Releasing Fog

It appears thick...dense...opaque.  As if nothing exists on the other side.  If I hadn't seen the other side a million times I'd probably question whether this dense mass in front of my face was all that there was.

Fog.  It clouds the sky...my vision...my mind.  It makes everything look bleak... dark... depressing.  As if there was real substance to it.  But it's just mist really...clouds riding low...kissing the pavement.  I could cut through it easily...no force required...but I can't see through it.

Do I rely so heavily on being able to see to believe?  To know that light exists on the other side of this misty fog of nothing...this illusion of sorts...

That life exists on the other side of this sickness...that joy exists on the other side of this heaviness...that God exists on the other side of my disbelief...my anxiety...my mistrust...this fog in my head.  And actually, they all exist within the fog too, but do I chose to believe it even if I can't see it...feel it?  

My feelings and emotions are as flity and flighty as the mist of fog in the air...thrown so easily about with the waves and wind of life...appearing so heavy but consisting of so little in reality. So real and blinding one moment and gone the next.  Up and down...round and round...making my head spin at times.

I call out for your help, God...you hear me.  You ask me to believe, even in the fog. You say: ...when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind ~James 1:6.  My doubt...my FEELINGS...blown and tossed by the wind.

But not you...my rock...my firm foundation. You know how thick the fog appears...and you care...but you also know what exists when the fog lifts...a world that I can't see now. But a beautiful life that you know is there...you placed it there...you're holding it safe there until faith lifts the fog.

Believe...believe that the fog will break...will lift...even when it feels heavy and debilitating.  Remember that you've seen the light on the other side of the fog...it's still there...just like it always has been before.

Live by faith, not by sight ~2 Corinthians 5:7...life abundant is beyond the fog.

(see pictures at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036689574/ http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036689571/)

Releasing Rain

There's something in the rain.  She fights with it every time it comes.  

Her eyes are heavy, joints ache, mind feels cloudy, smiles rarely come.  

What is this about?  

Just like the sunshine, the overcast days, it's just weather.  Here today, changed tomorrow.  She can't control it...it really has nothing to do with her.  But just the same it feels personal.  Invading her physically...emotionally.   Could it be that these thousand of droplets actually represent something...mean more than they're letting on?

She peers out her window...studying the yard.  Rivers have formed in crevasses in the dirt and pavement, flowers bend at the weight of droplets pelting at their delicate frame.  No sign of active life...birds hide in their nests, insects flee, tricycles sit stagnant in the neighbours front yard...dripping...no one's come to play today.  

She sighs.  Stretches her feet to the end of the couch...rests her eyes.  

Has she been defeated?  By the rain?

She dreams...of waking fully alive...droplets dripping off her skin...her garments...her face...flushing her mind.   The warmth of new light flooding...like love penetrating her spirit...the powerhouse of her being.  She hears a far off laughing...squeals of delight.  She begins to laugh at this joyful sound....

She awakes from her slumber to the sound of the far off laughter...she sits up to see the sun breaking through the rain clouds...her young neighbour on his tricycle, riding in circles, giggling, celebrating the end...celebrating the beginning...

The cleansing

She peers at the flowers...their peddles drip, but with new strength, they stretch and reach with renewal.  The chickadees splash and sing, bathing in the puddles...crevasses of pooled rain, cleansing nature...washing what was dusty...dry.  Life giving water.  It felt personal...maybe it was.

The storm...the rain...all of it was necessary to keep life going...to refill, recharge...even if it felt personal and invasive at the time.  Not just one droplet but thousands...dousing...it's the only way it would make a difference.  Fill the empty crevasses...feed that which was drying up...dry soil...dry bones...a brittle and flaking spirit.  

Living water.

~wanna read more? John 7:38, Revelation 7:17

(see pictures at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036672002/ http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036672003/)

Releasing Faith

Belief...trust...faith...however you look it, it can't be explained away by science and calculations.  

If you can move beyond yourself and what you see, you WILL be surprised.  

Experience things you could not have made happen.  Watching the unexplained unfold in your life, mistakes you've made turn for your good and feeling love in your heart that does not come from the same place your hate and judgment sits.  

Knowing that you're limited and believing that he is more...he is everything this limited life needs to reach farther and to find peace and joy for the perfect today. 

But it takes a scary, jumping head first, vulnerable letting go to release faith, trust, belief in something you can't see...touch...smell...hear.

Ask him to show you...ask him to reveal himself to you.  Ask him for courage...because only the courageous ones can release faith.  

What if there's more than what you see?

What have you got to lose?  

(see picture at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036665509/)

Releasing Tiny Little You

10 tiny fingers...10 tiny toes.  

Soft...sweet...reaching...beautiful.   

It's a miracle you're here....

sometimes I wonder how you got here?  

A precious angel on earth.  

I'm amazed by you.

You hid for a time... to be worked out and in... to the perfection you are today.  I have so much to learn from your ability to be molded...changed...until the time is right.

Your entrance to this world was symbolic of your splendour and mystery...all that you are...urgency...restlessness...wonder...we all felt it on some level...some more than others.  All to welcome magnificent you.

I pray that you know your Creator...his amazing and unflawed work in you.  Recite it in your mind...in your spirit...words breathed by him...his promise of your perfection...your purpose...I speak it out over your life until you can do it yourself:

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be
~Psalm 139:13-16

You are loved...and not just by me...or by your mum who couldn't fathom anyone loving you more.  You are unconditionally, indisputably, unbelievably loved by Father God...by Jesus...by your Creator...

His thoughts about you are precious...numerous...he's with you...he loves you...perfect, amazing, lovely you. (Psalm 139:17-18)

(See picture at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036638459/)

Releasing Life from Light

The parks are filled with life...men, women, families...strolling under the trees, lounging on the grass, reading on the bench.  The sky is clear...the sun is warm...blazing...thawing my fingertips.  I breathe in the fresh warmth.

The human condition is to be drawn to the light...for life...for warmth...for clarity.  We just feel better when we're surrounded by light... alive.  It's our make up.

The warmth from the light causes us to shed our layers...getting us down to our true selves.  Bearing our vulnerable skin with no shame.  No longer hiding in the darkness...in the cold.  Our protective covering can be shed...the warmth is inviting....the light fills us with joy.


John 8:12  I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Our spiritual make up intertwines with our physical experience...see the parallel:

In the presence of the light of the world the warmth from his light causes us to shed our layers...getting us down to our true selves.  Bearing our vulnerable skin with no shame.  No longer hiding in the darkness, in the cold.  Our protective covering can be shed...the warmth is inviting....the light fills us with joy...his divine joy.  The human condition is to be drawn to the light...for life...for warmth...for clarity.  We just feel better when we're surrounded by his light... alive. It's our make up.

The sun fills the earth with life from it's light...

the Son fills the earth with life from his light...

Bask in the light!

(see pictures at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036624551/)

Releasing Plan B

There is a plan B...a way out...hope.  A way to make a wrong, right...a hurt, healed...darkness, light.  Shine light on something...someone...that is looking to disappear into the darkness...that is plan B.

But could it be that plan B is actually, in some odd and magnificent way, plan A?  The human condition is to see only what lies directly in front of you...what you've calculated...what you strive for...plan A.  

As you watch your dreams shatter, your life unravel it can feel like the end.  Until plan B is unveiled in all its glory.  But maybe that's where you were meant to be anyway.  Life is this journey that will teach you and lead you to exactly where you need to be.  Even what you perceive as mistakes can be used for your good (Romans 8:28)...plan B.

I think of this as I hear the announcement on a busy morning commute...personal injury at track level.  The subway officials do their best to conceal that this injury is actually code...code for the unthinkable...they don't want you to know. Code for the darkness, the cloudiness of mind...someone's plan A for today.  This code is plan B to a seamless morning of train schedules and a rush of commuters...now trains at a stand still and shuttle buses put into place. 

I glace over at the subway poster...shining light on a plan B...it can save a life...if you let it...that's why these posters are plastered all over the platform. I wish I could scream out....don't forget about plan B!  To pierce the many other hearts that may have thought about becoming the personal injury at track level today.  You're not alone. See the signs pointing you to the magnificent plan B.

We need a plan B that can not only save from despair but can shine a light so consuming that plan A cowers...disoriented..unsure of why it ever existed.  

The more I think about it, our Creator is the inventor of plan B....the GLORIOUS plan B.  If he can take all your mistakes and turn them for good...if he can stoop down, take on a mortal body to die and conquer death, only to undo what was tarnished...a death sentence...your death sentence...then I would say YES...he is the author and perfecter of the plan B.  He's put it there so there's a way...life...moving you closer to perfection...his perfection for you.  

But plan B is only beneficial when you reach out and accept it and all the redemption it holds...otherwise the passing away of plan A will become your demise...or perhaps plan A, in and of itself, will be your demise.

And the hands and feet of this plan B are found in the beautiful Created Ones...you...me.  Plan B becomes tangible in the dark when we use our hands...our voice to deliver the hope, the light...on track level or street level...bringing it to eye level. 

It may not have been my plan A to be used as part of this plan B, but my plan A is not what counts...

It's not too late to change your mind...through the life saving plan B.

~wanna read more?  try Jeremiah 29:11

(see pictures at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036608715/  http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036608718/)

Releasing Light for a Monday

My eyes open...it's dark...quiet. I listen to the rain knocking on the window...wanting to get in...I breath in the cold damp air in my room.  It's almost time to rise...start a new week...but the cloudiness of the morning sky is reflecting my inner struggle this morning.  

I think for a moment...why are Monday's so hard?  Where is the joy of the weekend past?  Of Friday afternoon, quitting time?  Regardless of my feelings about this cold harsh world, about anything surrounding me on the outside, what is this inner struggle I battle with most Mondays?  I know I'm not alone...but I need some light shed on this narrative of negativity.  After all, am I not a new creation?  Hasn't the old passed away?  Where do you find joy in the rain on Monday?

I open my inbox...a verse for Monday morning is waiting...perhaps to speak to my soul.  Awaken the new creation inside...shed light...the enemy and his lies, his dread, his anxiety can't live in the light.  I think for a moment, if Father God reflects what he pours out into us...love, kindness, joy, peace...then Satan must reflect the nastiness of depression, condemnation, despair. That is what he is...who he is.  His lies are based upon his make up.  A crack of light shines inside...

1 John 3:1-3 appears on the screen in the newest translation...the Voice. It does feel like the voice...his voice to my heart.  Embedded at the end of verse one, the narrative speaks to me...we should remember that God's love is greater than our doubts.  We must silence the sounds of condemnation so we can hear the voice of God's loving assurance...  

As I read on, something catches me in verse 3:  All those who focus their hopes on Him....seek to purify...  

Am I not seeking to be purified from this Monday morning filth in my head?  

I stop...the life choking lies stop for a second as more light begins to pour in.  Beams of light piercing the flesh of the beast...he shrinks in stature.  

I read some key words again...we should remember....we must silence....all those who focus...  

I think for a moment...I know God loves me, I know there's hope in him...goodness in him...a reason to live in him...but if I face every Monday without remembering, without attempting to silence, without focus I am simply allowing the enemy to slime me with his identity...his lies poisoning my veins as if I don't have a mighty Saviour who has already defeated death...has already defeated him!  It's not about me striving to silence these voices, but giving Jesus his rightful place...at the forefront...on the front lines of the battle, fighting it for me.  But God is a gentleman and has given me a choice...he never forces.  

Every Monday morning....do you choose to remember?  to silence the lies?  to focus on the TRUTH?  I am a new creation...to be renewed every day!  Monday's past are just that...in the past...the old has gone...the new is here!  Monday can have light abundant! 

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

(see picture at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036592511/)

Releasing a Poem for the Prisoner

sometimes it feels like I'm drowning

in an ocean of mistakes I've made
I'm not always sure how I got here
but I'm tired, angry and afraid

I call out but no one can hear me
or maybe they don't really care
I fall to my knees in surrender 
this burden is too much to bare

darkness is heavy
chains wrapped around me

on the cold hard floor of this jail cell
I feel the warmth from your light
shining in through the cracks in the darkness
on a heart frozen solid with ice

I hear the cell open to freedom
you stand at the door and you wait
my child it's time for this prisoner
to be pardoned, your charges erased

freedom rains down
cleans off the stains
truth frees this heart
love breaks the chains 

wake up O sleeper
open your eyes
take off your grave clothes
this is your time

(see picture at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036564059/)

Releasing Whispers

She sits across the table from him...searching his face.  

Where are you, my love?  

His body is present but his eyes seem far off...he has drifted away for a time...this is not unfamiliar to her now. He's slowly slipping away...to the unknown...unknown even to him.

The memories of days past she holds dear...young and in love...raising a family...building a life that brought so much joy...she sees remnants around her.  She still feels like that young woman so in love...no cares...just her and him and a home...but a young heart cannot freeze time...keep everything from changing.

She looks around at these walls...if they could talk...they know it all...see it all.  They know better than anyone what's happening...they see her every heartbeat...hot tears...no tears when they desperately need to flow.  

Jesus...she whispers...Jesus.

She hears the words in her heart...she recites them...love is patient, love is kind...it always protects, always trusts, always perseveres.  That is the love she emulates...without even thinking.  A devotion so deep, a love so rare...wrinkles and age spots...even these uncertain times...can't fade a love like this.

She looks at his face again...he's staring back at her...she looks deep into those familiar eyes...he smiles...he sees her...he knows her...he needs her.  There's been days the need feels heavy...how can I do this?  

She whispers...Jesus.  

But those eyes...those lovely, familiar eyes that carry so many memories for her - even when he forgets...the same eyes she looked into for every life giving, life changing, life making moment. They've been with her through it all...in it all...for it all...even now.

If you asked her...how do you do this...how are you getting through this?  There's no doubt that for her, love never fails...but if you listen close...if you lean in to hear the slightest of whispers you'll hear the word that hope and strength and life stems from...the whisper of love...Jesus.

Saving grace for today...and all those that follow.

~wanna read more? 1 Corinthians 13

(see picture at http://pinterest.com/pin/98938523036548538/)