REST IN HIM

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Gen 2:2

My body resting
Heart rising

Happy Sabbath

WONDERFUL SO WONDERFUL
IS YOUR UNFAILING LOVE

Forgetting those things that are behind, I press on towards the mark of the high calling. Philippians 3:14

Friends, thank you for your emails and kind comments of late. I've been taking some time out for deeper reflection, to bathe in God's love for me. To basically, come to some hard conclusions about my life and surrender to my gentle, gentle Lord.

True confession:I often write from a place that desires to control.

The anxiety.
The voices in my head.
The complexity of being human in a broken world.
The complexity of my own ego.

My addiction to self-reason has come at the cost of a deeper relationship with the King of my heart.

But that is not to say that I am doing this all the time that I write. I am implying there is a balance here. My desire to write and ability to do so is a gift from God. I realize more and more that it is His desire that I use this gift for His glory, not to the detriment of my own burning desire to heal from the on again/off again anxieties that seek to control and have nearly ruined my life.

And I hope I am not hitting any sensitive spots here with other writers...friends, I Iove to read your blogs. Your love-letters to God and self-expressions.

This is more about me.
Well, this is more about HIM.

GOD OF RESTORATION, REDEMPTION, FORGIVENESS
So I needed time to refresh in the Holy Spirit before proceeding with anymore posts. And in my desire to kick this post off tonight, I wanted to share these photos with you.

These are photos of whom I love.

These are photos of whom God loves and has graciously gifted to me. Their love for me in hand with the Lord's has brought me to this place of deeper surrender.



But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. Galatians 4:4-7

...born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law.

I was kidnapped at an early age. Whatever sweetness existed in me was replaced with a great amount of responsibility for which I had no control over. Subsequently, I have moved through life without a clear understanding of boundaries or how much weight I could actually withstand.

Yeah. I just sorta "pile it on."

I was joking with TiNA last week that 2006 was the year of "Whatever it takes, Lord!" but that 2007 was gonna be the year of "Say What!?"

Because, you know, we all get a charge out of being used by God and watching our ministries and personal relationships develop due to the watering and weeding we put into them. And that's okay.

But like, who gardens at night? When the sun drops, isn't is time to rest? To renew?

How much weight tonight can you withstand? And how long can you go in your relationships. Ministry-related, work-related, intimately-related or otherwise until you break?

...Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

I am not a slave and yet I've been imprisoned to a certain degree by my ego, my desire to help others before helping myself because in that co-dependency, I have found self-worth and a reason to ignore that I needed to tend to my own hurts. Yet I want to be CLEAR here. I serve out of my love for God. I OVERSERVE and NEGLECT REST and SABBATH because I am not allowing God to bathe me.

It's 2007 and time for me to embrace God's promises, His grace and the child in me whom He loves and desires to tend to.

The question for me was always: Will I Allow Him?

Will I allow Him?
Will I risk?
Will I let go? Step back. Step away.



I PRESS ON TOWARDS THE HIGHER MARK
I resigned from my current project last week and have reduced my working hours to 20 per week. I'm going to rent out the empty rooms in my house to make up for the loss of income. This week I will attend a program at my church to address some of my deeper wounds. I am going to fall freely into my calling to help build the Single Parent Family Ministry at my church for God's glory. And I'm going to take Sabbath each week (which I have actually been trying to do for the last 4 months and although I don't have a perfect track record, I've been doing it and it feels wonderful!)

...oh yeah, and I'm gonna get a FREAKING HOBBY outside of Blogging! : )

Friends, keep me in prayer. I have heard clearly some of the plans God has for me. In this season of personal renewal, I am surrendering to those plans and allowing God to tend to me as He has desired.


Praise God! I am no longer a slave!

Egypt is behind me.

Bring on the wilderness.

I WAS MADE TO LOVE YOU

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God IS love--so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him...If God love us like this, we cerainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love! --1 John 4:7-9, 11-12 The Message Translation

BATHED IN YOU

Lord, how could I have stood and looked for so long yet not seen you?

How could I have glared and peered and furrowed my brows to witness and missed it entirely?

How could I have read words you breathed life into and still not understood?

Why have I spent the last year trying to out-serve you? When your desire is to serve me? You are the shepherd. I need YOU to help me find my way. I need to allow you to care for me FIRST so that I may turn and care for others. I have to come clean and say tonight...I am tired, Lord. I am so very tired.

Why have I spent the last year thinking growing closer to you meant I had to constantly be doing something, serving someone, supporting someone?

I don't have to do anything.
I don't have to serve someone to feel you.
I don't have to run myself ragged. I don't have to check off every box, dot every i, cross every t. I don't have to be strong although you made me strong. I can be weak. I can weep. I can wail. I can cry and embrace. I can fall to my knees and know...

You
Are
God

You
Are
Mighty

You
Are
Divine

and
I am Danielle
sinner

I need to sit still. To allow you to bathe me. But I am so stubborn-hearted. Let ME do it, Lord! Let ME wash myself.

What am I nuts? I think I darn near turned over the washbin!

"No," Peter protested,"you will never wash my feet!"
Jesus replied, "but if I don't wash you, you won't belong to me." John 13:8

In 2007
I will be bathed
I will be blessed
I will breathe
I will be a part of your love story

Who's with me?

"Don't be upset, and don't let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet--it's really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn't have muscle and bone like this. " As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. --Luke 24:38-40 (The Message)

Lord, I am singing out loud tonight
You have shown yourself to me
You have gifted me with your ever-presence in my life
Your wounds of truth
Your wounds taking over my doubts
Delivering me

I have seen the Lord tonight
I have seen his reflection bright
in those I love
I have felt his wounds of truth
deeply in my heart
I have looked him over from head to toe
and I see brilliance
and I see promises revealed

MANCHESTER AIN'T HOME

Hey Everyone,

Happy 2007. My son and I just arrived home from Manchester. We were in England visiting my sister for the holidays. I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday!

We stayed in Manchester the last 3 nights. It was good fun and a chance for my son and I to spend some one on one time together.

I'm pretty dern excited about 2007. There is something about a "new year" that gets me going. 2006 was awesome and so blessed. Here is my top 10 list of blessings for 2006.

1) My son came to live with me full time (hey, it doesn't matter that he's back at his dad's...this was STILL by far the most awesome thing to happen to me in 2006 and it is at the top of my list!!)
2) I went on staff at my church. : ) Thank you, Lord!
3) I traveled to Rwanda on a mission of P.E.A.C.E. with some awesome Christian sisters of mine!
4) I got to see my sister TWICE in England this year!! God, you are GOOD!
5) My relationship with my father was incredibly strengthened!
6) I began a new contract and made some very awesome new friends!
7) I stopped leading a small group - Lord, THANK YOU for this well-needed rest
8) My blog gained the attention of lots of cool new readers and I made some terrific blogger buddies!!!
9) I began (and finished) 40 Days of Praise for our awesome Lord!
10) I gave my testimony in public

Father-God, you are AWESOME!! Thank you for making 2006 the best year EVER!!

What's at the top of YOUR list for 2006 Blessings??