Tag Archives: Experience

SOARING

“Look up into the heavens.
    Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
    calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
    not a single one is missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
    O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

God’s Help for Israel

41 “Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea.”

Isaiah 40:26-41:1a NLT

Have you ever found yourself so emotionally drained that you just wanted to sleep for a day; maybe two? Have you ever found yourself wondering why this journey of life seems so hard? Have you ever just wondered why you are where you are in this world? Have you ever wondered if anyone else struggles with the same things that you are struggling with? Have you ever believed that isolating yourself from other people is the safe way to journey through this life? Have you ever felt so alone that you believe that if you weren’t around no one would miss you?

Have you ever looked at these thoughts and realized that they aren’t of our Creator God Elohim? God created the stars and gave them each a name. He created each person and gave us each a name and a purpose; and this before time as we know it. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Close your eyes and envision yourself soaring on the wings of an eagle as if you were soaring with God, in the protection of His wings. What are you seeing as you look around? What are you smelling? What are you feeling? Do you taste anything? What do you hear? Are you at peace or in a state of anxiety? Allow yourself to be present in that moment before you move on.

When you are ready; look ahead in the distance, do you see where you are headed? Where is it? How do you feel about where you are headed? What do you see? How do you feel in the moment? What do you smell? Is there a taste? What do you hear? Are you at peace with what you are experiencing?

What do you see between where you are and where you are going? Where is God in that in-between space?

God’s timing is perfect and His plan is perfect. Trust in His plan. May you be blessed!

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SEEING THROUGH EXPERIENCE

I am reminded of a line spoken in the movie The Santa Claus; “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” When we believe in God, we begin to see how and where He is working in our lives and the lives of others. This ‘seeing’ is a byproduct of belief. Hope is a byproduct of seeing ones future through the eyes of Jesus. Staying close to God brings the byproduct of comfort. When we know who and whose we are, the byproduct is obedience and submission. The difference between seeing and SEEING is experience. It’s the difference between the head and the heart; this is only a few inches but can seem like a mile when thoughts and feelings are involved.

Yes, it matters!

Our thoughts matter; our words matter; their words matter; what we think matters; what we see matters; and what we hear matters.

I have learned about the superb seeing power of lions; they don’t see like people, they see well beyond. This is interesting to me. Another detail about lions is interesting to me. The males; with their big ROAR, sound off; in the hunt for food, while the lionesses lay in wait for the prey to run away from the roar only to become dinner, compliments of the lionesses. The prey thinks they see the way to living another day, only they are blind to reality; they are about to be done permanently. Running blindly in fear, leads to them being undone. To really SEE, would require the prey to run toward the ROAR which leads to LIFE and strength.

Show Sugi Ban is a treatment for wood that leads to it being beautiful and waterproof. The thing about this treatment is that for the wood to become beautiful and waterproofed, it is burned under high heat and a big flame. Before the wood is treated, you can see the character of the wood; however, after it is burned under high heat and a big flame the strengths and beauty of the wood is even more visible.

Zechariah 13:9 (NLT)

“I will bring that group through the fire
    and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
    and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

What we have experienced in our lives matter to God! These things that we experience tend to be the lens by which we ‘see’ what we blindly believe to be danger; so we fear it and run in the other direction, not realizing that if we would trust God and run toward what we fear, we will become strong and truly LIVE with much greater SEEING ability. Through the experience of ‘feeling under the fire;’ those things that make us a masterpiece, become even more visible.

For so many years, I blindly thought that the best way to stay ‘safe’ was to run from those things that scared me because they had burned me in the past. It has been a very rewarding experience to SEE my past experiences in a new way. By running toward fears and trusting God, I have become stronger and those things of beauty that God has placed in my life have become more visible.

On July 10th; as my husband and I greeted so many loved ones who came to share love with our family in the midst of our grief over the loss of our son in a motorcycle accident, I stood where I was directed and hugged friend after friend and family member after family member. I was drained. I was tired. I was hurting. I was numb. I was existing on auto-pilot. Hour after hour passed by but it seemed like minutes. Then a friend blessed me in two ways. She offered me some of her strength so that I could keep going and the most amazing gift she gave me was the awareness to see something that; in my limited sight of the inches in front of me couldn’t see, she asked me a great question. “Can you SEE the LOVE in this place?” Truthfully, I couldn’t really see anything other than the person right in front of me. That is until I looked up and started to look around the room; I saw the line of people waiting to love on us and l saw the LOVE that God and these loved ones were pouring out on us! It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. I could not SEE; until I looked at what I was avoiding, and then experienced the LOVE that God was showering on us.

Those hard times in life can serve as the refining fire that helps us to truly SEE and experience LIFE.

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