LOL: Deeply Rooted

Memory Verse: Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. ~ Col. 2: 7 (NLT)

Living out loud spiritually just doesn't happen. One cannot just wake up and say "today I am going to live out loud". Well, I suppose you can try but failure is bound to happen. Kind of like a New Years resolution. How many people do you know who have already broken their New Year resolution for 2012?

"Willingness is the lever God can use to change us, but willpower alone cannot do it". ~John Burke, Soul Revolution

Living out loud spiritually takes work. It takes brokenness. It takes being pruned. It takes nurturing.

Living out loud requires experiences that most people, if given the choice, would prefer to do without. Living our loud often requires stepping outside of the box and getting out of your comfort zone. You don't just get there by chance and you don't get there on your own strength.

My favorite flower by far is the rose. I know there are so many other amazing creations of flowers out there but every facet of the rose intrigues me. Not one is the same and its life is fragile.

Roses can resemble our life. Its growth is slow and requires specific nurturing. Each bud eventually blossoms into a beautiful display of our Gardeners touch.

Every fall you have to painfully prune a rose bush back to just a few short inches. I hate this part and love it at the same time. I hate the thorns that eventually stick into my skin during this process but I am also thankful for the beauty I was able to watch all summer long.

If your Christian walk has been anything like mine, there has been plenty of pruning in it. Pruning for things such as stubbornness, selfishness, regrets and sins. Do you think God feels the sting of sadness over the pruning it requires to get "the stuff" out of ones life that keeps them from His Holiness?

Following the pruning of the rose stems, the bush must go through a season of hibernation. So often a Christian finds themselves is a season that feels like hibernation. A season that resembles emptiness, silence or closure. Usually when we enter this time, this valley, this darkness as some have called it, we enter it without trying to. Most will get frustrated, depressed, maybe even angry for being there. It often follows a mountain top experience or a chaotic event.

Over the years I have learned to view this hibernating season with new eyes. It doesn't need to be frustrating. The pain can become something worth enduring. I see these hibernating seasons as a waiting time a time meant to grow us. These hibernating seasons sting a little less when you view it as a time of waiting on God.

"A time of waiting on God"...makes it more embraceable don't you think? A season of time of preparing that leads to re-birth. Life may seem too hard, maybe a bit too painful in this season but the reality of this period is preparing us for something greater...a season of re-birth, a season of release, a season of beauty. The more we embrace this seasons of spiritual winter, the more breath-taking greatness of God we will experience.

"If life as you have known it and the path that you have walked seem to be ending, draw especially close to God and He will reveal what your next step is to be". ~ Stormie Omartian, Just Enough Light For The Step I'm On

It is during the seasons of waiting that we are to grow our roots deeper in Him. It is time meant for digging deeper into His Word, memorizing scripture, meditating of His life, learning to depend on Him in a more in-depth way. What may start out painful will blossom and embrace a new and refreshed spiritual beauty. Isn't that our hearts desire anyway?

As the spring comes and we find the hibernating season leaving, we can bloom to be more of what He created us to be. His presence in our life becomes a fragrance that draws others to Him. The sweet aroma of Christ, the beauty of His love, grace and redemption demonstrated through our life, our failures, our short-comings.

"God often allows the hard things to happen in our lives in order to bless us in some way. " ~ Stormie Omartian, Just Enough Light For The Step I'm On

How deep are your roots? What season are you living in? Are your days built in His truths? Is the fragrance of Christ evident in your living? Is you faith growing strong?

My Holy and Sovereign God, you are the most amazing creator. The hands of your work amaze me. As I reflect on your creation of the rose, I am humbled at the details of its existence and how it resembles my own life. I desire to be a rose in your eternal garden, deeply rooted in you. I embrace your seasons of pruning and am thankful for the spiritual growth and the breath-taking fragrance of you that I can live out loud for. May my life worship you like never before. I too am the amazing work of your hands...be glorified in my living.

Living out Loud ~ Pamela

Live Out Loud...Give Out Loud...2012

Memory Verse: Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established. Don’t turn to the right or to the left; keep your feet away from evil. ~ Proverbs 4:25-27 (HSCB)

Happy New Year!! I am entering 2012 with great peace and contentment. Does that mean life has been perfect? No.....far from it but 2011 was such a good year for me spiritually. It has left me in the embrace of God. Can't think of a better spot to be in!

God took me on a journey in 2011. I was tried and pushed beyond my own limits to say the least. Yet life with God allows one to reached a point of living beyond any circumstance by living in His embrace. How? Prayer, praise, obedience, perseverance, and faith. It is amazing how such peace and comfort can come, even in the worst of times, when you keep looking up. As I journey back through my scripture cards and the verses I have memorized in 2011, a reflection of the year magnifies God's work in my heart, my mind, and my life. So far from perfection but so much closer to my God!!

"The things that preserves a man from panic is his relationship to God." ~ Oswald Chambers

Are you excited to see where God will lead you and use you in 2012? I am! The glimpses He has given me up to this point is leading to a deeper focus on glorifying Him. First I heard Him say "Lose control for what I want you to do for Me". I so want to!! I have begun to feel a yearning to reach out in ways I haven't before. It will not come easy for me. I will have to step outside my comfort zone. Serving comes easy, being bold about my faith with others maybe not so much. I don't like being in front of a crowd-not something you would expect from a previous college instructor, right?

Coming from a fallen and broken life filled with plenty of grief and disappointments, it's hard to stand up strong and radiate God when you fear the past is all others will allow themselves to see. Moving beyond ones regret can be so difficult but not impossible. When a person is able to step beyond their unwanted past, they are able to experience an amazing God and that is where I stand today. It's a humble place to be but also the best place I have ever been.

Other little things have illuminated the path ahead for me on to this new journey for 2012-such as a new church with some of the most amazing worship and sermons I have ever experienced. He spoke to me through a new worship song: "From the Inside Out". In this song He convicted me that I need to give Him more control...I'm still being selfish with some areas. OUCH. My life, my heart, my mind is made to consume Him from the inside out by giving Him praise in all that I say, think or do. I didn't think I could hunger and thirst for more of Him but I do and that makes me want to do more for Him. No more selfishness, no more living in the shadow of my past but instead 2012 calls me to live in the shadow of His cross OUT LOUD!

Another message came from the childrens Christmas program at this new church. As they were reaching out to save a mission about to be closed, they changed "LOL (laugh out loud) to "Live Out Loud". God has laid on my heart a deep desire to not only live out loud with my life in Him but to also reach out in a big way. This confirmed Isaiah 58: 10-12 was indeed to be my scripture for 2012 (captured by my heart a few months ago when I started asking God what He wanted of me):

...and if you offer yourself to the hungry,

and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
The LORD will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden
and like a spring whose waters never run dry.
Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the foundations laid long ago;
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live. ~ Isaiah 58: 10-12 (HCSB)

A more recent message came from a Bible study I have the privileged to lead. Within this study I was lead to the memory verse above. This verse is about making peace with our past. It's about coming into God's light one step at a time. It's about putting on the armor of prayer, praise, obedience, perseverance, peace, and faith. One step at a time in His light. Trusting Him and stepping out.




Living out loud...giving out loud...from the inside out...praising a most amazing God. Hold me accountable friend.

What are you living for in 2012? What mission has God laid on your heart? What path is He illuminating for you? Live it out loud with me!!

Striving to Live Out Loud~Pamela

No Matter the Cost...Christmas 2011

Meditation Verse: But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." ~ Luke 2:10-12

Yesterday, Christmas day 2011, I snuck away to my red paisley chair that serves as my devotional chair. It was mid-afternoon and very peaceful in the house. I had this yearning to review the birth of Christ in the scripture. I felt the Holy Spirits urging me to look at this amazing story and to note what each of the main character brought to God and to His Son. Upon doing this, I found a beautiful gifts that I myself could give Jesus for His birthday...



Lets look first at Mary in Luke 1 (NIV):

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary was favored by God, so much so she was His chosen choice to bring forth His Son. Was she chosen because she was perfect and without sin? Impossible. But no doubt she has a gentle spirit, an obedient heart and a love for God. Even after the angel spoke to her, she may have question her worth, her ability to do such a thing but as quickly as those words left her lips, she gifted God with a willing heart-willing to accept this blessing no matter the cost.

God calls us to fulfill His will today. We may not be called to such a task as Mary but we are called to something. Our gift to God is to have a willing spirit...no matter the cost.

What about Joseph? Look at Matthew 1 (NIV):

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Can you imagine the chaos surrendering Josephs thoughts when Mary revealed she was carrying an child...not just any child but God's child? His heart and his mind had to battled each other as he decided how to handle it all. Yet, when the angel spoke to him it reads that he awoke and did what he was commended. Joseph gave God the gift of an obedience...no matter the cost.

Often we are wronged by others or a situation. Our heart may tell us to fight back or run while our mind might tell us to seek revenge or hold a grudge. Maybe, just maybe that wrong is all part of a bigger plan of God. Our gift of obedience is a perfect response to God in any situation.

How about those shepherds? We see their story in Luke 2 (NIV):

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The shepherds got a glimpse of heaven which made them seek after Jesus. Then when their eyes laid hold of Him they praised Him and immediately took out to boldly tell of Him. They gifted God with spreading the story of Jesus and glorified them both with their praises...

At some point, everyone gets a glimpse of God, something that makes them want more of Him. It is a continual process for those who have a relationship with Him. It's a hunger and thirst that is unquenchable by worldly standards. It's a satisfaction, a contentment, a peace when chaos surrounds. Its an unspeakable joy that allows for worship and praise no matter what surrounds a persons life. God is pleased with our gift of seeking and praising him no matter the cost.

And we cannot exclude the Magi, the wise men we read about in Matthew 2 (NIV):
⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Assigned to find this Christ child for purposes other than Gods, it didn't matter to the Magi. They knew they were sent to worship a promised Savior and to give Him their best...no matter the cost.

Sometimes it feels like we are in a dead-end, no-win kind of situation like the Magi. Do we give God our best in it? A failing marriage, a serious health condition, a rebellious child, a staled ministry, financial hardship, emptiness, loneliness, busyness....are we giving God our best in even these? Gifting God with our best, no matter how big or how small it may seem, will be worth any cost that comes with it.

Many of you probably celebrated Christmas this year with a birthday cake for Jesus. Most of you read the story of His birth around the Christmas tree or in a church candlelight service. Special remembrances that lead us to ask "what gift are you giving Him this year?".

Maybe its the gift of willingness like Mary, or obedience like Joseph...no matter the cost. Maybe your gift is the eagerness to seek more of Him and the boldness of praising Him...no matter the cost. Maybe it is to give Him your best whether you are having a day of weakness or strength...your best in any situation...no matter the cost.

God gave us His best in so many ways but none more tender than through His Son.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ~ John 3:16-17 (NIV)

Jesus gave us His best so we could share life with Him forever.

Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. ~ Gal 1:4 (NLT)

I don't know about you but that's a pretty amazing gift...almost more than my mind can wrap itself around. What more can we give back than a heart and mind that is willing and obedient, a life that worships and praises Him for all that He has been and all that he is. An effort to give Him our best no matter the cost.

Happy birthday Jesus...I hope you are pleased with this gift!

Living in His Embrace~Pamela

The Godly Woman's Journey: Seasonal Confrontation

Memory/Meditation Verse: And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ~ Micah 6:8 (NIV)

The Christmas season is upon us. Black Friday has come and gone. Christmas trees and house lights have been put up. A wreath most likely hangs on the front door of most houses and fireplace mantles shimmer with pine branches or glittering ribbons.

I'm not in the mood this year for those seasonal traditions. I haven't unloaded all my Christmas decorations and scattered them through my house. This year the tree is not being decorated with ornaments, as suggested by one of my daughters. I was all over that suggestion. Outside of the lighted ribbon and Nativity set gracing my fireplace mantle, and a Christmas table runner and candy dish decorating my dining room table, I think that is all I can muster up at the moment. Thank God my children are teenagers and older because activities surrounding Santa Claus nauseates me.

Why so blatantly scrooge like?

It's not because of the economical affects on our family finances (which are not very good right now). It's not because we have out-grown the Santa Claus stage. It's not because we don't appreciate the value of tradition or family gatherings. It's because my heart is in a different place.

This past years journey brought me here. This is not a Scrooge attitude but an attitude of submission from a seasonal confrontation. Craving simplicity over the dramatization this world has made of the season. The Christmas season has become to busy, too worldly. I am horrified at times at the forsaking of a sacred moment in history that is often replaced with worldly celebrations that often leaves one dissatisfied.

I am instead humbled in a new way this year by the true meaning of Christmas and find myself even more dependent than ever on my God. Yearning for a simplicity that is far from simple or easy.

A seasonal confrontation that leaves a longing for spiritual resolution. A seasonal confrontation of the significance behind a manager and a cross verses the bright lights and abundant decorations we see in this season. A seasonal confrontation yielding a spiritual magnitude that can be too comprehensive for the heart and mind of a human race that does not know God. A seasonal confrontation that can only be understood by those who walk faithfully with God, seeking to love as His Son loved, and live as His Son lived.

A seasonal confrontation of the impact of God's gift of love that emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, relationally and behaviorally transforms one's purpose in life. A seasonal confrontation that gives one the desire to model His appearance by radically living as He lived. A seasonal confrontation making one restlessness for more of Him. A seasonal confrontation leaving an unsettling need to share His story of amazing love that is wrapped with life-giving grace, healing and redemption.

A seasonal confrontation that calls one to radical dependence. A call to lose control for what Gods wants in and of one's life. A seasonal confrontation to live without the things of this world that hold no spiritual value, and the power to live moment-by-moment with God.


A seasonal confrontation leading to...

Total surrender.

A responsive heart.

Maximum faith.

Holy living.

Simplicity.

But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!
~ Romans 13:11-12 (Message)

Holy and Sovereign God, You are here, not just in this season but in every day, every moment. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for wanting to do life with me. Thank you for guiding me to this place of seasonal confrontation and commitment. Continue to teach me. Continue to lead me. I adore you. May my life worship you and bring you glory.

Living in His Embrace~Pamela

The Godly Woman's Journey: Illumination

Memory/Meditation Verse: "Rise up and shine, for your light has come. The shining-greatness of the Lord has risen upon you. ² For see, darkness will cover the earth. Much darkness will cover the people. But the Lord will rise upon you, and His shining-greatness will be seen upon you". ~ Isaiah 60: 1-2 (NLV)

Words come to me and just hang in my thoughts and heart. It may be from a sermon, a conversation, a song. Last week I heard the word illuminate used from a preacher on the radio. He was referencing God's illumination into our life, our thoughts, our heart, allowing us to see and hear Him. I made it a prayer for my quiet times.

The word still stick. So I am nudged by the Holy Spirit to bring it into this journey.

Having God's illumination in our life makes us grow spiritually strong. In this growth we then begin to illuminate His glory. That became my unsettlement...the presence of a word to stir my heart and my living. A realization that I am being called to illuminate His glory.

Encarta defines illuminate (il·lu·mi·nate) as to "shine light on somebody or something: to make somebody or something visible or bright with light, or be lit up decorate something with lights: to decorate something with lights for a celebration clarify something: to make something easier to understand".

Spiritual illumination. It recorded through the scripture...

God's Message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth's people,
makes them alive with his own life:
"I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons". ~ Isaiah 42: 5-7 (HCSB)

Living from the inside our, radiating the Lord in our life. The godly woman says "YES! Lord, I want to shine on this world, to make you visible and bright in and though my life...to help others better understand your Word and their need of you in their life! Help me illuminate your glory".

Being a light with eternal significance, a light that serve the purpose of our work here on earth for our Creator....

Remember, our message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!~ 2 Cor. 4: 5-12

Messengers illuminating the story of Jesus....

"No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It's put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they're going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
~ Luke 11:33-36

Your eye is a lamp lighting up your whole body...what does your eyes see each day? What substance do you take in to fill your heart in mind? Our vision, our sight feeds into our heart and mind be it good or bad. And though our eyes, our soul can be reflected out.

If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light...do you live in amazement of what our God has done? Of what He is? Of His creation? Of His love? Daily? If we did how would we not illuminate Him?

I was reminded of a picture I took late one night driving home from visiting a patient. The night was dark, not a single star visible in the sky. The road was so long, so incredibly deserted. My headlights illuminated the path I was to take. While the world around me was sleeping, lights dimmed by the late hour and the bodies need for rest, my headlights pierced the darkness.

This picture reflects just how much we can spiritually illuminate this cold dark world. God made the desire of my heart to live a life that would spiritually pierce the darkness of this world. Not in a way to glorify my own journey of restoration and spiritual awakening but to pierce this dark world with the light of His glory, His work in and through my mistakes, my losses and pains. Piercing the dark world with a spiritual illumination that they might know Who they need to fill their life, ease their suffering, satisfy their hunger, heal their pain.

¹ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

²For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you [sweet sister in Christ], and His glory shall be seen on you.

³And [lost souls] shall come to your light, and [broken Christians] to the brightness of your rising.
~ Isaiah 60 (Amplified, personalized)

Spiritual illumination. A godly woman's journey to completeness in Christ. A godly woman's purpose.

Are you illuminating Jesus today?

Father God, Holy and Sovereign Lord, help us to illuminate your goodness in and through our lives. Radiate your love, your healing, your grace and mercy through our living. Be reflective in our actions, our thoughts, our brokenness. May your presence in our life be a sweet aroma that draws others to you. Use us to be glorified in this cold, dark world. We love you Jesus. We are but your vessel...use us.

Living in His Embrace~Pamela

The Godly Woman's Journey: Spiritual Vibrancy

Memory/Meditation Verse: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. ~ Proverbs 30:8 (NIV)

This "Proverbs 31 Journey" which modernized into the "Godly Woman's Journey" has taken me on a different path than I thought it would in the beginning of this year. I felt such a burden to better myself as a wife, mother and friend and knew I needed to be a whole lot more of the Proverbs 31 Woman. My focal verse was:

"...sent to strengthen [my husband and children], to encourage [them] in [their] faith, and to keep [them] from being shaken by the troubles [they] will go through. ~ 1 Thes 3:2&3 (personalized)

This study however has lead the calling of my heart into a different path of sorts. God layed this study on my heart because He needed me to make a change in my heart, one that I didn't realize that I needed at the time. As I studied this legend of a lady, determined to get to know her better, to become her, I quickly learned that in order to be the Proverbs 31 Woman to my family and others I first had to love and worship our God more fully, more intimately.

Worship God more. I thought I was doing a good job. I was cherishing the intimacy I had experienced but conviction fell on me that I wasn't doing enough. There was more, a deeper intimacy that I needed, that He wanted to share with me.

No matter how much time I spend doing, studying, praying, and attending church, there is more. I have became so incredibly convicted that maybe I have been living my religion more than worshiping Him. God is calling me to live in a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. The the rest would fall into place...so to speak (we know how interruptions from the enemy can even make that a challenge).

Living ones religion. For too many denominations, that's what it is about. Sad to say, one can have religion and not have a relationship, a true intimate relationship, with God. One can be spiritual in action and not spiritually and intimately connected to God. One can be active in the church but not active in their personal walk with God. I have seen it. I have come to realize that at times I have lived it.

Now don't get your defenses up. I think we are inclined to do that when it comes to this topic. Having lived every day of my life with a Christian foundation from my parents, I too like others lived the way of the church. Not saying that is bad-in fact, I am more blessed because of the foundational work that has been given to me. But, as I have grown spiritually, and failed spiritually, I am coming to learn this spiritualism is so much more...so much more.

Church is a fundamental component of a Christians life but not to be the only fundamental part. A church is built and governed by man with the underlying principles of scriptures, right? We hope so. However, as with any other structure managed by man, it can fall apart, it can hurt and even destroy lives. Too often it is the people within the church that most often turns those of the world away from coming to seek and know our God. It is a painful reality that needs a good hard reckoning with.

The church. Religion. A practicing of ones faith. Does it necessarily make one religious? Does it guarantee an intimate relationship with our Creator? Is it always a safe place to go?

This is what this years journey has lead me to and awaken my senses to. A religion does not make us spiritually strong. A religion is not what God is asking of us. A religion can leave us empty.

Shamefully and too often I have been busy about the doing for God that I have missed God himself. All the good work "in His name" has not necessarily filled my soul. And in that I have failed to be the salt and light of His amazing love in this world. I have missed the joy of spiritual vibrancy, the completeness in life that can only come from Him.

" The presence of God--not how well we can perform duties of religion--is what creates within us a spiritual vibrancy....vibrancy--life within our soul--is the effective work of Jesus." ~ Lisa Whittle, {W}hole

The Life within my soul. Not how well I did a job or the recognition I inwardly hoped for but emptiness made full with His presence. Life reflected from my my Soul, spiritual vibrancy, for reflecting His work in and through me. The amazing work of Him in my life cannot be ignore and I am so convicted in the urgency to share that healing, that gift with the empty souls of this world.

The Light I am to reflect. The radiance of His healing, grace, and love I have come to cherish and live by. We must be careful that we are not being an object that blocks His radiance, but instead, we become an object of faith that reflects and radiates Him.

If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. ~ Isaiah 58: 10-12 (Message)

Suddenly this year I am feeling a calling, an urgency to reach out to those who desperately need Jesus...people who have known Him and fallen away, and people who have never experienced a vibrant relationship with Him.

Suddenly my heart aches, not to be active in a church ministry within four walls, but to be active in displaying His presence in my life so much so that those outside those church walls are compelled to seek Him.

My heart no longer desires restoration to the point of being worthy of serving again in ministry within those four walls, but instead I feel a desperation to tell others how my fall, my brokenness, my pit experiences have instead brought life and healing and intimacy with the only One who can restore. My empty places are full...full of Him. Re-dedication and re-dedication means nothing without a heart that is steadfast on Him, vibrant for Him.

"The presence of God in our life will produce a thriving spiritual existence that nothing else can generate--creating a genuine passion and concern for those things that once did not compel us." ~ Lisa Whittle, {W}hole

Commitment and dedication is a result of a heart that is focused on God. In a spiraling affect, our doing and our motivation is a reaction of that heart. When one can pray our memory verse above and live it out, they can better experience the spiritual vibrancy we were created for...kingdom work.

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. ~ Proverbs 30:8 (NIV)

In other words, don't allow anything in my life that will block me from you Lord. Not the wardrobe in our closet or the house we call home, not the dollar amount our bank account holds or the status we earn in our careers or ministries...what will truly matter is what we do for Jesus. What are we doing to support His kingdom? What are we doing to draw others to seek Him?

Does our spiritual vibrancy drawn the lost Christians and lost souls to you? Does your life story make them take notice of God? Are they curious to your fullness of joy?

"Where there is spiritual blandness, we are to provide savor. Where there is spiritual darkness, we are to provide illumination. We are to draw people to Jesus by our loud display of His abundant love. " ~ Lisa Whittle, {W}hole

Spiritual vibrancy begins with sacrifice. Sacrifices of anything that might get in the way of you and God. Are you brave enough to ask God to allow only those things in your life that are necessary? Can you mustard up the strength to ask God to limit anything that might distract you from Him and from displaying Him to others? Daily manna, daily bread...only what you need.

"...Focusing on anything other than God is to abandon Him." ~ Nancy Douglas, Draw Me Near: Pursuing an intimate relationship with God.

God has boldly asked me to step outside of religions four walls and to step into His presence within this world. Oh, I still attend a worship service and value it. But it is no longer a matter of what I gain from the service or how many ministries I can be involved in. Too often that was my main concern. Shifting gears, I am challenged in my intimacy with God. And in that, how can I serve others? How I can mirror His reflection and cause others to be drawn to Him because of what they see of Him in my life.

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death, in the hope that if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body.~Philippians 3:10-11, Amplified

Spiritual vibrancy. A reflection of Jesus in our life. We should not be attached to a denomination but rather attached to God. We were not created to be labeled by the our religion or our ministry, but we should be label by His grace and redemption as reflected by our my hearts actions. We are closer to being the Proverbs 31 Woman when we are His maidservant, craving more and more of Him, filled and overflowing. So much of Him that is spills over into another's life. Spiritual vibrancy.

My Holy and Sovereign God, you are my everything. Nothing else matters as much as you. Continue to fill me Lord. I am so thankful that you have filled my holes, my emptiness. You complete me. Keep away anything that will block me from your radiance. Continue to fill me so much that you spill over into the lives of those lost and without you. Grow this urgency I feel in my heart. Use me for your kingdom growth. I am so grateful for all that my life story represents and the healing that is too good not to share. Your presence in my life is my daily manna, my daily bread. I am clinging to you, my Shepherd.

For a beautiful song that reflects this message go here.

Living in His Embrace~ Pamela

The Godly Woman's Journey: Desperate

Memory/Meditation verse: "[She] wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in [her] way..." ~ Luke 19:3 (Message)

I left church last night speechless. My whole week has been like this. God's presence has been so near since I became "undone" (read about it here). I am unworthy of such an embrace from my Father but it has been so good...so very good.

Its like falling in love for the first time. My heart for no other reason than God Himself will leaped and a smile will come to my face. I feel such joy, such comfort like the soothing sensation of a warm drink on a sore throat.

Even though my week at work has been busy and has tried to squeeze more hours out of me than it should, I have felt His presence. The enemy has thrown in a few tensions here and there but I have truly been living in His embrace.

My quiet times and readings have all connected. So too last nights message and praise songs at church. I love how God does that and it leaves me wanting and yearning for more. It leaves me feeling desperate. Desperate for more of Him.

Just like Zacchaeus...

Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn't see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. ~ Luke 19:1-4

"He wanted desperately to see Jesus"-mirroring that desire in the heart reflects a godly woman. She yearns for more of God. She cannot spend enough time searching for Him in her quiet times, in her prayers, in her worship. This boldly characterizes her as a Jesus girl, stamps her as a Proverbs 31 Woman.

He is her manna, the primary source of her daily nutrients for her body, mind and soul. She is careful not to take in too much of "other things" from her plate so that there is more room for Him.

But like Zacchaeus, "but the crowd was in his way" things get in the way...commitments, people, hobbies, TV, books, addictions...

Our pastor gave the analogy of a meal. A meal is meant to be enjoyed, to provide nutrients, to fill. But if we take in too many others things right before a meal we find that we are already filled up and when it is time to sit at the table to enjoy the meal, we have no room for it, no desire for its blessing.

This too can happen in our spiritual life. If we soak up too much time in work, in TV, in our hobby...we become stuffed. Then when we sit down in our quiet time...in our secret place with God we have no room left for all that He has to offer us.

But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6

Our pastor spoke about the Jewish tradition of the prayer shawl and how it reflects the tent at the tabernacle in which they would enter to pray to God. This tent, being a holy place, is a secret place to which one could hear from God. The Jewish crowds could not all fit into the tent of the tabernacle so they would cover their heads with their prayer shawls, creating a tent, a secret place in which they could talk to God and await His voice.

I thought about my own quiet times I have each morning with God. I challenge you to think of your own quiet times. Do we enter it as holy? Do we imagine being in His tent, His secret place? Do we pray and meditate on His word so that we may hear His still small voice or do we rush on to our next task?

Do we leave our secret place feeling full but desperately wanting more of Him?

The secret counsel of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He reveals His covenant to them. ~ Psalm 25:14

Desperate for more of His embrace...

I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I, the LORD, the God of Israel call you by your name. ~ Isaiah 45:3

Desperate to hear His voice...

A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it. ~ Job 4:12

Desperate and never satisfied in a good way, a committed way, a holy way.

Desperate for more of Jesus. Desperate to see Jesus in Her day. Desperate to mirror Him in her life. Desperate to not allow anything else to get in her way of finding intimacy with her God.

Jesus, Holy and Sovereign God, You are my hearts desire. You complete me. I desperately want to see you, to feel your presence, and to hear your voice. Block out anything that tries to fill my life where you should be. Be my manna, my daily bread. Fill me.

Living in His Embrace ~ Pamela