Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Dreaming for and with God

 

Dreaming for and with God

 

KWA Assignment

2/6/24

Dream Big with God. What would you want to do if you could do anything you imagined.

Wow! What a question, today this hit the mark. My heart jolted and then almost crashed with the weight of this. In the KWA meeting a testimony was given about a woman who declared her desire to be a published author. She threw a dream out, and with the Lord and her obedience, has achieved the publishing of several items. Some were what I now know as low content books which opened the possibilities up for me even more. The intimidating task of writing a novel or children’s book always shut my heart down. Story telling is not my gifting but exhortation and calling people to Jesus through words and images now that I love to do. To dream, to trust once again, to put desire out on display, that is a risk I often shy away from. This feels daunting yet the invitation is clear, speak up and move forward or let things turn stagnant and die. I would love to have a book or books of my poetry out in circulation and the ability to share and speak those words to others. So here it is as best as I can try to articulate… To be able to move others hearts into healing and closer to the Lord through my words read and spoken.

Friday, January 19, 2024

Let God be your editor.

 Let God be your editor.

1/7/2024

John 17:17 ESV “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

Ephesians 4:23 ESV “And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,”

Romans 12:2 ESV “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”.

 

The spirit of God is calling us. He is calling us to a place of surrender and renewal. But how do we surrender? What does that even look like? We often pray “create in me a clean heart and let our spirits be renewed”. This surrendering sometimes looks like yielding our wills and wants as well as our struggles. It is also a letting go of our interpretations of what this walk should be. It is allowing the sovereign God to edit our thought patterns and perceptions. Religion says do this and that to be worthy. The world messages us to achieve more and more. The Lord says “come to me my tired ones, enter my rest. Allow me to help not only edit your thoughts but to revise how you live day to day.” He knows the finished story and all the lines in between. Ours is to sit, seek him and listen so closely to his instruction, and then be obedient. Editing does not mean stopping the flow of our thoughts and feelings, rather placing them out on display to be read and proofread. This then leads to discerning with the Holy spirit what is superfluous and what is essential to the story of our lives. The editing process can be painful as some of the old passages are cut away and as we wait for direction for the new to come. Ours is to wait on our Editor trusting He knows the next steps needed along in the process.

 This week will you open the book of your heart to Jesus our editor?

Where do you need to let the Editor come in and cut away the extra so the true picture can be written?

Risk and sacrifice

 

Risk and sacrifice

Dale Cupo

1/18/24

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

 

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

“The word for sacrifice in the Old Testament was Korbanot.  The word korban means “something which draws close.” Their purpose was to bring people closer to God.”

So many thoughts swirling as I ponder an online discussion on this regarding an Exodus passage in the bible. Much was discussed but one point was that in some ways a sacrifice is something precious given up for the highest thing. Abraham willing to give up his son to God. And when the Israelites left Egypt, the old leavening needed to be left behind so that the new could come. Bearing children in our crazy world today is taking a risk and making a sacrifice so that the population can continue instead of standing on the selfish view of not bringing children into this world because we fear what might happen to them. If we don’t risk/sacrifice the new cannot take hold and eventually death comes to the people.

Sacrifice in my modern western thinking constitutes laying down everyday luxuries for a little while to the Lord. Adding in the connotation of risk though moves it into a whole other context. Risk leans into the word dangerous. To move towards danger as a means to Korban/draw closer to God? Abraham risked his entire promise of generations to come from his line when he obeyed the Lord to prepare Issac as the sacrifice. Risk was Mary saying yes to God. This risk taking biblically appears costly to those that are willing to sacrifice and yet their obedience brought in hope for the future. They gambled their personal futures for the generations that will come.

What would it look like if we sacrificed to the point of moving towards the dangerous and risky things. The obvious is that we know Jesus came to sacrifice himself for us and we are to take up our crosses and follow him. But how do we truly reconcile the call for ourselves as believers to sacrifice all? How do we push into the dangerous risk of sacrificing to make way beyond our own lives?

 

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

How Poetry entered my life

 

How Poetry entered my life

12/26/23

 

When I was an angsty preteen and teen I had a cheesy little girl journal.  My entries were irregular and random at best and when I look back there were all the typical drama for my age but also in between those were real attempts to process life on a page. I had written poems about my sister Davra who was born with Cerebral Palsy, nonverbal and wheelchair bound. I also wrote of when she died when she was 19 and I 15.

Many decades later I picked up my pen for a 365-day writing challenge but now my entries would be public on a blog. This little challenge opened new territory for my heart. It began a journey to reawaken creativity. MY posts and ruminations gave place for the hurts and heartaches to come into light. I began to write in prose and rhyme. There were times it was about what revelation the Holy spirit had shown me or sometimes calls for justice were the topic of my heart.  

The following poems were from my heart but occasionally from my head.

Some reflect my personal journey with the Lord working out identity and purpose. Moving head knowledge into heart knowledge. Writing became a spot where my wounded parts could be explored with the healing truth of God overlaid upon scars of broken identity.

 Some embody the pain and turmoil of relational struggles. It was a way to sift through the anger and wade through those muddy waters.

Other poems were moments of discovery downloaded from Holy Spirit from the word of God. The Aha formulated after the words flowed out of my hand onto the paper. Then came the process of mulling over those revelations, revisiting the words again and again until they became part of me.

Some verses were born from the pressures born from living in our world. The chaos, sickness, sadness, and polarization from the political climate swirling. I needed a space to make sense of the brokenness around me. What was truth and what was distortion. The power of writing releasing the ability to sort through all the yuck!

So many questions would rise up propelling me to seek the Lord again and again and then an ordering of thoughts pouring into prose eliciting inner peace amongst external chaos.

And then came some psalms of complaint, lament and championing for the underdog.

 

I invite you to come and wander through a sojourner’s wonderings. May they draw you closer to the true lover of your soul and may they bring you permission to go and write. To become your own Psalmist.

Blessings

Dale Cupo

Come Back




  ruminations from 6/5/23


You say come, "come to me like a little chick to a mother eagle. I will cover you."

You say "come to me my weary and thirsty ones. Come back to your loving Fathers' arms."

Oh Lord the ache these empty arms feel with longing to hold and commune with my beloveds. My heart cries comeback from your wondering journeys. Your bruises and woundings need tending. Oh, the privilege to be able to be the one to contend for you and comfort you. Comeback cries my mamma's heart. OH, Abba what does your heart cry to your sojourning lost ones? How do you bear the pain, the aches, the longings?

Thursday, December 7, 2023

O Holy Night devotional

 O Holy Night

KWA assignment write a devotional about / using a Christmas Carole


Originally based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau, written in 1843, with the first line "Minuit, Chrétien, c'est l'heure solennelle" that composer Adolphe Adam set to music in 1847.


“I will exalt you, my God the King.

I will praise your name for ever and ever.”

Psalm 145:1


Dear church, 

As you ponder the Christmas miracle, this Holy night, remember

that though punctuated in a specific time, His Holy birth, “when your Savior

was born” is not a stagnant historical event. As we hear the lyrics declare

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,” it tells of his saints laying up

prayers and hope for the messiah’s future coming. Oh, beloved ones, even now

this one divine night brought forth an act so holy that all of eternity shifted

and changed. As you sing and celebrate the coming of the “king in lowly manger”

remember that it is not just Christmas tidings that came forth but that Jesus

“Truly taught us to love one another; His law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains

shall he break, for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression

shall cease.” This Holy night of our dear savior's birth beckons us to proclaim,

“his glory and majesty evermore.”  The call for us to fall on our knees is

a call to worship in spirit. To praise him with our whole heart and minds. It

is not about a nostalgic feeling about a past event but an eternal truth.

 This Christmas as we sing of This “Holy night,” pause and allow the Lord to minister

to your weary soul. May the celebration of His birth reawaken in you a

thankfulness and refreshed hope for we as followers can declare that every

Night is holy unto the Lord because of the cross and resurrection. 


 In the coming weeks think about how you can answer the call to love one another and bring joy to our frazzled world not just at Christmas but throughout your life on earth.


Grief Devotional

 

Grief    

 Invited devotional for Book

 “The darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer is God!” — Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Grief is just love with no place to go." — Jamie Anderson


Psalm 34.18 

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. NIV

 

My Dear One

In this season of advent, it may seem as if you are required to act as if you have no pain, as if all is lovely. I need you to know…Though you may feel as if you do not have the strength to endure this loss, I am here for you. I will be your strength, holding you up. And it may feel as if you are in the very depths of darkness, I meet you there. I will be your light, guiding you. And if despair threatens to overtake you and all feels hopeless, I will hope for you, waiting until hope rises again.

And if, my child, your heart is full of trouble, and chaos surrounds you, I am peace that passes all understanding, I will be your place of refuge and rest.  

And when it seems all is lost, that you are lost, and the sadness overwhelms you, I am your way back to joy.  I will give you everlasting joy. 

I see your heartache and know that it feels like there is not room for anything but this grief. I make space for both love and suffering to occupy the same place. My beloved, I know of loss. My only son left his heavenly place to come as babe, leaving all behind to become vulnerable in his humanity. Jesus was simultaneously filled with love for you even as he was bearing all the world's sins and sufferings on the cross. 

Know that my love can handle your ache and that there is space to grieve with me. 

 

What does it look like to let The Lord be your hope, peace, joy and love this advent amid grief?

 

Meditate on the verse above and invite the Lord into your broken heart or pray for someone who is brokenhearted that they would feel his nearness today.

 

Bio

Dale Cupo is an intercessor by heart. She is committed to be an encouragement to the brokenhearted and speak life into the dark places.