Surrender

Surrender

We hold tight to what we have

Can we really release because He gave?

In the garden the Lord God provided all,

Yet the lie of holding out begat the fall.

The hope of progeny instead of being waited for

Pursued and sought with a maidservant to up the score.

Can we really trust to lay all down?

A child offering, a blazing fire, a lion’s den, a coat and a dream,

Places so very dark but Gods provision the theme.

Now it is our turn.

Can we risk it all and not fear the burn?

Give away our safe place?

Relinquish control in order to embrace

Obedience and utter faith?

Can we forgo our latte and our IPhone?

To feed the poor, the lost or those without a home?

Can we submit our anxiety and fears?

Yielding all even the pain and tears?

Releasing hope through gifts not our own

Giving time and words for Him to be known?

Can we cease the fight?

Submit the need to be right and just shine the light?

Can we dare surrender everything?

And allow from deep inside the praises ring?

Can I renounce the comfy life?

Use all I have to pour out on those who live in strife?

Will I capitulate that living on the edge is a balance act

Reliance solely on spirit and truth all other thoughts ransacked.

Can we let our fortresses crumble?

Allow ourselves to grope about and stumble?

Can we trust the one who does enthrall?

Can and will we surrender all?

Holidays and gatherings

Holidays and gatherings,

Familiar spaces,

Routines that are ingrained.

The same old faces.

Sometimes adding something new,

But the thought of gathering making hearts race.

Assumptions already made

Long standing history the base.

Some memories good, the others stirring up pain.

But we each have opportunity to enter into a new phase.

Choose to see with new eyes,

To lovingly embrace

The ones who we are with.

Not looking back at disgrace

Not seeing what should’ve or could’ve been.

Rather follow the thread and trace

Where beauty and love has walked,

The lineage of grace.

Let this season of family time

Instead be from your mouth a song of praise.

Rejection, loneliness, hurt a thing of the past,

Letting the old be replaced,

Not faking joy but overflowing with the taste

That God is good and in this place.

Isolation

Isolation

Why are we so intent on separation?

Always wanting what we want,

Constantly seeking what we think is best

All which results in isolation.

Unforgiveness given full rights

The pain, the hurt, too much to bare

So we take it out on others in full indignation.

“I don’t need any one” is our stand!

I can be my own one man marching band,

Declaring openly our abdication.

“Those others have no clue,”

My peeps got it right!

Disunity moving into the situation.

When the enemy is on the prowl,

Divide and conquer is the easy task

All it takes is lies and accusations.

Us and them against them and those

“If only they would get some sense”.

Attitudes saying we are better off with segregation.

“I am more important than you”

“I know what I deserve”

I should be held in veneration.

The verbiage going on and on

That somehow our separateness is the answer

But listen well to this revelation

Father son and Holy Spirit,

3 in one.

They represent the full unification,

For the world and our nation.

The answer is we in him and him in us.

There is not much else to discuss.

This perfect love triangle

Is so much more than we can see

Started long before creation

This three in one manifestation.

This truth should be our celebration.

The thing we give our all to in dedication

To represent the unity,

The love of these three

Christ’s death given for restoration

The Holy Spirit left for affirmation

The Gift of Father God, love His proclamation.

The quiet Space

                                                                 The quiet space

Somewhere deep with in

There is a quiet space.

After all is said and done,

The spirit exhorting the case;

There is no need to hide or run.

A slow unveiling of this joy filled place.

All the gifts are good,

The sad, the dark, even the ones that leave a trace.

We try so hard to be understood,

That we block the very ability to taste

The blessings that surround.

Instead the facade of peace goes up in haste,

The busyness and pretense abound.

We fight invisible battles, forgetting grace.

If only we were to remember where true rest is found.

Surrendering the very things that we mistakenly embraced.

Repentance to the maker the sweetest sound.

Then our hearts tranquil would be with his love interlaced.

Eyes that see, hands open wide to receive a crown,

Not from works or battles faced

But entering into the quiet of the renown.

Thankful for everything, increasing faith.

Now to enter in the quiet space.

When

When…….

When Gods people believe He can…

Then women like Jennie dream

When God given dreams are enacted, then the spirit moves.

When the spirit moves, women like Erin call out to others to join in.

When the obedient join in, God becomes more real to others.

When God becomes more real to others, the spirit is invited into more spaces

When the spirit is invited into more spaces then love is manifested in the flesh.

 When the many who have been loved on begin to believe, then healing comes.

When healing comes the Father is glorified.

When the Father is glorified hope is renewed.

The “IF” movement is really the spirit on the move, awakening, beckoning, calling forth the “other half of the Church”. (Caroline Custis James). God’s love is real and  thankfully it is showing itself in the voices of Jennie Allen, Sarah Bessey, Ann Voskamp and so many more teacher /preacher sisters.  Locally, the spirit is moving women to gather for prayer and fight injustice in a church who ex- communicates the abused. It is moving in a woman who is battling Cancer who is stepping into her gift of teaching. It is moving in the voice of a woman counseling, teaching, and blogging for 365 days. It is in a mom who is finding freedom in the spirit. It is flowing in a widow grieving yet showing others the way.  It is moving in the women all around me. This movement has brought me a foster daughter and a slew of sisters who have rallied, prayed and help me love on a battered girl. They have brought new meaning to community.  It is no longer “If God” rather an anticipation of when God and His people…

Stand firm

Stand Firm

 Emotions crashing, banging, relentless pounding.

Tossed here and there, the lies resounding.

Stand firm in all you know:

Stand firm with feet planted.

Stand and see what has been granted.

Stand firm in whose body the price was paid.

Stand firm in how you were made.

Stand firm in your person-hood.

Stand firm though oft misunderstood.

Stand firm when doubts crowd in.

Stand firm in faith in Him.

Stand firm when all feels lost.

Stand firm, he already paid the cost.

Stand firm with arms outstretched.

Stand firm with no regret.

Stand firm extending grace.

Stand firm, look fear in the face.

Stand firm when all is spent and done,

Stand firm and fall into the arms of the son.

Stand firm with joy overflowing.

Stand firm in the gift of spirit knowing.

Stand firm with words forever true.

Stand firm, He will not let you fall through.

Stand firm.