light

Day 3
Saturday

On a day filled with clouds and rain soaked earth the Teaching One reminds the learning of the beauty that permeates through the dark ordinary...

LIGHT...

always here...often disguised...

His light... shining in and through His fragile jars of clay.

It is easy to let circumstances dictate brightness... I am guilty of this even today... 

Reminded of Peter and the light-gift he received from the angelic... light that could not be stopped by walls that imprison... light that awoke and called him to walk... 

a walk that led out the chained- dark and into freedom. 

Listening and learning about the compound nature of man... this so speaks to my easily flustered heart.

Thankful for open hands that receive me no matter my light's gauge...

small flicker or blazing bright... I am loved the same.

The Teaching One brings her loveliness, her pastor... and their fruit.  They share and choose to bless.  

They bring feet ready to march towards the mountain... 

They discuss battle plans and they bring their light.

They lead us in the silent march around Ridgegate Lane.

Blessed to be a follower... 

not feeling much like a leader today... 

God see's and He speaks...

"March on daughter!"  

"Even in the gray, I ask?"  

"Especially in the gray... you... Princess... carry My light."

"But... you walk not alone... I am sending warriors to march alongside."

Oh, Papa... this princess... this compound woman... you see and you love.  

I will march.  I will bring your light.  Please... continue to fan Your flame in me.

Praising and singing with joy in the gray... blessed by those leading and silently marching alongside.

Today is a brown bag day...  plain and weathered on the outside but so much beauty and light hiding within.

Forgetting not... that God is not only The Creator of light but also a fan of 3rd days...

Light gifts... wrapped in the in the battered... crimson beauty hanging from it... illuminating the dark.

wisdom's walk

Day 2
"choose wisdom!"

This is a popular phase around our house.  I am learning more about doing it for myself these days.

Wisdom is valuable to God and MUST be valuable to His people.

Ecclesiastes 9:18 says "Wisdom is better than weapons of war." Wow!  The Alive says that when fighting Kingdom battles wisdom is better than man- made artillery.

Just like everything else... wisdom is a partner with grace... I will have to chew on this and walk it out...

step...

by step...

by step!

So thankful the teaching beauty showed up again to hold my hand.

God is delighted when sisters embrace battles side by side.

Courage abounds when the body walks together.  Learning is less scary when you TRUST and REMEMBER truth.

choosing wisdom in all things... especially in the weeping where lies often creep in...  we must be a watching and waiting people... looking for the tears of sorrow to sow their seed and produce the juicy joy. 

Walking wisdom's trail offers the truth of experience... joy always blooms... beauty from those tears sing a new tune in me... 

recounting on day 2 that multiple deaths sing melodies of new freedoms...

ahhh... released hearts find FREEDOM! 

My very soul not the focus of our march but marked none-the-less.  The deep smiles in being seen in the blur.

Colorful tapestries everywhere... threads undone so they can cross over...  forever being stitched into the story of another.   Not fairytales but real princess stories... narratives yielded to the Writer.

Learning and studying so that wisdom may dwell and bring new color.

Knowing I am a woman that needs MUCH LIGHT... 

I value the Creator's heart in regards to color.  He is not an accidental God.

He is very much into details.  Feeling like my week's story could slip right into Exodus.

I love that about God... don't you?  He's not just a "big picture God."  He cares deeply about the smalls.  All of them.

He chooses to spend His heart and His time reminding the beloved whose they are...

While choosing wisdom in the battles I face...  He reminds me of my very important name... and the call that comes with the extravagant...

Feeling passionate about what I know to be true in my heart... my voice is my armor for the Kingdom.

My Spirit is twirling... I am spinning...

Experience...knowledge... good judgement... stones that mark the walk of the wise.

For 5 more days I will sing in my heart ... and then...on the 7th I will SING my mighty shout song... 

What release is coming?  What walls will crumble... for me .... for you?  What new freedoms will be sung?  I sing not just for myself.

Psalm 19:7 "making wise the simple." 

I can hardly wait to see...

onward

delighting in the unexpected treasures of today...

gems hidden from my knowledge but not from His.

Thankful for the love He so vividly expresses through risky obedience.

Radically impacted by hearing ears... faith turned to action.

Starting the day with bold declarations... "this will be a day of blessing,"and a day of blessing it was.

The smalls and I had a life changing lesson from a tender warrior.

She fights for encouragement, and her royalty shines...

She teaches truth... she teaches alive... she teaches risk.

She teaches out of the cost of her own story.

The work of the word spills out of her and into all the hearing ones.

We are fed and wonder is stirred.  His word is active... 

in the written... 

in the Beauty's proclamation...

in us.

We listen with anticipation...  ears open with hope...  hearts burning for more of the alive... 

princess hands bearing lessons.

Words filled with hidden treasures of their own...  so many no man could discover them all.

But the storybook brings an invitation with its poetry.  The call to defeat the seemingly impossible.

The princess of Ridgegate Lane is much like Peter when it comes to battles... I am quick with passion and am known to lop.  

So... the call strikes... it speaks new... "leave your swords"... in this battle... only walk.

So again... we heed the call of the Teaching One...

and we walk...

We travel through earth's gripping mess..

We circle around memories that forever mark...  looking back has it's place too...

so careful not to forget how God has used the small seeds that produce through death.

and keeping our eyes forever on the fruit that is coming.

Onward we walk.

And just like around Jericho... onward we shall march for seven days... we will follow our Joshua... the one who heard and the one that leads out of obedience.  Taking note of every whisper...

scribing out His plans... His affections for His people.

choosing trust in the risky so we don't miss the reward...

baskets filled with promise... bringing delight to the learning

intentionality itself is a delicious gift...

both the giver and the receiving tastes it's pleasures.

Learning much today... from another princess of wild beauty...  she teaches not only me but our entire House of Hope...

Instructing the next generation... life on life... sandwiched between love... 

we listen and learn... 

and for six more days we will battle around these walls... not with tools of man but with feet of of faith... 

onward we march...

carry on

"parting is such sweet sorrow."

The grumpies made their grand appearance in me as I loaded up the smalls in the Dayton sunshine...

seems like we always going somewhere... always sojourning...  

traveling is tiring.  

It takes a lot of heart to keep reloading... 

especially when it feels like climbing a mountain just to get into our seats... so much stuff to step over.

It's hard for the young to understand journeys.  

It often confuses the tender, and they cling hard to the Papa.  

Pastor stayed behind... he may need medical attention from stress' fiery darts.  I think in my haste and hurry I forgot to put on my crown.

I didn't behave much like a princess as I gathered.   Hands so full with the urgently unimportant that they had no space for what mattered most.

Clutter...

It often blocks my vision... 

So thankful for that whole "not about performance" thing.

Awe filled that God allows new-life green to dwell right in the midst of the scaly shedding.

Beauty often emerges out of the wildest places.

Feeling ready to bless another traveler with our House of Hope... 

to bring the red more alive in me and tend new land.

Longing for our family to be together.  

As Pastor declared the other day... "Our house is already sold.  It's just a matter of God revealing the timing."  A good word from a Good Pastor.

So we drive back to Ridgegate, and we wait.  And we live in the certainty that God is up to big things, and our assignment is not yet complete.  

We obey the call to "carry on" and walk by faith.

We remember that life as sojourners though not always easy... has many perks...

life on Ridgegate is VERY full of life... routines and norms are giant "get-to" blessings.

Yes... my heart longs for the next but also smiles in the now...

YES!  I shall carry on...

in faith and in joy!

seed seer

faith...

It can be tricky.

Choosing to learn much about this word that thrives in the unseen.

Heart full of ache as I know it's impossible to please my Papa without it.

It allows me to do things outside myself.

Believing I can makes me motion towards steps...

tear-filled belief is costly... it invites heart investments..

Testimonies increase it.

It's as if we are saying, "He is birthing this, do you see it?"  "Do you believe?"

It's a gift.

It's a way-maker when there is no way.

The seed that's planted by Another  I "get to" help garden.

It invites bold action like laying down comforts to pick up the new.

What is invisible to most is seen by those who choose its eyes.

I choose... but my roots are still growing and the storms bend me hard and tempt to rip my roots.

Faith... expectantly waiting for the nourishing fruit that is coming after planting, watering, and MUCH waiting... trusting in the seed that forms fruit in the dark.

I want to be a seed seer.  Always seeing the small that brings the big... remembering what died in the ground that gives birth to the UNBELIEVABLE.
I want to be a mountain mover...
momma-healing...
love-filled radical for The King.

Knowing that most often this occurs when I am willing to take a seat on Faith's adventure and pedal...

With loving guidance from the Teaching One I do what doesn't feel safe...

I remember that in the act of terrifying risk I am covered in royal armor.

It is not my own but given freely.

I have been given the invitation to ride...  

Still easily shaken... but with the wheels of training still in tact... I cannot fail.  I need not be afraid.  

He steadies me.

He calls forth my faith.

He reminds me of my progress.

He dreams big for me.

He delights in my joy.

He celebrates success in my story.

He keeps planting.

He keeps giving eyes and a heart that hopes...

Always lovingly cheering me on and equipping me with more.

Faith... always growing... and always wanting more...

Singing the song of the mustard seed.