More encouragement please?

Do you find yourself waiting for someone, sometimes anyone, to give you the encouragement or approval you feel you need to keep going?  This has been on my heart lately and I'm seeing it more and more in myself and others the more I look.  I made a picture for my daughters room and spent a bit of time on it cutting out felt birds and making it look just so.  The first thing I wanted was for my husband to see it and say how good it looked.  Which he did.  In a man way which never has quite the enthusiasm I'd like but never the less he gave his approval and it made me pleased with my effort.  We had friends over on the wednesday and I was also happy when my girlfriend asked if I had made it and gave me her praise that I'd done a good job.  My inlaws stayed over  the weekend and I'd navigated the way into the bedroom to maybe get some notice but nothing was said.  How easy for me to get offended.  Had they even seen it?  Probably not.  But satan was getting in my head saying 'they don't like you, you're not very special, your cooking must be bad too because they didn't comment on it....bla bla bla.  Is it really that important to hear others approval?  We should know that if we rely on others to say the right thing we are going to live a life of disappointment.  Having self worth is important, so is not listening to satan's discouragement.  I know that my inlaws love me, I know they enjoy my cooking and I could really waste precious energy beating myself up about something that doesn't even exist.  If we know that God is for us then it shouldn't matter what others say or what they think of us.  Romans 8 v 31 If God is for us, who can be against us?  Psalm 118 It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.  The bible is full of learning gems telling us not to put our hopes on man but to hope on and trust in God.  Don't be discouraged when the words you want to hear don't come through for you from others. Remember that God's always with you cheering you on, so look to him for your every need. Also be the one that encourages others, you never know how badly they need to hear how great they look or well they're doing.  Be a blessing to those around you and you will be blessed in return.

Powerful waves of cleansing water

 I spoke to my friend that I haven't seen for a few months yesterday and what is truly amazing is that God had shown me a vision about her the day before.  I had seen her as a seal balancing a ball on her nose and on stage for all to see.  This is how her life has been, bystanders just waiting for her to mess up and drop the ball, always on display for people to judge.  How easy it is for us to be a bystander, ready and waiting to applaud or judge.  Have you ever thought what a struggle that gives the poor seal to perform under that pressure?  As we prayed together we saw God pulling her out of that place and setting her free.  Free to swim in the beautiful sea, washed over with the powerful waves of cleansing water.  Swimming into new depths and free.  As I was driving home this morning tears started flooding out from eyes as I thought of her hardships and pain.  God had given me a glimpse of how hard the past few years had been for her and it was breaking my heart. I love my dear friend so much and yet I had not let myself feel her pain.  I had been waiting for change to come for her and having hope for great things to be in her life but I had never felt like this before.  I was so grieved in my spirit to think I hadn't been there nearly enough for her and it took my heavenly Daddy to show me I had been like a bystander. I'm so sorry my beautiful friend.  I'm also so happy that we could paint this beautiful picture together of a new freedom and I pray that this resonates in the hearts of those reading this to be careful how you look at your friends.  Always have love and mercy.  Make a commitment to love with your words and build confidence in others.  Matthew 12 v 36 But I tell you, on the day of judgement men will have to give account for every idle word they speak.  So be careful the words you chose to speak about a person because you will be accountable for them.  Words are seeds of power, they can be uplifting and encouraging and produce a good harvest or destructive and produce a bad harvest for your life and those around you.  If when you're reading this you find yourself thinking yes, I'm like the seal, always messing up and always being criticised, always being judged I'm telling you that's not how God wants it to be for you.  Jesus offers freedom, a place of rest and peace.  I pray that God will give you the grace to forgive those that have made you feel judged and that he floods over you with his love and freedom.  If you find yourself saying yes, I'm a bystander I look at others and judge them, I pray that you will be able to receive Gods grace and forgiveness and instead of watching from the stands that you will jump in and help them swim to safety. May God bless your day today with great friends.

In heavenly places embrace me

When I'm standing in your presence I'm made blameless
When I call upon your name you're always there
Angels fighting for me remain nameless
Shouting holy to the one beyond compare

Your spirit draws me in and fills me
My cup overflows with your goodness
Your love knows no bounds nor your mercy
Sweet honey to my lips is your taste

I shall sing of your glory forever
praises of grace are my sword
truth wrapped around me
I shall fear not
You are my God
My Lord

In heavenly places embrace me
Lift me up to sit by your throne
On my knees I shall fall
because you forgave all
then you say stand up, you are home

Dance with me Daddy
I love you
Sweep me up off my feet
My dear friend
To have you so close
everyday of my life
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed

Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you

Did you know that fear is a sin? God tells us so many times in the bible not to be afraid of the things of the world.  Luke 12 v 4-5 I tell you, my friends, do not dread and be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. But I warn you whom you should fear: fear him who, after killing, has the power to hurl into hell; yes I say to you, fear him!
I was visiting my niece on the weekend and she was telling me about the ghosts in her house. Strange noises, faces popping around corners, singing in the night etc.  Instantly I got a little fearful of what was there spiritually and what it could do to my girls.  I later went home and my oldest daughter woke up in the night with a high fever and bad dreams, there were monsters in her room.  I prayed over her and all through the night I was troubled with dreams of evil spirits entering my house and honestly I was freaked out.  Fear gripped me and I lost the faith in my authority as a daughter of God.  We are seated in heavenly places and have the authority through jesus to cast out demons and trample on snakes and heal the sick (Luke 10v19). I was confused how an evil spirit could have any authority to follow me home and invade my daughters health and my dreams.  Last night at my friends house I was sharing what had happened and I learnt that fear is a sin, and any sin in our lives leaves a spiritual doorway open for satan to attack.  So I repented of my sin of fear,  I took the authority given to me from God and we sent angels to be around my nieces house.  I had an overwhelming sense of peace and had the best sleep. As did my daughter, her fever had completely gone and she was able to go to daycare today.  I have learnt such a valuable lesson out of this. What we keep in our thoughts and what comes out of our mouths impact our everyday lives not just physically but also spiritually.  I encourage you to be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Romans 12 v 2) don't let fear have a hold on you, but fear God... Love what he loves and hate what he hates. His power and love is far greater than that of this world.

God's perfect love casts out all fear

There's this really amazing part to God that he calls revelation.  It's when you read the same thing a million times and say oh yeah that's lovely and then the million and one time you read it you go ohhh I get that... revelation.  It happened to me on the weekend and I just have to share.  I believe that this is the year of declaring out loud what God has promised you.  And he clearly said to me that i need to start declaring my love for my husband.  All week even when he's not around I've been saying out loud.. I love my husband. The more I say it and the more I hear it the more in love with him I'm becoming. Even after 10 years of being together.  So here's where revelation hit me. I have read the verse 1 John 4 v18 so many times but truthfully I didn't understand it.  It says that God's perfect love casts out all fear.  So as I was scraping the play dough off the tiles outside I had this thought that I could have two completely different scenarios with this cleaning. One in fear that my husband would be angry that I'd let the girls drop play dough all over the tiles, or one in love, that out of respect towards my husband I needed to clean up this mess to protect the house he has worked hard to provide us with.  When done out of love it is a pleasure and it builds the marriage and grows great fruit. When done out of fear it builds walls of resentment and bitterness.   Love is a choice. I encourage you to start declaring it around your life because what comes out of your mouth is a sign of what is in your heart.

Back pain healed through forgiveness

On thursday afternoon i started getting some pain in my back.  This happens on occasion so I thought nothing of it and just moved on with the day.  By friday morning the pain had increased and by friday afternoon I could hardly walk.  The pain was so unbearable by friday night I couldn't shower myself, I couldn't get into bed and honestly, I couldn't move without screaming in agony.  I tried to stand up straight but my right hip had twisted about 5cm above where it should be. It have never been so scared to move before.  Saturday was much the same.  The pain exceeded past just physical.  It was now emotional and spiritual. Let me explain.  Being limited to very little movement I couldn't hold my little girls. Hearing my husband trying to look after them and trying to do his office work and losing his patience was breaking my heart.  I have never had to sit back and let someone else do my job, it was emotionally painful.  Spiritually, I felt like I was being attacked.  I kept singing to God and thanking him for being with me, I was quoting scripture, everything I could to get this oppression off me.  My husband said to me on Sunday morning "I'm taking you to church, they have miracles there, maybe you can get some of this healing you're always going on about".  So helping me into the car he dropped me off at the front door of church and I limped my way in.  Being my lovely big church family I instantly felt loved, ushered to the front row they were about to pray for me whether I had come or not.  I felt warmth and my body was trembling. The pain began to lift and by the end of the service I could move around freely and had dropped from a 10 to a 2 on a pain level.  God is truly amazing. Its crazy how without actually doing anything to physically damage my back it could just start twisting.  It was like all the emotions and pain I'd been carrying on the inside were effecting my outside.  I had built up frustration and hurt and was feeling bitter which gave satan an open door to come in and attack me.  He's a sneaky devil and sometimes it takes a blow like this one to realise when there's unforgiveness inside towards others its leeway for satan to attack.  The pain had started to sneak back on sunday afternoon and it was then that I realised I needed to dig deeper and release the burdens I was carrying.  God doesn't give us pain or bad backs, we do that ourselves by our own freewill. God can only do good because God is love.  He just shows us the way and offers healing for our pain, forgiveness for our sin and love for our life.

Heavenly eyes give a new perception

I learnt a very valuable lesson this week about what perspective we look at things in our life and how it can either hinder or help our situation.  It all started while I was in westend with my girls playing at the park.  I was beginning to compare myself to the people around me, mostly hippies, and was feeling envious of their apparent freedom.  I started thinking about the beautiful house I live in and the dream my husband has followed of having the best of everything and how I had fitted into his dream so nicely.  It started eating at me that who I had become wasn't what I really wanted to be and all I wanted to do was move into a place where I could be free to make a mess, blue tack pictures on the walls, splash paint about without a care, and to be honest I started having massive regrets. I cried out to God "I"m not happy with my life, it's not fair!"  The next day my oldest daughter brought two books in for me to read.  One was about a toy that was scared of the dark only to find that the monsters he was seeing at night were only furniture and clothes in the morning.  The other was about a whale that liked to watch the pretty little fish but the pretty little fish would see the whale staring at them thinking he wanted to eat them.  Both showed a deceptive perception. Later that evening I sat down with my girls and we watched 'bananas and pyjamas'.. same thing. They thought a shadow on the wall was a monster but it was only their friend dusting. Next it was 'Storytrain Dan', same sort of thing.  God was trying to tell me I was looking at things with the wrong eyes.  I asked God to give me heavenly eyes to see.  Because our God is a great God who sees things how they should be, he sees the gold in everything and in everyone and when we ask him to show us how he sees us its totally different.  God changed my perception and in an instant I went from down to up.  I have a garage if I really want to get messy with paint. And honestly if there was something I really wanted to put up on the walls I'm sure I could talk my husband around.  I had pointed my finger at what was around me and blamed it for my unhappiness when really i was just being lazy.  With my heavenly eyes I look at my husband and see a great provider.  I look at my girls and see beautiful mess makers.  I look at my garage and see a new office.  Where there's a will theres a way.  Its all about finding the dream and pursuing it.