Mary – Page 45

New Creation/Day 80

March 21, 2014 by Mary

Day 80.

We are conditioned by our experiences…but that doesn’t have to mean that we can’t start anew. God says when we have a relationship with him–we become a new creation. His mercies are new each morning… that means each day is an opportunity to see and experience life from a new perspective.

If you mess up, the good news is… you are forgiven and you can start again–and keep on starting again until you get it right.

Lord, I have been conditioned by my experiences, and at times, I feel hurt. Sometimes I need to wake up and start all over again…and I thank you for daily renewal. I also understand that I must do the WORK involved in my own healing. I understand that I am in the process of healing PAST hurts…those things that have influenced my thinking and created a mindset of limitation. Thank you for holding my hand through the process while I do the HEARTWORK.Thank you for conditioning me to be able to withstand the tough things in life and for making me an overcomer. Amen.

Back to the Wonder

March 5, 2014 by Mary

He grew up in the north on the banks of a cold, pristine Michigan lake, surrounded by tall old pines. I grew up in the country, on dirt roads and rolling acres of wheat grass. Two kids, worlds apart, living, loving, and learning about life in the beauty around us. Thirty years later, pulled by the pressures of adulthood and obligation, he goes inside four smog laden walls with the loud pumping and pounding of monster like machines banging away in his ear drums and his consciousness for 10-12 hours-day after day. Breathing fumes, listening to men who stand around and talk about the lives they have thrown away, year after year, just existing… waiting until they turn 65 so they can start living. It makes him drown a little each day, thinking he won’t make it out.

I can’t breathe. How can I rescue him Lord? How can I rescue the boy with the silken black hair that I fell in love with when I was sixteen? How can I rescue us from lives of meaningless churning? When we are young, we dream of overcoming the smallness of our world. We try so hard to run from who we are and where we came that we forget the Wonder. At sixteen, he kissed me during the slow skate at the Rollerama. Three dates later, we decided we never wanted to be away from each other. Two kids, dreaming of sharing our lives, a house, a couple of children and a nice car.

When we are old, we long to return home. Life is about this crazy circle… growing our wings, learning to fly and leaving the nest—only to return home years later—to the safe place…

“Dear Lord, you know my past, you know my present, and you know my future. Please guide me in my daily life choices, as my desire is to walk toward you. Let me be at peace with my mistakes. Thank you for picking me up and dusting me off when I have failed, felt defeated, discouraged or ashamed. Amen.“

When I was a child, there was a patch of pines on the property next to our farm. I used to walk barefoot through them, needles piled onto the forest bed, making the path soft for my feet. I often laid my head down in the middle of this small forest, breathing in the smell of the pines and looking up through the holes the branches made to the sky. When it rained, I put on my yellow rain coat, carried my yellow diary, and took shelter under the forest canopy, writing and dreaming. Miles away, there was a boy wearing a red flannel shirt, rambling his way through the forest. We didn’t know then that our lives would intersect and that one day we would walk through the pines together.

All these years later, hundreds of miles from our separate pasts, away from the comfort of our nesting places, having traveled the world, built and lived in big houses with big mortgages, raised two children into adulthood, we long to return to the safe places we once knew. We long to overcome the smallness of our world. Overcome the smallness of a world that says that men should spend forty years inside four walls to earn a living. The smallness of a world that drowns a man a little each day, making him lose sight of the beauty of his life, the dreams he dreamed as a child, the things that gave him joy.

“Father, save us from a joyless existence. Help us to keep our child-like sense of wonder. Take us safely back to the simple. Lives that crave excess, of doing and being– grow smaller and smaller closing in the four walls around us. Break us free from doing what the world expects and help us navigate our lives by what you expect. Keep us from lives of meaningless churning. Return us to the safe place, the place where we walked barefoot through the pines and lay our heads down on the forest bed so we could be closer to you, whispering praises, the wind carrying them through the forest… echoing for the world to hear.”

When we are old, we long to return home. Full circle… growing our wings, learning to fly, we return to the safe place… the Creator of Wonder, the One who is Peace, who dusts us off when we have failed, and picks us up when we want to come home—landing us safely back in our nests—dirt roads, wheat grass and pines.

Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God.Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. Leviticus 20: 7-8

The trials of the crazy circle of life can drown us or make us holy… sanctify us… set us apart.

Take us back to the Wonder. Jehovah M’Kaddesh. Jehovah Who sanctifies. Take us safely back to the Wonder.

God Can Reveal Hidden Things/Day 51

February 20, 2014 by Mary

Day 51 of our wonderful journey with our Heavenly Father.

The workbook assignment today teaches that when we are connected with Christ… through prayer, He can and will reveal deep and hidden things about ourselves and others.

Prayer: Lord, I have so much to learn about myself. Show me how to listen to what is going on inside of me, Lord. Today I want to listen to my soul. I want to see it as you see it. I want to see the broken places in need of healing, the tender places that show in my moments of vulnerability and the hardened places that isolate me from giving and receiving love. Lord, while revealing to me the condition of my soul, also show me its beauty, the good things I have done and the people I have touched, even unknowingly. Thank you, that you are a Loving, Powerful and All-Knowing God. I want to walk in your goodness and Light all of my days. Amen.

Spend some time in prayer today. Ask God to reveal things about yourself regarding the condition of your soul.

Unconditional Love/Day 50

February 19, 2014 by Mary

Day 50–God knows all our flaws and loves us anyway!

What a beautiful gift… to be loved unconditionally.

God knows all of those things we try to keep hidden from the world… the ugly parts of ourselves… and he just keeps loving us... and loving us… and loving us…

Are there ways that you try to earn the love of God?

His love is unconditional. It does not have to be earned.

Knowing this brings a sigh of relief… the Abba Father loves me, loves you just as we are.

Pray for Guidance/Day 48

February 17, 2014 by Mary

Loving you all this morning.

Asking for God’s guidance. You too? I am hopelessly flawed, but endlessly loved. So grateful.

Gonna get out of the house to see the world through God’s eyes today… I will carry you with me in my heart… yep. each and every. single. one. of. you.

Thoughts for day 48…Pray for Guidance

Day 48

Pray for Guidance
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for giving us the free will to make our own choices. I ask for your guidance as I consecrate my hopes and dreams…my life to you. Keep me from wasting the precious life you have given me, from doing less, being less, expecting less than you have created for me. Save me from burying my hopes, my dreams, my hurts and the skills you have given me to share them—beneath the “stuff” of life. Help me live my life fully. Guide me, Lord.

Affirmation: I consecrate my hopes and dreams…my life to God. I will seek his guidance today.

Are there areas of your life that need the guidance of a loving God? If so, make a list…yep… 1,2,3. Write them out… don’t be too proud… humble yourself before the Lord and make a list.

Give him thanks for guiding your hopes and dreams… for guiding your life.

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

Let God guide you today. Let him guide you tomorrow. Utter his name upon waking each morning. We can do no great things apart from him. Ask him to show you each person you encounter through His eyes today.