Category: healing

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

The Heat is On

blossomingheartsstudio
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

blossomingheartsstudio

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.

A person resting beside a mountain lake with snow-capped peaks
Christian living, dreams, Family, God encounters, healing, Imagination, teaching, Uncategorized

Understanding Our Design

blossomingheartsstudio

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

Glowing illustration of a human brain with golden light
Christian living, healing, Imagination, teaching

Exploring Our God-given Imagination: Part 2

blossomingheartsstudio

A Little Brain Science

So, just for fun, let’s talk about a little bit of brain science and how the Bible is correlated.

As I navigated the Christian church life, I have heard many, well-meaning Christian leaders quote verses, like in Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  And in essence, I have been told so many times, that if you have anxiety, or bad images in your head, or struggle with depression, that it is just a thought issue.  And if you just think better thoughts, then you will have peace, joy, love – all the things.  Yet, as much as I tried and believe me, I tried, I could not shake intrusive thoughts, images, panic attacks, anxiety, and depression. 

Usually, when I would share a general view of my struggles, someone would so kindly slip me a list of scripture verses for me to quote.  

And I sincerely appreciated those gestures, and so, I would memorize those scriptures backwards and forwards, and they would help somewhat for a time.  Yet, in a short period, I would be having a panic attack all over again.  I just couldn’t understand what was wrong with me.  

What I’ve learned many years later in my healing journey is that our spirit, brain, soul, and body are extremely inter-connected, and there are many things that play upon our imagination, that come from subconscious places stored “in our heart”.

I am no expert on brain science, but the little bit that I have come to understand is fascinating and has put pieces together for me, so that I can be at peace with how I am wired, and I can begin to work with my God-given system, as God brings healing in and through my whole being.  

So, in the right side of our brain sits the right amygdala, and it is like our early warning signal about danger coming.  It remembers those dangerous scenarios of life, so that we will be kept safe, like a safety net.  God didn’t intend for us to live out of this place, but it is designed to keep us out of trouble.

Think of a child that touches a hot stove.  The memory of the event is stored here, and it reminds us that it’s not wise to touch a hot stove again, lest we experience pain.  In an effort to keep us safe, this part of our brain can actually highjack our imagination screen and put up images of future negative events that have not happened yet.  A person who has experienced lots of traumatic experiences can automatically have more negative images coming up, because their brain is trying to prevent them from getting hurt again.  

One example of this is when I am driving a car.  I have had vestibular damage in one of my ears, thus the motion of driving can make me feel a little dizzy.  Sometimes, though that feeling triggers back to places in my subconscious, where I’ve been dizzy before and bad things have happened.  So, for a long period of time when I was driving, images of the car flipping over or me wrecking the car in some dramatic way flashed across my imagination screen.  This isn’t a helpful use of my imagination, because a panic attack ensued directly after.  

As I’ve continued to learn more about how I’m wired, I’ve learned how to nurture the other side of my brain, even when driving, which shifts the atmosphere in my brain.  Here’s how.

The left side of our brain where the left amygdala lies is where we live out of the God-given design.  It rewards us by remembering the things that are essential to our design.  As God nurtures our design, we respond with love to God.  This is where the love is stored in our memories, because it where our design comes alive, and we find out how we are wired from this place.  Love, empathy, compassion – these can be nurtured from this part of our brain and also can project positive images of a hopeful future and good things happening in our lives.

We can intentionally refocus our brain onto the positive.  Like when I’m driving and the negative images come, now I take a deep breath, and out loud say, “Wow, look at that blue sky and those beautiful, white fluffy clouds.”   As I do that, I am literally refocusing my brain to operate out of the left amygdala, and as I do, the feelings of the car flipping over, fade.  My brain has now switched to engaging the left side, that all is safe, and there is something pretty to look at.

I, then, can take it a step further and intentionally remember other blue skies that I’ve experience before, thus further engaging my amazing imagination.  

Occasionally, though there can be some demonic interference, which that is the moment to use my authority give to me by Jesus. If that is the case, then shortly after taking authority over those spirits, my mind returns to peace.

A little more science:  the amygdala sits on top of the vagal nerve, which signals our body into either a state of peace, fight or flight, or into shut down mode.  Interestingly, there are physical ways to actually stimulate the vagal nerve as well to bring us back into a state of calm.  

A simple, low tone hum stimulates the vagal nerve and automatically begins to calm the nervous system down. 

With the vagal nerve at the top of our spine, the parasympathetic nervous system runs downward to connect the brain to the heart.  Let’s look back at the verse, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

Well, get this….

Some recent studies…

“The human heart comprises an intrinsic nervous system that has the capacity to modulate short-term and long-term memory functions (Aru et al., 2012). It contains approximately 40,000 neurons, specifically sensory neurites. Sensory neurites are basically specialized nerve fibers throughout the heart which regulate cardiac activity.” – National Library of Medicine

“Emerging studies now suggest that changes in the body can also manipulate our emotions. A sudden heart rate increase, for instance, may generate feelings of anxiety even if no external threat is present.” – Body to Brain Connection: How Our Hearts Influence Our Emotions by William A. Haseltine

“Other studies were suggesting that subconscious memories are stored in the heart.  The heart is also directly connected to the vagal nerve, which controls our fight or flight responses.” – Google AI summary

Back to the Proverbs.

“For as he thinks within himself, so is he.  He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!  But his heart is not with you.”  Prov. 23:7  

In light of this, this verse, in context, is really talking about the hidden motives going on in a man’s heart.  It’s way more than just thoughts going around in our head.  

Growing up in church, that verse had been twisted to me to mean, be careful what you think, because if you think the wrong thing, you will become evil.  So, it had been taught from a place of fear, not love, and taken out of context.  

Of course, it is important what we think.  In Phil. 4, it talks about not worrying and then, it goes on to talk about thoughts that are good for us to focus on.   “Whatever is pure, lovely, of a good report…think on these things.”  

There is just way more going on inside of us, than just controlling our thoughts.  Even in our own physical heart, subconscious memories reside.  There are solid reasons behind why it is important what we nurture, especially in our God-given imagination.  

In my next blog, we will dive into the biggest misconceptions that I’ve seen in my experiences regarding our imagination…