The Uncaged Journey

For Christmas my husband and daughters bought me a Jesus bobble-head! I saw a picture of it online and got hit HARD by the joy of the Lord, laughing all by myself w/ tears streaming down my face. I decided that day, it was the only thing I wanted for Christmas.  Today I was eating some pumpkin pie, (Smothered with ice-cream and whipped cream, in case you were wondering!) w/ "bobble-head" Jesus (Apparently, He likes Pumpkin Pie because He was giving me the thumbs up) and pondering His nearness when I read Revelations 3:20, in about 10 versions; they all say the same basic thing: "Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you ." (Message version) I couldn't help but get excited! I have heard that Jesus came and ate with Bob Jones one day, but I never really took this scripture literally I guess. Silly me! Now I'm going to press in for Jesus to come and eat with me. It...

Today we celebrate the day Love took on human form and was birthed into the earth; Christmas day! Love comes and sweeps me off of my feet at times when I least expect it! At times Love comes and overwhelms me and at other times it feels as though my senses have dulled. In fact lately, the times which are usually the most amazing, have felt the driest. Recently, the times I feel Him the most is when I'm just thinking about Him and not making any effort of my own. He comes and initiates conversations with me, or just surprises me with overwhelming love for me that hasn't been earned by anything I have done;  it is a gift.   I now long for Him to come and reveal Himself to me in ways I have nothing to do with.  Such beauty in the absence of striving! Though He is in me, I cannot force a manifestation of His glory. Though I am FILLED with Him, I find myself craving greater consciousness of my holy union with Christ. I realize that I am as close as any human can...

I've been finding it harder and harder to write something that will make sense! His glory is so present that trying to convey what I experience feels like an impossible task! Here we go...I'll just share some of my pondering thoughts from today.... I was never taught that we could find the same ecstasy of loving God, the way the Saints/Mystics of old did, when I was a young Catholic. I remember walking to church to sit there alone when it was empty because I could feel the Lord's presence. I hadn't been taught that I could find Him outside of religious duty. I didn't know that for those who love Him, we can experience Him just like these Saints. God didn't manifest Himself  BECAUSE they were Saints; He manifested Himself to them because they were people...regular people like us...who loved Him and sought His face. In fact the Bible says WE are saints!  There are many different ways the Lord comes and manifests His tangible glory. Allow yourself to yield to wha...

I've been meditating more and more on the beauty and power of the Cross. The extreme ecstasy of blissful love and the tormenting pain of the Cross were both exemplified through Jesus. This seems a reflection of the lives of those who love Him- blissful love that quite honestly is painful to the flesh. We are spirit but we are also natural people who must take up OUR cross daily- yielding to the fact that we are DEAD to anything that hinders love. It is painful to our flesh to ignore the focus of SELF and abandon ALL- truly abandon all attitudes, mindsets, emotions, prideful ambitions, and desires for happiness MORE than our desire for Christ.  Many of us believe in our inclusion with Him on the Cross; we are free from religious mindsets and believe in a life of Heavenly experience. We have found ourselves on many occasion lost in the rapturous bliss of Christ in us; tasting and seeing that He is good. We are love-wrecked! But we so rarely talk about the tension bet...

Before I get into today's thoughts, please remember to leave a comment HERE on the blog! I would LOVE to hear about your journey as well. Psalm 23:5-6 in The Passion Translation, is AWESOME and goes perfectly with today's blog. I LOVE this translation by Brian Simmons!!  ( www.passiontranslation.com ) You become my delicious feast  Even when my enemies dare to fight. You anoint me with  The fragrance of Your Holy Spirit,  You give me all I can drink of You  Until my heart overflows. Why would I fear the future?  For Your goodness and unfailing love  Will always be my companions every day; Then afterwards— when my life is through I’ll return to Your glorious presence  Forever with You ! Whether we are walking in the bliss of Heaven, or having a day of fierce opposition, we are His and we are fully dependent upon Him. Learning to worship through our trials is one of the biggest and most important lessons we  learn. Wh...

This morning I was listening to a podcast from from Emma Joy Henderson and Milly Bennitt.  I was actually listening to it for the 3rd time today while I was grocery shopping. This probably isn't a safe thing to do, as I forgot to look at my list and because of the big smile plastered on my face, people kept looking at me weird! ...and a GREAT time was had by all! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hearing about other's experiences with the Lord! It stirs me and reminds me that there is always more and a closer walk with the Lord is available! Part of the reason I decided to blog this specific 40 Day Journey with the Lord, was in hopes it would stir the readers to press in too. I want to carry the scent of Jesus in my life so greatly, that His fragrance even comes through in my writing.  Did you know you can carry the fragrance of Heaven? Not just figuratively, but literally!  Catalina De Cardona, Mary of Oignies, and Theresa of Avila were all known to carry this fragrance. Catal...

I am a willing slave to love . I cannot escape it, nor do I want to. It seems so ironic that He can live inside of me and yet my heart burns with a consuming passion for more. As I open my eyes to start the day, He is there. I sit quietly on my couch engaging with Heaven through worship music and exchanging words of love with the Lord. He is so glorious. The more I focus on Him, the more I sense Him drawing me closer .  Light. Swirling light, in and around me today, rippling through the house like foggy beams of white glory. Feeling the literal pull of heaven on my heart today. My desire is to remain in this awesome awareness of His love and communion with me, while I clean and homeschool. Living in the place of veracious love is the place of continual bliss that I so crave. I'll leave you with the words of Theresa of Avila... "It left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several groans. The sweetne...

At the moment we are missionaries in Puerto Rico and we get to enjoy beautiful beaches year round. At certain times of the year, there is a current that is fun to relax in, allowing it to take us from one end of the beach to the other.  This morning I was thinking about a friend of mine who always says things like, " You are already living in bliss, you are already in His glory, you are already happy..." It reminded me of these currents.                                    Coming into the presence of God isn't an effort. We don't have to jump, shout, walk around praying loudly in tongues, etc., trying to stir ourselves up.  It's more like relaxing into those gentle currents of His love and allowing them to take you where He wants. The problem we have is in the thoughts we think and allowing ourselves to focus on our natural circumstances instead of setting our minds on the thing...

Face to face encounters with Jesus ... Oh, to know as I am known! Longing   for Him is a beautiful gift.   The desire for living in this place of bliss that superimposes itself over the mundane, has abducted me. Please don't ever try and rescue me! I spent a lot of time reading and listening to teachings today that have stirred me to a place of stillness which screams of passion .   At times words seem so  dry  compared to the abundance of swirling in my spirit.                            Instead I will leave you with the words of a Catholic Nun, St. Theresa of Avila...... "While seeking God in this way, the soul is concious that it is fainting almost completely away in a kind of swoon, with a very great calm and joy. It's breath and all it's bodily powers progressively fail it, so that it can hardly stir its hands without great effort. It's eyes close involuntari...

All I knew at the onset of this journey, was that Holy Spirit was leading me to a deeper walk with the Lord, which meant revealing those things that hinder me from greater intimacy with Him. The dictionary says hinder means: to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty in; hamper; impede I bet you are just like me--ready to deal with everything that is an interruption of your intimacy with the Lord. The Lord spoke SO clearly to me EXACTLY what is hindering me from deeper encounters. When we ask Him to speak regarding these things, He will. Sometimes He speaks through His Word, His Spirit within us, through others and even through articles, videos, blogs, ...you name it!  Tonight I listened to an AMAZING teaching from Kobus van Rensburg. He  taught on the conscience and its affect on our prayers getting answered, greater miracles, etc. If you would like the link, just ask! SO GOOD! I am besides myself with thankfulness to Holy Spirit for speaking to me. I honor Him as a wo...

My favorite days are the days where I am so consumed with God's presence that nothing is able to divert my attention, even in the midst of doing it. Today however, was not one of those days. To be honest, I think I turned my alarm off in my sleep! That means I didn't wake up early enough to get my alone time with Him. No condemnation though, right? So, Jesus and I hung out together just living life. Oh, my daughter and I did break up a big fight! Driving in the car-- see a BIG BAD fist fight...large group of teens...nobody could stop it and it was getting bigger.  No way! Not on MY watch! "In Jesus name I command you to stop!" Oh the power of His name--fight stopped. YAY JESUS! Actually, today was the day I was faced with opposition regarding what I posted yesterday - being QUITE tested. One of those, "I'm sorry Jesus." "Ugh, sorry again." "Ugh, man I am really sorry." "Jesus, HELP!" ...kind of days. It seems like that...

Today's blog is a bit longer, but it is VERY important and I believe will really minister to you and help you on your journey into deeper realms of glory. I've been talking to the Lord lately about SHINING ( literally ) with His glory. I have seen people glow in the spirit, but never with my natural eyes, like Moses did. If it was possible for Moses to shine, before Christ, it's even MORE possible for us to, with HIM living inside of us. Talk about an easy way to get people's attention! People would either run away from you, or run to you, for prayer!  This morning my set apart time with the Lord was about healing emotional wounds and dealing with things that hinder how deeply I am able to experience His glory and radiate it. I didn't plan this, only yielded myself to what I felt Him doing in me. As I was lying in His presence, His light began shining into my body, lingering on certain areas longer than others. It rested quite a while on my eyes and I was remi...

Once we have tasted what life can be like, living in the reality of His presence, we are wrecked! To deny what we are created for- this uninterrupted bliss, is to deny the overwhelming joy and contentment everyone seeks after.  If you are having a hard time understanding how to "carry Him in your heart," or to "maintain awareness of Him," let me explain. Imagine working a semi-difficult math problem, all of your thoughts and focus would go towards solving it. Though math would become your focus, it wouldn't touch you or change you in any way. Now think of someone you love- a son, daughter, parent, or spouse, and a time of closeness (whether it was an embrace, conversation, etc.) that is forever etched in your memory -something that touched you very deeply in a good way. If you allowed yourself to mentally go back and re-live that beautiful time, it too would take all of your thought and focus. HOWEVER, it would go beyond mental awareness, it would create a se...

The journey into the presence of God is the most worthy and exciting journey anyone can embark upon. The vastness of the realm of God, it's limitless wonder, has been consuming my thoughts. Our God is so amazing, so much bigger than we really believe. Oh sure, we TALK about how powerful and big God is, but if we believed it fully, we would live quite differently.  As I began my journey today, I started getting flooded with thoughts about our perception and how much our spiritual walk is affected by the way we think. I will be doing a teaching either on youtube or in an article, once I can process through the downloads I'm getting. Our mind STRONGLY affects our encounters with God. Isn't that interesting? Spiritual encounters CAN be limited by how we think. God can and does bypass our thinking many, many times, however. The only thing I really prayed today was, "Holy Spirit, lead me in this journey. Take me where You want me and deal with everything that hinders m...

At the beginning of this year, 2011, Joshua Mills prophesied over me. One of the things that the Lord said through him was that, in the past, I have had divine glimpses of glory, but now I would begin to have explosions of glory. He also talked about the revelations I would have because of these explosions and what I would do with them. Hebrews 6:19 says, “ This   hope   we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the   Presence   behind the veil .” We all know that at the crucifixion, that veil was torn in two and nothing any longer separates us from encountering Him! According to Ephesians 2:6, we are right now, at this present time seated with Christ in heavenly places. The mystical reality that we are here on earth and yet in heaven, is something that I believe with all of my heart and have experienced to a small degree. My heart BURNS with overwhelming desire for face to face encounters with Jesus. (John 14:21) The truth is th...