater things. He is

Here we go! If there is one subject that is my absolute favorite, it's worship! For me, more than any other place of encountering the Lord, worship is not only the easiest and quickest route, but it is the most intense place I encounter Him. By worship I mean a time when music is on and songs of love are pouring out of our heart and song; probably some dancing happening as well! Worship is a huge part of my identity; it probably is for you as well! I was reminded again today how important worship is to my life and how I honestly don't feel "normal" if I haven't had good worship time with the Lord. (For the record, worship doesn't always have to be with music. Even as I write this, my heart is yearning, longing for Him; pulling Him closer just because He is on my heart and mind. I can barely write as I can feel His nearness. Worship is so much more than a song, but I'm choosing the one facet of song just for today!) There is something about worship tha

We've been looking at different ways we encounter God. Today however, I want to talk about parenting. (You know, when I think about it, God actually has used my daughters many times to speak to me and to teach me a great deal about His love. I have encountered Him through my kids countless times!) A few weeks ago I met one of the leaders at the Youth group in which two of my girls attend. She asked me what I did to raise girls so in love with the Lord and told me I should write a book about it. I smiled, but thought, "Oh if you only knew! It hasn't been me, it's been all God." No false humility about it. I'm as shocked as anyone. Our daughters are 20, 18, and 15, and while I am incredibly amazed by their relationship with the Lord, I have no thoughts of writing a book on parenting. Today I only want to offer you my testimony. No sugar coating, no stories of home baked cookies, and domestic foo fooey'ness, but just a very candid look at our journey and

Fasting Yep, I said the "f" word, but don't stop reading! As I meditate on the various ways I encounter the Lord, the subject of fasting has been swirling around in my spirit. Let me first say that I'm writing on each subject as the Lord prompts, with no particular order of importance to me. There are so many different ways to fast and I was thinking about the fact that in different seasons of my life, I also fasted in different ways. It's not my intention to discuss a current trend in small groups that fasting isn't for today. The Bible is chock full of proof that we are to fast - period.  For many years I did full fasts with water and juicing only. Those were some of the most amazing fasts I have ever done in my life. There was something about the feeling of physical emptiness that enabled me to hear the Lord very clearly. It's something I don't fully understand, but the hunger and weakness quieted my mind. During those years of fasting I re

I've been thinking quite a bit on these seasons of change we all go through and specifically how the Lord encounters us in them. In Day #1 I encouraged you to think about the ways He touches you and to find out for yourself what is the most prominent way for you at the moment. As I was doing that today, I remembered one of my favorite seasons. Back in the 90's when revival hit Toronto and parts of FL., I was blessed to live in FL and got hit hard by the joy of the Lord. I spent a lot of time during those days in meetings and on the floor, laughing uncontrollably for hours at a time. I would wake up the next day and start laughing again. Wow! That was so awesome! I know some are still in that season...laughing and drunk all of the time, but I'm not. I fully believe it is not a stopping place, but something to catapult us to even deeper things in the Kingdom. Although I think it is accessible ALWAYS! I'm very happy in this season of my life, but I haven't been ex

I've been pondering the many ways we spend time with the Lord. While I firmly believe that communing with Him throughout our days is indispensable, set apart time is equally important. A marriage that didn't have time exclusively set apart for the husband and wife to be alone, would suffer greatly. The same is true in our relationship with the Lord - there must be time to be with Him, and Him alone. Many of you know that since our move back to the States from Puerto Rico, our lives have changed drastically. In my season of adjusting to this incredible new life, I began to wonder if I was doing something wrong because my time with Him had changed quite a bit. I have found that we tend to become so accustomed to the "normal" way the Lord encounters us, that we downplay noticeable shifts, especially when the "norm" has been outrageously good. Too often we want to camp at specific encounters not wanting the present glory to lift or change. But He has promis

The last time I wrote a blog, I was standing in the waiting line for breakthrough. Now, here I am having tea with breakthrough and quite enjoying our time together! At times it seems almost surreal to be walking out things that I have believed for, for so long, and at other times it feels the only natural conclusion to faith. There have been a few times lately in corporate worship, that tears of thanksgiving catch me by surprise. Most of the time I wipe them away and replace them with a great big smile and words of thankfulness to the Lord. (Surely a smile much more effectively communicates the joy that I feel, right?) However, the other day the Lord began to remind me of the beauty of tears. "Pour them out upon Me. For I long to receive your tears of joy and thanksgiving. Just as you used to pour out tears of worship, so determined to trust Me regardless of what seemed like unanswered prayers, so you must freely let your tears of thanksgiving flow. They are a beautiful o