Category: God encounters

Silhouette of a person standing in front of a glowing sunrise
Christian living, Family, God encounters, healing, teaching, Uncategorized

The Heat is On

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When the Heat is On, How Do We Beat the Heat
A cat lying in front of a fan, with the caption “It’s sooo hot!”
Literally, we have been running close to 100 degree days here in the south, and there doesn’t seem much end in sight, until those cool breezes begin to blow in fall.  And of course, everyone has been complaining about melting…  Which of course, we really aren’t, but it can feel like that sometimes.

In the spiritual realm, there has always been a battle raging, but in recent months, it has felt like the heat has again risen, and the enemy has been throwing some heavier artillery our way.  The heat of battle has been turned up.  It happens like that, in seasons, in shifts, and changes – particularly when the Lord is giving you new territory – like the Israelites facing off with giants in a new land they have been given.  

There has always been giants standing at the new door ways to our destinies.In the past few posts, I’ve been talking about who were are created to be, and how to find out that God-given design.  The purpose for our design is to fulfill our destinies, which in a nutshell is to release God’s kingdom on earth in the unique way that God has design for you to do.  

“Your kingdom come.  Your will be done.  On Earth as it is in HEAVEN!”

Yet, as you step in to that, it is natural for us to be met with opposition – spiritual opposition, and sometimes, physical and mental opposition.  For several years of my life, the Holy Spirit trained me and utilized that training that God took me and others through to pray over the healing of our land.   I wrote about that in my newest book, “An Intercessor’s Journey: Preparing Our Land for a New ERA”, which you can find here on Amazon.  

Directly, following that period, the Spirit shifted me into a season of deep-diving into other survivors’s lives, as He intentionally brought them across my path.  It is a honor to work with the Spirit to help heal a soul, but man, oh man, has it turned up the heat at times.  

Greater love has no man than this, that He would lay His life down for a friend.   And so, in this season, learning to do that, learning to love others coming out the worst possible situations, has been met with a lot of spiritual warfare.  

Many times, well-meaning people have said, “Oh, you can do that, but I can’t.”  That’s another discussion for another time, but I can honestly say, that I’ve fallen and skinned up my knees so many times during these past three years, that I’ve gotten some pretty, big scars.  The process of helping others has made me face some of my greatest fears.  It has forced me to lay my soul bare many times with my own counselor.  And often, I’ve desperately cried, “Lord, you asked me to this.  But I have no idea what to do, what to say, or how to help.  In fact, everything I do seems to make things worse.”  Have you ever been there?  Have you ever had to face these imperfections in yourself where you have to come to terms with you?

Heat will do that.  Fiery heat will reveal what’s really going inside.  Many won’t allow that.  They run back to their comfortable boxes.  And that’s not a judgment.  Shoot, I love my comfort too, and would stay there if I could, but then I hear the voice of Jesus, my best friend, saying things like “I’ll be your strength.  Look to me.  I’ll help you.  I’m using you to help save another life.”  

And I stand.  Or fall forward.  But I try not to retreat, though I want to sometimes.   Isn’t that what the scripture teaches, “Submit to God.  Resist the devil, by standing, and He will flee.”  James.4:7 and “Therefore put on God’s armor, so that you will be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day, and having done all the crisis demands, to stand firmly in your place.”  Eph. 6:13

The truth sets us free.   In this time of intense heat, I’ve had to dig into what is the truth about what I really believe, because when you are in the heat, you will be challenged on that.  Mind you, this goes way beyond what I’ve been taught in church, because a lot of what I’ve heard from a preacher’s mouth has had a man’s own agenda spun into it.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  – that He came to testify to the truth – and He had left us with a Spirit of truth.  And our sword, the only offensive weapon we have – it is the sword of truth!  

The truth is Jesus.  So, when the heat is turned up, and I feel any sand I may have been standing on slipping away, my feet had better find a solid rock to land on, or I’m going to tossed all over the place.  When the heat is on, when the flood waters rise, my first strategy is to run and hide in Jesus.  Ask Him, “True Lord Jesus, what’s the truth about …”  and listen to His voice.  Ask Him, “Lord Jesus, what scripture verse would you please show me that has the truth about this situation I am facing?”  And listen.  Let Him guide you like that.  He wants way more to help you find the Him, the truth, than you even want to.

If there are things that block the way, then be patient, ask others to pray with you – don’t be a Lone Ranger.  If you ask, and you don’t get an answer, or if the answer doesn’t sound like true love, (That would be the 1 Cor. 13 kind of love), then keep asking.  Keep seeking.  God will meet you, and He will show you Himself.  He is the source of all truth.  And truth will always be embodied in His unconditional love.  

If you don’t believe in God, then I would ask you to do some honest study and searching, because He will make Himself known in unlikely places, if your heart is open to it.  I believe that because I’ve seen that time and time again.  A friend who was once a witch was seeking out truth, and found Jesus, (truth embodied in love) through a guru, who pointed her to Jesus.  Crazy stuff.  The point is God wants us to know Him.  And if we are open to Him, He will find you.  

You can close your eyes and pretend that there’s not a battle, that there’s not a giant standing at the door of your destiny, but that just means the giants win.  

The wiser thing to do, in my opinion, is to seek Jesus, and talk with Him about how He wants to deal with those giants.  Maybe there are lies that you have believed that need to go, and truth that needs to take root in your heart.  Maybe He wants to fight for you, and have you hide inside His love.  Maybe He want you to take your sword and wield it by speaking His word out loud.  Maybe He wants you to play and have fun and eat some cake in front of your enemy.  Maybe He wants you to just rest in His loving arms, while He wars in your behalf.  Maybe He wants you to praise and worship Him  and then have you watch as those giants fall.  He’s creative, and He almost never does the same thing twice.  

We can’t stop the heat from coming.  It will get turned up at different seasons, and the Lord will use it to refine us and to make us more in His image if we will let Him.  He promises that when the heat is turned up, that He will give us a pavilion for shade from the heat, and a place of shelter and refuge for the storms and from the rain.  Is. 4:6

He will deliver us from the giants that stand in the way of our destiny, at the transitions of life, if we will run to Him and trust in Him.  He will wage that war, and help us to walk in freedom with Him.  It won’t be easy, but it will be good.  It won’t always be safe.  He didn’t call us to be safe.  He called us to be His children, and to bring His kingdom here.  Sometimes, that means within our own homes, sometimes within the land we live on, and sometimes in the people He brings across our path.  We can beat the heat, when we look to get up under His shade. 

If you’d like to join in more discussion on this and other topics, as we experience Jesus together, while utilizing the artistic process, come join the Encounter Tribe.  We meet once a month on zoom.  And it’s FREE.  For more info, click here.  

Love to you all.
Sunlight breaking through bright clouds
Christian living, God encounters, healing, Imagination, teaching, Uncategorized, Visions

Resetting Our Imagination

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In the past few months, I’ve been exploring with you the topic of the power of our imagination and our God-given purpose, which is an essential part of our design.

If you haven’t read those, I would encourage you to go back and catch up.

As with any time in my life that I’ve taught about something, I always get tested in it. I realized this morning, as my brain woke up, that the first thing rushing across my imagination screen was what I call sudden disaster scenarios. And then, I remembered what I’ve been teaching about in my classes and on my blogs about the power of what is playing out on our mind’s eye.

When I was younger and far more in the throws of trying to recover from all the trauma I had endured growing up, my imagination felt more like a freight train, constantly throwing up images of disaster scenarios. So much so, that I planned my days to be within a close range to a hospital. Now, I didn’t frequent hospitals, and if I would have had to go to one, I would actually have been far more triggered with a panic attack of actually being there. Yet back then, that was the state of my mind.

As I have processed through so many traumatic memories and those places inside have come to peace, my mind has settled down most of the time. Commonly, my inner world is mostly quiet, with the occasional alarm going off, to indicate I have something further to process or that there may be legit danger ahead.

In the past several months though, the alarm system inside has been activated much more. Sometimes, with just normal life changes, but also with some large raging fires. Most of the time, the blaring sound inside has been more like a smoke alarm that often goes off in my house, because I’ve been cooking and the kitchen has gotten smoky. Yet, some of the alarms have been based on situations that have been truly precarious and heart-breaking.

And I’ve found myself slipping back into a state of sudden disaster images playing across my imagination screen creating a negative space in my head. I know the purpose of this to keep me from future danger, but it still can be difficult to navigate as it triggers off the fight or flight response inside. Last night was movie night in our house, and I choose to watch Inside Out 2. As I pondered the scene where anxiety took over the control board and everything began to spin out of control, I realized that it is my responsibility to kindly take over the board, and practice what I preach. 🙂

My method of doing so is inviting the true, Lord Jesus into my imagination space with me. I ask Him questions like “What do you want me to know about this, Lord?”, and I wait for His answer. So, this morning, I wrote a list in my journal that went something like this.

“I’m scared of …., Lord Jesus. What do you want me to know about this?” And I went through that list with Him, and allowed Him to speak truth to the lies that were persistently trying to come in and influence my imagination screen.

I also asked Him, meaning Jesus, to wash my imagination screen. That may sound pretty weird, but He has a way of doing this. Not swiping it clean, where I can’t think or see things on it. It kind of gives me a fresh start, as I submit my thoughts to Him.

I also asked Him, “Where do you want me to read in the Bible?” And normally, He gives me a scripture to focus on. Today, though, I didn’t hear anything, yet in my journal are scriptures at the bottom of each page, and no lie, every time I wrote something that I was struggling with the scripture at the bottom was the direct answer to that particular struggle. It was so on point, I finally just stopped in amazement, and pondered, “How do you even do this, Lord?” It’s like He knew the exact moment that I would be writing each thing in my journal, and had someone place each scripture on the very page I would need it.”

And people wonder why I believe in my God like I do?!

At any rate, we all struggle with the thoughts and images that flash across our mind’s eye. It’s where most of our battle is. The enemy seeks to implant lies there, that form our beliefs. Also, our brain is trying to protect us from future danger, which is a great thing, but can result in further driving those negative scenarios into our brain, ending in fight or flight responses.

Yet, God is very present to help us, and to speak truth in place of the lies, which is why believing the truth is so vital. God responds to our faith (our trust in Him), which is founded upon our beliefs, the things we believe to be true. The Lord Jesus desires to engage with us in our imagination to help us to “see” His perspective. Those moments with Him can change everything, because they help us to reset our minds to His truth.

Once such time, I was anxious over BIG things going on in our world that were troubling me. Utilizing my mind’s eye, I checked into ask Jesus what His perspective was. I perceived that we were walking in a garden, and He was untroubled and at perfect peace. I asked Him about the BIG thing I was so worried about, and He showed me the globe, the earth. He was holding it carefully in His hands. He just looked over at me, and said, “I’ve got it.” When He said this, peace enveloped me like a blanket and all my anxiety melted away.

It’s not always that easy. At times, I wrestle with things for months, even years. In the end though, the faster I can come to peace with whatever it is, and entrust it into God’s hands, I can then move forward into my purpose. It doesn’t mean I wait for complete peace every time. Many times, I’ve just obeyed and walked into my purpose with a level of anxiety inside.

There are times in life that we all will struggle to keep our imagination screen on track with positive experiences and receiving and contemplating truth, love, etc..

When that happens, I encourage you to reset your mind on the perspective that Jesus gives, resetting your imagination.

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Christian living, dreams, Family, God encounters, healing, Imagination, teaching, Uncategorized

Understanding Our Design

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Have you ever gazed in wonder at the intricacies of a snow flake or a spider’s web? Stood on the cliff of mountain top peering into the vastness of a valley below?

Felt the icy water of a waterfall stream through your fingers as you noticed how the green moss growing on the rocks squished under the tips of your fingers?

Held a sleeping baby at your breast?

Looked through a high powered microscope at mind-boggling functions of the universe within our cells?

All of creation sings the story of a grand and divine design.

We, also, are designed with an intrinsic, foundation blue prints of our purpose on earth. Many never tap into, nor understand that blue print, but it is there all the same.

That God-given design is expressed through out our personality, learned behavior patterns, talents, and gifts. Yet, like a blue print, it is the plan, the foundation upon which we build our lives on.

I believe our personality can change, and our talents and gifts grow or diminish based on the seasons of our life, experiences, and whether we nurture them or not.

Yet, what we are design for, our purpose for being here is a steady force in our lives, shaping our choices and our future. If cultivated through our creative imagination, (see my last blog on the Exploring Our God-Given Imagination Part 2), it can blossom and grow into something amazing! It’s more than just career choices and ministry opportunities, but a sense of fulfillment for that which you were placed here for – the fulfillment of your destiny.

Several years ago, we took our daughter on a family birthday camping trip to a pristine lake in our area. My practice when in beautiful places is to roll out of bed at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise. This location was not disappointing, as our tent opening faced the direction of the rising sun as it peeked over the mountain tops sparkling on the tips of the waves like millions of diamonds. As I sat on a cold, mossy rock, with my feet dangling, as my toes skimmed the calm surface, the quiet voice of the Spirit whispered in my ear. “Do you know that you are adventurer?”

I laughed to myself, as I thought the Lord was joking with me. “What I countered? I’m the furthest thing from that.”

But, He continued, “I made you to love adventure. I made you to be pioneer. To go places others have not gone before.”

I stopped and pondered.

He continued, “No matter what the location I bring you too, whether a lake, a beach, or mountain top in the rain, you leave the comfort of your warm bed, and you come to be with me at sunrise. Not everyone does that. Look back over all those rocks you just climbed over to sit here on the water’s edge.”

I glanced back over my shoulder. “See, you are an adventurer.”

This new information was tucked into the back of my mind, as I went about my day, but the Lord continued to show me, from then on, that truly a pioneer is a paramount aspect of who He has created me to be, and I need this sense of adventure to be everything He has designed for me to be. I also experienced, through my creative imagination, that this love for adventure was nurtured by the Spirit through the images I would see as I engaged creatively with Him.

Years later, I’ve seen that pioneering spirit in me play out in some very key ways as I fulfill the things God has called me to do and be. It has become apart of my God-given design that I’ve embraced.

I’ve also known others who by design are pioneers. A pioneering spirit or design by default is one who goes before others to make a way. They can be easily labeled as rebellious, non-submissive, and even a having a Jezebel spirit. Often, they are kicked out of churches for not going along with the church leadership on things they clearly have felt the call of the Lord to do differently. In reality, they were designed to pioneer new territory. They often are entrepreneurs, business owners, inventors, creators, etc… They are designed to follow the beat of a different drum, and we need them.

Another thing I’ve realized personally about my design is that I’m a bridge builder. Not literally building bridges, but bridges between people groups. I first realized this when I was in college, though I didn’t really understand anything about how I was wired back then. I always have flowed seamlessly between different friend groups, who were completely interested in opposite things and had opposing personality traits. Once I tried to invite one friend from each group to an event to spend the evening together, and it ended in awkwardness at best. Another time, I went to see the same Christmas lights display three times in one evening, because three different friend groups wanted me to go. I literally would arrive back on campus with one group, and grabbing my hand to pull me towards their car. Comical.

Later, in life, I came to understand that this is apart of my design, to be a bridge builder between diverse groups of people groups, some being culturally diverse people groups. This part of my blue print has enabled me to cross cultural lines for friendship, prayer assignments, and given me a voice to aid in creating unity. I’ve had best friends in the Appalachian community, the African American community, including the Gulla/Gechee of South Carolina, and the Native American community. As of late, it has been building bridges with people in the survivor communities and LGBTQ communities, especially with those hurt through the church. The ability to naturally bridge build between groups of different people has been an essential part of my God-given design.

This too is such an important role for those of who are designed this way to fulfill their purpose. There are so many things in our culture that blaringly shouts to divide and conqueror, so more than ever, so if you are wired to cross-lines and build unity, nurture that design and step into doing that!

The Spirit also will highlight different aspects of our design at different times for certain purposes. Lately, He has highlighted my design for justice. This one has been more challenging for me, because though I am adventurous in many ways, I highly dislike conflict and don’t want to rock the boat. This is primarily due to deep-seated fear from my childhood, that I’ve been rooting out for years. Yet, the more free I’ve become to be truly who I’ve been created to be, the more justice has been a theme.

Much of the prayer assignments that I’ve traversed through the past several years have been highly justice driven, with themes of exposing evil and justice being done for the victims of trafficking and abuse. It you’d like to learn more about that, please check out my newest book, “An Intercessor’s Journey: Preparing Our Land for A New Era”

Presently, the Spirit has me on a journey of personal application of everything I wrote about in that book, except now, I am the one who is having justice given in my behalf. More on that in future posts. Yet, it is mind-blowing how much justice is an integral aspect of my life – literally an essential element of why I am here on this earth.

One of my favorite examples of design, is observed in one of my closest friends. She is designed with a “mothering” blue print. Yes. She is a mom and is excellent at home-making, which I’ve not been the best at. My family have always preferred going to dinner at her home, because of the comfort food and soothing feeling she exudes. Yet, it goes way beyond that. No matter where she is or who she is with, she vibes “mom”. Even strangers pick up on this design. She has on many occasions gone to hug someone, and the person she doesn’t even know melts into her embraces and bursts into tears, because they needed a mother’s love. I can promise you that I’ve never had that happen.

In closing, I encourage you to begin a path of discovery, if you have not already done so, of unwrapping the divine blue print God has placed in you. If you’d like to join others on this journey of discover and more, check out my monthly zoom class called, The Encounter Tribe.

We ALL have a purpose, a God-given design, for our destiny here, and it essential that we begin to uncover that blue print so that we can full everything written about us for this time and season. I really believe that. You are here on purpose, for a purpose, and it is a beautiful plan. Not easy. But beautiful.

Our imagination is the place within us where we can nurture and cultivate that design.

“For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, for good, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11

“For you knit me together in my mother’s womb…” Psalm 139:13-15

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Christian living, Family, God encounters, Uncategorized, Visions

The Two Thrones

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This post gently touches on themes of church abuse and anger. Take your time, and be kind to yourself as you read.

By Carolyn “Charismata” Weaver

Anger raged inside of me, as someone I loved shared that church abuse not only had wrecked her faith in God, but that she had not even told me the half of what had happened to her.

We are living in a time when the airways are pregnant with offense.

As a believer in Jesus, who has traversed an extremely uphill battle in my own healing journey, understanding how to walk in forgiveness, yet also how not spiritually by pass my God-given emotions with the purpose of making righteous judgments and decisions has been like a giant pendulum, often swinging one way and then another.

Story after story of horrible trauma and abuse, especially sexual, most often by church leadership or on church property, that should be most of all safe places, fill the news. Church leader after church leader have fallen and will continue to, as God has promised a great cleansing of His house will occur in this season.

Beyond that, people have continuously been pitted against each other. And many times, my ears have been filled with blanket statements of “All Christians are …”, or “All gays are…”, or “All white people are…”, or “All black people are…”, or “All politicians are…” Fill in the blanks.

We seemingly are blinded to the battles that are raging in the unseen realm. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against world forces of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly supernatural places.” Eph. 6:12

Personally, I’ve processed through many of instances of deep, dark trauma, as well as bearing the story of many other precious souls as we together look to Jesus for healing.

So, many times, it has felt like it would easier to just not know one more story. To bury my head in the sand or turn my head the other way, to have even kept my own heart sealed up – sometimes seems like it would have saved so much heart ache for myself.

Yet, the pain is there. The ache is there. Hiding from it doesn’t produce anything good. Just more delayed pain.

The hidden places – it’s where lies live. In the darkness. In the dark recesses of my soul, where I’ve not let the light in yet, not let the story to be told. It is where I still can be held captive.

Freedom comes through Jesus. Freedom comes from letting His light in, His truth in.

One of my life verse has been “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my inquiry I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord (continually unfolding the past til all is told), then You instantly forgave me…” Psalms 32 AMP Classic

I know the best way is to step into the light. So, I am…

For the past two decades, I have asked Jesus to come into some very horribly dark places in my past. My father had been a pastor when I was growing up, yet he invited every perversion possible into our home – to the point that I was forced to live two, very different lives – the life of the good, little Christian pastor’s daughter who presented very well, made good grades, and sang in the choir and the life of the shatter child who was forced to participate in satanic rituals and was trafficked to whoever my father wanted to make a quick buck with. And it’s not just my story. It’s the story of many, many precious ones. (For more of that healing journey and how Jesus has walked me out of that, you can check out https://forthesilencedones.wordpress.com, and my husband also gave an excellent interview on his point of view with Lisa Meister, which you can find on my website, here.)

Many have asked me how could you even have stayed in the church all these years? Stayed a Christian even? When so many, seem to leave their faith for so little, in comparison?

Well, that is a complicated answer. For many years, it was because I was afraid not to. Afraid God would zap me, like my fire and brimstone pastor/father taught me. Beyond that though, as a teen I met a real God, a real Holy Spirit, and on my healing journey, I met the “REAL JESUS”. He’s not anything like my father growing up had taught me. Jesus is kind, good, patient, real love, real compassion.

On the healing journey, I also learned the power of forgiveness. The power of releasing people and horrible things that had happened to into the hands of the only one who could hold such offense. God.

I know many people have different opinions about forgiveness. Some think you must ask for it. Others almost say “I forgive you.” to just by-pass the wrongs that have been done, with no consequences. Neither of these are what I’m talking about.

See, Jesus on the cross offered forgiveness to anyone and everyone who would receive it, but He doesn’t force it on anyone either. They have to receive it. “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” Stephen later followed His example. And even in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have sinned against us.”

It doesn’t mean that there are not consequences to those actions though. Someone who commits crime, still may need to serve some jail time. And the foundation of the throne of God is justice. So…

Justice means making a wrong, right. Oftentimes, part of the consequences of wrong behavior is having to make whatever you did wrong, right to the best of your ability.

There is something really powerful about forgiving or releasing people and evils done to us into the “Righteous Judges” hands, because only He can rightly judge. I know this. I’ve seen Jesus walk me through this time and time again, and it releases me. It helps me to heal.

Yet, Jesus, God, gets angry. Scripture is clear that the Holy One, who is perfect love, hates evil. For those who say that we are to live unoffended, well, Jesus didn’t. He was certainly offended at evil. He was especially offended at the Pharisees, and He let them know it by calling them “Sons of their father, Satan.”, and other unpleasant names. He was offended at the evil in His day.

Evil, violation of God’s moral laws, makes Him very angry, because it hurts us. He loves us, and anything that hurts us, hurts Him. I don’t believe that He wants us to by pass those emotions, stuffing them away, in order to live this peaceful life all the time.

Hearing about a child who has been molested by a pastor should shoot your anger out the roof. If we don’t have a reaction to evil, no one will be motivated to do something about it. The reaction of anger and disgust is appropriate, and justice for the victims should be dealt to the abusers. By-passing our emotions, which are God-given, can swing us into complacency, which will then allow these atrocities to continue. That’s not the heart of God.

He wants us to feel those things, to take action if need be, like to report it to the police, but then to release the people involved to Him, because again, He is the one who can handle them.

Ephesians 4:25-26 AMP says “Be angry at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior, yet do not sin; don’t let your anger cause you shame, nor allow it to last until the sun goes down. And don’t give the devil an opportunity to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness.”

I have been able to walk this out better when the offenses perpetrated were against me, than I have when someone I love that has been wronged.

So, I didn’t even see this coming. I was enraged when I hung up the phone with my loved one. I wanted to go hit a tree or throw some toilet paper against a wall. I knew something was very wrong inside of my heart, so I attended a prayer meeting, to ask for help.

One woman timidly said, “Jesus, show her what’s in her inner temple that needs to be cleansed.” And that simple prayer did the job.

In the last several years, we have walked through two major church crisis. The first one had felt like an ugly divorce of church family that we loved dearly. Offense, selfishness, egos, and division had set in, which led to a hurtful split.

The second had appeared as if a con-artist (not a judgment, just the best one word description I could think of to describe how it felt) had taken the pulpit and had twisted the meaning of spiritual authority to the point that all had to bow to his wishes or be excommunicated. And that’s exactly what happened. We began to try to speak up, and our family was excommunicated, along with many others as they spoke out through out the past few years.

At the time that we had left the church, we had tried to address things Biblically by going to the elders for help, when we had been denied access to the pastor. At that point, we were shut down by the elders as well, so leaving felt like our only recourse. In recent months, the tables changed.

I thought I had forgiven these people and released them to Jesus many times. But when I hung up that phone with one that I love dearly and heard the depth of pain she still carried and saw the path of destruction it was leading too, I raged inside.

The pastor of that former church had recently been fired, and we had responded with a letter, explaining the hurt the church leadership had caused, because the current leadership had requested it. I decided to reread the letter I had sent, to see if there was a clue as to what needed to be cleansed in me.

And then I saw it like a laser beam… Blame.

I had judged the entire past and current leadership at that church as being the ones to BLAME for the choices of those who had been hurt.

Everyone has choices to make. Even when evil is perpetrated on us, we all have a choice with how we handle that. What I had done was lay all the blame at the feet of the church leadership as a whole, not just the pastor who had just been fired. And it was flat out wrong to do that.

Shocked that I had so easily fallen for the same hook, line, and sinker, I quickly begged God to further show me what I had done. I could still feel the weight of the rage in me.

That following weekend, I listened as a friend spoke on “offense” at a women’s conference. As she spoke, in her southern accent, I clearly heard her say, “Don’t let ‘a fence’ build up.” Over and over, that’s all I could hear was “a fence”, and then it occurred to me that whenever I hold onto “offense”, it creates “a fence”, which separates me from others. In order to have unity, we have to be willing to tear down “the fences” that we have built, and be a bridge builder, not an “a fence” builder.

A couple of days later, I still sought Jesus to show me further what was in my heart, because the feelings of deep seated anger still rose in my heart every time I thought about the church situation. All of a sudden, I saw Jesus, in my mind-eye, gently offer His hand to me. I looked down to see myself sitting on a throne, a seat. With great compassion, I heard the Lord say, “Sweetheart, you’ve slipped into the judgment seat.” He had tears in his eyes as He continued. “This seat next to you would be much more comfortable.” I glanced beside me to see another golden, padded seat next to me. Both appeared very similar in size and design. I took His hand, to reseat myself as He suggested. “This is the mercy seat. It’s a much better position to view life from.”

I burst into tears, profusely asking forgiveness for taking the judgment seat. He smiled at me, and said “The mercy seat is the much wiser choice to sit in, to view life though, and to make judgments from.” I nodded, and quickly sat down in the mercy seat. I had chosen this seat many times before in my healing journey. It shocked and sadden me that I had made a gravely, wrong choice, without even consciously being aware of it.

The next day, I determined in my heart to revisit the church property from where the hurt had occurred. I decided to go to the gym first to help get out some frustrations I was still feeling. I randomly hit play on YouTube, and these words began to play.

“I’ve been the judge. I’ve been the assuming that I know what’s best. Forgive me. Father, forgive me. I sought my own justice. I said in my own heart, I’ll do it my way instead. Forgive me. Father, forgive me. Back to the mercy seat, Lord, I am running. I’m running…” – Lyrics to Mercy Seat by Kim Walker Smith, Jun. 2024

I was stunned. I listened to it on repeat the rest of the day. I could feel the shift in my heart, and the weight of the judgment lifted. It was like a fog dissipated from my eyes, a clouded lens was removed that I had been viewing the world through. Finally, I could see clearly again, which I didn’t even realize that I wasn’t seeing clearly before.

That is the nature of deception. When you are deceived, you can’t see it.

I followed through with a prayer walk around the old church property. Immediately, I jumped into my own thoughts and petitions, but I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit in my heart, say, “Stop and listen to what I have to say.”

So, I did. And I heard the words of a compassionate Father who loved that land and the people on that land who had served Him well, who did still have pure hearts and yearned for a genuine move of His Spirit. I also felt His deep hurt over those who had been hurt and even those who had been deceived into hurting others.”

I questioned whether or not I should walk a lonely trail that bordered the back fence and ran along the property line. As I did, a huge white hawk with black stripes swooped over my head and landed at the entry to the trail, seemingly waiting for me to come. As soon as I reached the entrance, it swooped again into the forest behind the building.

This time as I walked, I came into agreement with all the Lord had said, and as I reached the end a huge rock graced the path, so I sat on it, and quietly whispered a prayer to see the hawk again, if I was on track. I decided to release all the remaining judgments and pain that I felt I needed to while sitting on the rock. With tears streaming down my face, I listed off offense after offense not just towards me but toward all those I love as well. Again, this was not about holding accountable those who had done wrong or not. That had already been done and was at that point out of my hands. It was about releasing what had been done and the people who through it had come from to Jesus and allow Him to judge it.

The moment I finished, the hawk swooped in front of me once more and off of the property. Peace filled me. As I walked back across the parking lot to my car, I could feel the presence of angels coming to fulfill the purposes that God had intended all along. I slipped into an unlocked prayer chapel by my vehicle and left a simple note on the table that read, “I forgive you.”

As we face so many painful exposures going on in our world right now, which is only going to increase in the days to come, because God is the one bringing it, the posture of our heart is super important. In our inner court, are two thrones – the Judgment Seat or the Mercy Seat. It’s up to us to decide which throne to sit on, to view our life through, and to make decisions from.

Choose wisely.

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Class, Family, God encounters, Newsletter, prophecy, Uncategorized

Mustard Seed of Faith

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Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains! Let’s talk about what that looks like in our monthly Encounter Classes!

Charismata Marie Weaver smiling, with colorful artwork behind her

For August, our normal, monthly classes run on the first Sat. at 9:00 am et set, and the third Sunday, at 7:00 pm et..

This month we will be taking a look at what faith is, and how to walk in it.  I’ll be sharing about a mustard seed faith time in my life.  Our time with God will be focused on encountering Him with our faith, and our creative art time will depict what that looks like.  I hope you will join in this special time together.  

If you have not signed up yet for the monthly encounter classes, you can go to the Encounter Class page of our website for more information or to the sign up. 

It is a monthly subscription where you can either sign up for once a month, or twice a month, and can be paused or stopped at any time.  The classes are also recorded for your convenience.

Hope to see you soon!

Much Love, 

Carolyn

Mark Your Calendar!!!  On Saturday, November 18th, I will be doing an in-person Encounter Class, and a Premiere ART SHOW with worship and prophetic story!!!  
The Location will be at Wendy’s Mountain, close to Traveler’s Rest, SC.  This will be a ticketed event.  Details to follow in September.  
Hands fitting white puzzle pieces together
God encounters, Newsletter, prophecy, Uncategorized, Visions

When the Pieces Begin to Come Together

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One step leads to the next.  Just take the next step…
About ten minutes into a recent conversation with Wendy Manzo, prophetic artist, and author, my eyes welled up with good tears. (www.WendyManzo.com)

I realized in that moment the reason why God started me on this healing journey with art, probably 14 years ago…

Lying on my side in my bed, I was so tired of living that every breath became more shallow as it took everything in me to fill my lungs again.  As a sweet peace descended over me, I honestly thought I’d wake up in heaven in Jesus’s arms.  I had no energy left to fight the raging battles within my own mind, nor to raise the three precious babies peering at me over the side of the bed. 

Yet, God had other plans.  Within a week, a friend’s words prophesied over me that I was sinking in quick sand, and the more I fought to get out the deeper I sank, but Jesus would throw me a life line and pull me out.A few days later, I heard the words of my Savior say, “Pick up your paint brush and start painting your freedom.”

What I didn’t realize then was that when we partner with God in the creative process, it is spiritual warfare that breaks bondages off of us. It’s more than just a healthy way to process your emotions.  Creating is who God is.  Creator.  Abusers intentionally shut down the creative process for a reason.

I’ve lost count of how many people have told me that their abusers threw away their art supplies as a child and forbade them to create.  Yet, when engaging with God in the creative artistic process they come back to life.  Why?  Because creativity is a powerful, God-given force to bring life and to set people free.

I further believe out of my own experiences and out of others that the creative process in using our God-given imagination is a connection point between earth and heaven.  The part of the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus talks about “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, is talking about manifesting the kingdom of heaven here on earth, and one way to do that is through the creative process, as we sense things of heaven and manifest an expression of that on earth.  As we do, we are yielding to the Holy Spirit in us, and allow Holy Spirit to work through us to release heaven here.  

Flash forward from the almost taking my last breath moment to about four years ago… I wake up from a dream about saving a woman and her child out of sex trafficking, to seeing a vision in my mind’s eye of me teaching art classes to survivors.  As I focused in on that vision, I heard a booming voice inside, “Teach others what I’ve taught you.”I had no idea of how to do this.  I had no examples to follow.  But I’ve just taken a baby step forward, then God says step here, and then step there, and then step over here, I’ve started to see the puzzle piece begin to fall into place.  

Somewhere along this journey, I’m finally coming to understand that one significant piece in my healing journey was the rope of the creative process in painting my freedom that helped pull me out of a pit of quicksand, and give me new hope for the future.  I began to heal.  And now so, I throw the rope out to others through classes, through the books, through the one on one talks.  And Jesus slips one more piece into the puzzle to wholeness.  Isn’t that wonderful!

This is what my story, my business is all about.  It’s way more than just learning to paint a picture.  It truly is healing hearts through arts.  

Won’t you join me on this journey?   Check out our sample class on the Encounter Class page on our website. I’d love to have you join us on this healing journey together.

Much Love,

Charismata
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Christian living, Family, God encounters, prophecy, Uncategorized, Visions

No Shrines This Time

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A year and a half ago, I stood on the grounds of where part of the second great awakening occurred – the home of the Cane Ridge Revival, which is less than an hour from Ashbury, where the current outpouring of God’s spirit is just starting.

While walking the grounds at Cane Ridge that day, I felt like I was in two places at once. Standing by an old worn, wooden fence, I could almost see the fiery preacher standing on the mound in the middle of the cow pasture. In the center of the grounds stood an antique, 1800’s camp-meeting building which was now enshrined in a more modern structure. This revival had begun when different denominations had gathered together to pray in unity. Amazingly, the Holy Spirit fell and the flow that came from it affected the world.

More on the Cane Ridge Revival – https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-45/revival-at-cane-ridge.html

As I’ve listened to the reports of the Ashbury revival getting underway, what has stood out to me is that no one man is leading it. It is being led by Jesus. It is primarily the younger generation, multi-cultural, multi-denomination all in unity making room for the presence of the Lord in ongoing worship for ten days now. It is spreading fast like a wildfire, an outpouring like Niagara Falls (see Kathie Walter’s post about that on Facebook).

Recently, when I’ve been on college campuses, in my Spirit, there has been this overwhelming anticipation of God showing up. I also just wrote about this next move coming through the younger generation here – https://blossomingheartsstudio.com/2023/02/01/designed-with-purpose

The Lord has been saying for some time now through many voices that God’s spirit will be poured out in many places, some you would not expect, in homes, in businesses, in churches, on college campuses. It reminds me of our own journey of finding the Holy Spirit in multiple different places. From Episcopal to Methodist to Baptist to Charismatic to everything in between God’s spirit is on the move. For more of our own journey, read here. https://wholeheartedwomen.org/2019/04/27/unexpected-journey/

Back to the day we visited Cane Ridge, as I came around the corner of the building which housed the original camp-meeting structure, the Holy Spirit boomed in my spirit, “This next move of My Spirit will not become a shrine! No man will be able to put their hand on it. No man will be able to claim it and make it about them or their kingdom. I am done with man’s shrines!” No lie, as I careened around that last corner of the building and sauntered up to the locked, wooden doors, I squinted to read the words on the plaque in front of the building. There, imprinted in pewter, were the words “The Cane Ridge Shrine”. I gasped.

This next move will not have man’s hands on it. It will not be about a man or a man’s kingdom. It will be about Jesus. It will be about Jesus’s Kingdom. And it will sweep our nation and the world, beginning with our youth, like the most huge waterfall gushing rapidly.

We are entering the age of the Waterbearer (the Holy Spirit) being poured out without measure, and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roaring. The enemy can not stop that.

This, my friends, I believe, is the beginning of what we have been waiting for, longing to see our whole lives. Don’t try to control it, put a dam on it, or manipulate it in anyway. Just jump on in it!

With much love and anticipation

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Christian living, dreams, Family, God encounters, Visions

My Birthday Blog – The Gift of Today

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As I sit here to write this, I don’t fully grasp the hope I feel in my heart, an odd peace, an unshakable faith. This year has already held a few emergency runs to the ER with friends and extended family. Already held a few hands during some very challenging events. I’ve found myself grappling with some evil schemes on levels I didn’t want to believe were possible.

It’s only Feb. 1st. And it’s my birthday.

I’ve already been stretched beyond what I’ve felt capable of.

And yet, I’ve not felt forgotten or alone or helpless. I’ve felt held. Even now, I see Jesus smiling at me in my mind’s eye speaking hope that everything is going to be just fine. He doesn’t see things the way we do, does He?

In my processing of the past 53 years of being on this planet, I’ve asked many “whys” of the Lord. I’ve heard people tell me that that question is not a good question to ask the Almighty, and yet, I’ve never felt the Lord upset with me for doing so. And there have been times He has answered that. Most of the answers revolve around shifting my perspective to seeing things through His eyes, which is much different than mine.

I remember one such moment, when I asked Him about some current events that seemed so very overwhelming, and I saw Him walk up to me with the globe in His hand like a ball, with a cheesy smile on His face. He just communicated to me that He was in control. I was not. And that was OK. I could trust Him. He’s got this.

That’s difficult to see though when your one of best friends has just found her daughter unresponsive, and you are standing in an ER room holding tightly to her hand. It can be difficult to see when you are tenderly cupping the other hand of your spiritual papa who has been told he is now on hospice, while you pray for every moment of his life to be fulfilled. Or when you kiss your mama’s forehead and tell her I’ll see you soon, as she meets Jesus. Or when you are swimming in a sea of anger, because once again Jesus asks you to let Him into a new level of pain in your heart.

And yet, faith keeps rising – faith (trust) in a loving, compassionate, good God who keeps changing my perspective.

You know I once thought I’d never make it to 40 years old, and truly I’ve been almost taken out multiple times in these 50 some years. I’ve walked through some extremely hot fires, and traversed waters that I thought would surely wash me away, and yet, God’s unfailing love and goodness keep chasing me down. Ps. 23

I got up early this morning to go to breakfast with my family and a friend, just as the sun rose. You all know I love a beautiful sun rise. Jesus spoke to me a few months ago, that as one day is ending the next has already begun. What hope there is in that! A new day, a new horizon, a new hope has already begun even as the day is fading.

Recently, during a different hospital visit, someone I love who faced major surgery said “People tell me that I need to stop smoking. That it will kill me some day.” I wondered where the conversation was going. “But I say, every day is a gift, and I might as well live it up how I want too.”

Sadness pricked my heart, and I kindly responded, “You know, every day is a gift. But I rather live each day to bless and help someone else.” That statement is not to say how great I am. I am not all that. Yet, I just don’t want to live this life to make myself feel good, for my pleasure, and benefit. I mean I like all those things. But I want something more. I want my life to have a positive effect on this world around me. I want to shine light in the darkness.

I want to be there to hold my friend’s hand and stand in rock-solid faith with her as she faces the impossible, because we love the God of the I aM Possible. I want to be there to speak life to my friend who just got the death sentence and see that through the eyes of eternity. I want to spend time crying with the survivor who went through hell on earth, like I did, and then show who Jesus really is. I want to love my own kids well, and show them that life is worth living, and fighting for, and there is a bigger picture than just me, trying to gain things for myself. I want to love my husband every day, showing him value for who he is in my life.

You know, I have a feeling that there are going to be many more challenges to traverse in the coming seasons, and yet, I see and feel this faith and hope growing in a good, good God who loves us unconditionally, who is not surprised by what happens, but instead, He holds the playbook, and I can trust Him.

I can lean back into His great love, and just BE, because I know He’s got this! And that is my birthday wish for you too. Lean back into His great love for you, and live each day as a gift to be used to bring some light to this dark, dark world. Love you all so much friends!

A tall waterfall in a green forest
Christian living, Family, God encounters, prophecy, Uncategorized, Visions

Designed with Purpose

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The first section of this blog is the second part of the word I felt the Lord gave me at the beginning of December. (There are several parts to it, which I believe the Lord will have me release at different times.)

The words are as I heard them in quotation marks, because I want to honor God’s voice as I perceive it, and don’t want to add my own interpretation to it. Following that though, I do feel prompted to flesh it out a little. Obviously, I am human, and I may be off, and this is not the canonized scripture, but I believe it carries the heart of the scripture. I also look for outside confirmation of words, and it was immediately confirmed. This is as I heard it.

“You are truly at the brink of the greatest outpouring this world has ever seen of. My glory.  My Holy Spirit is being poured out with out measure in this last time.  There will a great wave, a great influx of soul.  Like the waves of the oceans, they will be swept into the kingdom.”

“This generation, this generation that has had identity theft coming against them, this generation though they have been turned over to the enemy for a season, this generation will be the ones to rise up and throw that Jezebel lying spirit off the balcony.  Eunuchs did it in my Word, and again those who have lost their sexual identity, these very ones will run to the Lamb of God, be forgiven of their trespasses and rebellion, they shall know their true identity in Christ, and they will cast off the Jezebel that has sought to steal their identity to cut off their generations.  That pride flag will be torn down, and a spirit of humility will sweep this nation.”

This generation has certainly had identity theft committed against them, and many, many have bought it hook, line, and sinker. I truly believe as this generation of young people have the blinders pulled off their eyes, and they begin to see that they were deceived by agendas that have sought to steal, kill, and destroy them – not just their sense of self (of their individual identity), but also to cut off their generations (families from being formed and babies from being born) – that they will rise up and throw off that lying spirit as the Eunuchs did to Jezebel in 2 King’s 9:33.

What do I mean by identity theft?

In 2022, a suspension bridge in India that had been designed and built during the British rule many decades before collapsed with 100’s of people plummeting into the river below killing over a 100 of them. The bridge had been structurally sound when built, but in recent times fallen into disrepair. Engineers had shut down the structure to repair the damage, but they did so in a hurry, and with no regard to things like weight limits. After a short few months, the bridge was reopened right before a festival. As hundreds crowded the bridge, the cables began to give way under the weight crashing into the water below.

Much like this bridge, God has an original design that works, and it has worked and will work for eternity. His original design is family – a man and a woman in covenant procreating children. Over time, mankind has damaged that structure, creating pain and hurt from broken covenants, abusive behavior, etc.. This has caused the need for repair. Instead of going back to the original design and restoring the bridge to what the original intent was, we have tried to in our own rebellion against God, or even with the belief that God no longer exits, made the bridge the way we wanted or to different standards, even changing the look of the bridge entirely, and as a result it doesn’t hold weight. It will eventually collapse, because the structure is not sound.

What does Jezebel have to do with it? I really don’t like throwing around the Jezebel spirit word, but Jezebel. as the person in the scriptures, was a cruel, manipulative, controlling ruler. The spirit of this age many times has those controlling and manipulative attributes. In scripture, Jezebel even intimidated the prophet Elijah who had called fire down from heaven, causing him to run, questioning his call and identity. That spirit always cause identity theft. Isn’t that the same thing happening today? People questioning their identity, their calling, floundering around not knowing who they are, why they are here, and what they are to do with their lives.

Some would look at God – the great three in one – and say well, where is the design of family in God? Yet the Trinity is actually the perfect picture of what family is supposed to look like. This may rock your thoughts a bit, but study this out for yourself. God is family. He didn’t procreate the Son. He was always already present in the Godhead, but consider this. God is three in one – God, the Father; God, the Son (Jesus); and God, the Holy Spirit (mother). Now, wait a minute. God is not female? Right?

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew pronoun for the Holy Spirit is in a feminine form, meaning the Jewish culture attribute the female qualities to the Holy Spirit. Some qualities listed about the Holy Spirit are comforter, helper, friend, wind, the dove, peace-giver, the one who hovers, gives life, and creates. Sounds like a mother to me? In Genesis, the word says that God created man and woman in His image, which is a male and female image. The Trinity represents the purest form of the perfect family structure.

I understand that some may read this and say that I’m not educated or that I’m judging people. The fact is I have several people who I love dearly who have lived alternative lifestyles. I have seen the short and long-term fruit of those who have accepted the changes in original design. In fact, I recently asked an honest question to a precious friend who had been in an alternative lifestyle for decades. My question was in all these years, have you known anyone in your circles that have had good, long lasting fruit, meaning long term peace, love, joy, happiness from it? She thought and thought. Her answer was “No. Everyone I know is still searching to fill that hole in their heart. Everyone I know is dealing with depression, suicide, drugs, alcohol, etc., and are searching for peace.”

To the opposite, I also have seen that as people have received the true love and truth about who God has created them to be as a daughter of God, that their sexual identity automatically begins to changed intended for it to be. The way they think and feel begins to change, and their lives begin to bear good, long lasting fruit, like joy, peace, love. Depression, anxiety, suicide fall away, as they live in who God created them to be. Sexual identity is almost a by-product, as they grasp their calling as a son or daughter of the living God.

I too have gone through some of those changes, because having been raised in a extremely sexually abusive environment, being female for many years did not felt safe to me. So I believed that it was safer to carry extra weight, and to dress down. This is super common among abuse survivors. Yet, as I realize more and more who God has created me to be and that I’m safe being a female, I feel more comfortable in my own skin. I desire to wear make-up and look pretty.

I don’t come from a stand point here of pointing my finger. My heart is full of compassion for the people standing on the broken bridge. In fact, a person who identified as A-sexual recently asked me why did I think I had authority to speak into this topic. My answer was pretty simple. I do understand many of the thought processes that lead to those beliefs, and I have compassion on those who don’t understand who God has created them to be, because I’m still growing in that myself. I know how strong lies,and hurts can be driven into a heart. But I know the healer of the broken heart, and I’ve seen how He can change lives around, and give people a whole new identity in Him.

I firmly believe that God created us – all of us with design – a design that was actually made after His image. Gen. 5:2, Mark 10:6 Obviously, mankind has screw that up through many things – drugs, genetic manipulation, rebellion against the original design, etc.. And sometimes, there is not a pat, easy answer to the screw ups. Mankind has sought to reinvent the bridge. It has since the beginning. Pride resulting in rebellious fists against the creator has led to many falling to their death off a broken bridge that can’t hold weight.

Yet, this is why Jesus came. He came to make a way for us to be back in a family. A real family. A way to be back in fellowship and relationship with the perfect Father, Mother, and Big Brother. And when we find our place in that family, He will show us who He has really created us to be.

I believe in this generation those blinders will come off, and this generation will be able to see truth, and they will throw off the lies and the agenda that has sought to destroy them and their generations. That will happen as they come to know the real Jesus, who loves them and cares for them like no other, and who has made the way for them to be apart of His family.

Part of this great move of God I believe will come from just this – thousands and thousands realizing their true identity in Jesus, throwing off their pride flag, and humbling themselves before God, receiving true love, so perfect that it casts out the fear and manipulation and the lies. I’ve seen it with a few. Many more are going to follow. God will raise them up, just as He did those Eunuchs, and they will overthrow the very system that has held them captive.

 

A person gently cradling a baby wrapped in a cream knit blanket
Christian living, Family, God encounters, Seasonal

Embrace the Baby

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Playfully, a new friend of mine changed her voice as she mimicked the tones of the shepherds, the wise men, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and even the sheep as she individually held the pieces of our antique manger sitting on our coffee table. We belly laughed as she retold the story through cracked, chipped characters tip tapping the glass top through the hay straw.

Joseph and Mary stood staring at the holy infant keeping their distance with their hands crossed over their chest in a stiff, lifeless stance as Baby Jesus lay still in the most holy, untouchable way safely tucked a few feet away.

“Oh, Look at the Son of God laying there. He is so holy,” said Joseph in her deep, husky man’s voice.

“Yes, Joseph. Isn’t Jesus so perfect?! Don’t touch Him,” Mary sighed in my friend’s best squeaky high voice, “Just look at Him.”

The shepherds and sheep stood at a distance. “Such a wondrous sight. The savior of the world. The angels just told us about it. But we will stand over here so as not to disturb Him.”

The sheep said, “Bahh!” in return. We laughed again.

As the giggles died down, I turned to face my friend and said, “But isn’t this how most people really treat Jesus, and the whole Christmas story? Isn’t this how most religious institutions have portrayed the Messiah? Someone to be seen from a distance – holy, perfect, untouchable. Seen, but not touched.”

She sighed, “Yes, babies are meant to be cuddled, embraced, held close to your heart. They melt the hard things inside us when we do.”

And it’s the same with Jesus. He wants you to hold Him close to your heart, to let Him into the deep places inside of you, to allow His love to melt the hard.

Yet, to do so, we must embrace Him. We must open our hearts to receive His love, trusting Him that His love will be safe.

We can stay at a distance admiring His holiness, and perfectness, making Him untouchable. He won’t force us to come close, but if we refuse to, we will never truly know Him, never truly know His love.

Love is not sterile. It’s not distant. It is so intimate, so close, so vulnerable – kind of like holding a newborn in your arms – close to your breast, against your heart. So, close you hear each others heartbeat. This is the way Jesus is meant to be embraced. One with you. One with Him.

And His love will heal you. It will embrace you back. It will soothe, and melt your heart, giving you a new heart. His love will accept you, and show you who He has created you to be all along, from the beginning of time. His love will set you free.

Will you draw close to Jesus this Christmas?

Take a step closer to the risen Savior. He is not in the manger any more. He is alive. He came to give His life for you, because He loves you.

Love compels us to pick up the baby in the manger, to embrace the baby close to your heart and let Him melt all the hard places away.

He loves you so very much!

Merry Christmas!