Pushing Through the Snow

Pushing Through the Snow

Although the cold of winter is not comfortable, the wealth of snow gives nutrients to the soil. In the same way, although you have faced pressures and situations that are not comfortable, you need to see them as an opportunity to flourish my child.

For the things that the enemy would try to use to get you down, I will surely use for my own good. If you look at all the pressures and inconvenient moments, you would see that you have a choice to make.

You could allow yourself to get discouraged or you could use them as an opportunity to rise up once again. Even though the enemy would like to trip you up, it is time to use his own weapon against him.

No matter how cold it has become or how uncomfortable, use this situation to pass through the testing time correctly. Use this season as an opportunity to grow.

Then just like in the natural how springtime brings a new bud out of the ground, you will also see new fruit in your life! You will see that as you embrace the snow and the season of winter, that you grew through the experience. You will see that I had my hand on you all along. You will see that I never forsook you.

So rise up now child. Use every situation that you face today as an opportunity for growth. Then it does not matter what the enemy throws at you. You will be equipped to handle it and to use it to rise up higher than before.

A Special Invitation

A Special Invitation

Consider a hot air balloon that has the potential to fly high above the ground. It is so simple, yet it carries the passenger to amazing heights. It does not propel itself but relies on the heat in the balloon and the direction of the wind.

When you are aboard, you have no control. You cannot try to steer it. When this happens, you have a choice to make. You can either fear that you will be swept away, or you can take a deep breath and enjoy the ride.

In the same way I am inviting you on a journey with me today my child. I invite you to climb aboard and to trust the wind and the direction that I want to send you.

It is not a direction where you will be in control. For you will be the passenger and I will be the pilot. I will lift this balloon into the air and then I will blow my wind to guide it.

I invite you to walk in faith my child and to take my hand. To climb aboard not because of what you see around you, but simply because you believe my word.

I ask you to trust me! So take my hand and have faith in me. Do not fear that I will let you down. Do not fear that you will fall out of the sky and be hurt.

For I will never leave nor forsake you! I will not allow your foot to be dashed. When you trust completely in me, I have the power to bring about events and circumstances.

Just as I have power over the winds and waves, so also can I have power over your circumstances. However, I can only use this power if you let me!

I can only move on your behalf when you put your trust in me. So climb aboard child. Take the hand that I have stretched out to you. Lean on me. Trust me. For when you do that, you will see yourself being lifted high above your circumstance.

Then all you need to do is enjoy the journey that is ahead. Do not fear for where I will lead you, but know that I will never let you down. Enjoy this time in me.

Enjoy this moment of drifting with the wind, for soon enough your circumstances will change again and new ones will be in front of you. Come child. Climb aboard and let our new journey begin, says the Lord. Amen.

My Tender Embrace

My Tender Embrace

Just like a mother embraces her child, so also are my arms always open to you my child. They are never closed. Does a mother stop loving her child, when that child has failed or done something wrong?

Then why do you expect me to turn my back on you my child? No matter what you have done and no matter how much you feel guilty or afraid, I will never turn my back on you.

If a natural mother can embrace her child how much Me - your Heavenly Father? It is a love that you do not need to earn. For I drew you to me and I continue to hold you in the palm of my hand.

So often you think that you must strive to stay in the palm of my hand. So often you think that you must earn the right to stay in my hand.

But my child, I already won the prize for you. I did everything that needed to be done to ensure that you would stay in my hand. So why do you still strive so much?

Come rest in me instead, because while you strive, you take away precious time that we could be having together.

Rest in my finished work. Rest in the fact that nothing can snatch you away from me. Be as a baby in its mother's arms. Rest without struggling.

Rest without feeling that you have to prove yourself. When you do this, you will feel my love flowing over you and you will know that I have been there for you all along.

Take a Breath

Take a Breath

For indeed a new day has dawned, says the Lord and there is freshness in the air. For just as you can smell the fresh morning air and it wakes up your body, so also is my presence like the air that wakes up your spirit.

So take time to rejoice in me today and to praise me for all that I am doing in your life. For many mornings can come and go and if you do not take the time to enjoy the beauty of the morning, the day will quickly come upon you and you would have missed your moment.

In the same way, do not miss your moment with me today my child. Take time to breathe in my presence and to feel my peace around you.

Just as the morning is constant, so also am I constant. Just as the morning brings a freshness to your mind, so also will I bring a freshness to your spirit.

So take time right now to simply sit in my presence. When you enjoy the morning air, you do not need to do anything to enjoy it. In fact, the greatest way to enjoy it is to simply sit in it and revel in it. My child this is all I am asking of you.

I do not need you to run around or to do anything to enjoy me today. Simply sit with me and talk with me. Rest in me. I do not need you to prove yourself.

In fact, whether you rest or whether you run, my presence will not change. My feelings will not change towards you. So why not rest rather?

Take your moment with me and the life that you receive will give you all the strength you need for the day ahead, says the Lord. Amen.

Pick up Your Sword

Pick up Your Sword

Just as a dust storm brings with it sand and disarray, so also have the pressures of life swirled around you, says the Lord. In the confusion you dropped your sword and now you stand, feeling ill-equipped for the road that is ahead of you.

But my child, just because you cannot see your sword, does not mean that you have lost it. All that has happened is that the sand has covered it over.

If you would only reach down and lift it up from the dust, you would see that I have not forsaken you. You have not lost your ability to stand up in my name. You have not lost your place of favor in me. You have not lost my grace.

The enemy would love to keep you confused and running here and there trying to make up for lost time. But stop now and simply pick up your sword once again.

Come back to the realization that it is in me alone that you overcome. Come back to the simple truth that it is not by your own strength and power that you will overcome, but by my spirit alone!

As you pick up your sword once again, put my Word into your mouth. Let my pictures flood your mind and then as you stand up in a new conviction, the enemy will flee from you.

The wind will die down and the dust will start to disappear. Then you will see that I never left your side. For it is indeed time to pick up your sword again. Not in your own strength, but in my name alone, says the Lord. Amen

Getting on the Bicycle Again

Getting on the Bicycle Again

A child finds it easy to ride a bicycle. They have no fear and their naiveté carries them through. However, as you get older it gets harder to get back on the bicycle again.

It takes a lot more effort than you remember and it hurts in ways that you do not remember either. In the same way child, it is time to return back to the fire that I placed inside of you such a long time ago.

As you look at it, you are like the adult who has not climbed on the bicycle in a very long time. What was so easy before seems like an effort now.

What was so comfortable before, seems so uncomfortable now. The discouragements and the failures hold you back and it is because of this that you are not moving forward as you should.

So it is time now my child to face the fears. To face the weakness and disappointment. It is time to get back on the bicycle again. To embrace once again the fire that is inside of you.

To have childlike naiveté once again and to trust me unashamedly. It is time to put aside your questions and your fears and to throw yourself into my arms. To trust that I will catch and lead you in the way that you go.

As you step forward now and you get riding again, my own hand will lead you. You will find the fire that you had before increase and get stronger. I will lead you on roads you never travelled before!

Then you will see that I was with you all along. Although there were many times when the enemy sent rocks into your road, I always made a new way. Even though he has tried to stifle that fire, I am here to bring it to life once again.

So move forward now child. Put aside the disappointments of the past and you will see that a new future waits for you.

Let The Night Fall

Let The Night Fall

When the sun has set and the world grows quiet, it is in these times that you notice sounds that you did not hear before. It is in these moments that your mind becomes still and you can come to peace.

My child you have been working and pushing hard through the day, but it is time now to come and rest. It is time for the night to fall and for your hands to drop.

For you cannot always work and push on. You cannot always sow and reap. There must come a time when you must rest and allow the rain to fall. There comes a time when you must step back and allow me to do my part. For I will do my part when you come to rest.

For you have worked hard as you have put your hand to the plough. You have pushed through and done all that you could.

However, now is the time for you to rest a while and to allow me to do my part. For I will take the mustard seed that you planted and I will cause it to grow bigger than any other tree!

I will take your small portion and increase it with my own power. You cannot do this. For you will come to see that the greatest progress that you will make, is not while you are striving and working, but rather when you rest and I begin to work.

So allow this season of rest to come into your life. Take this small moment to rest in me and allow me to work now on your behalf, says the Lord.