For those who read my original birthday reflection, I jumped into the subject of prophetic words. It felt like that would be a better blog onto itself. So, I’m doing a little rewriting here, and I’ll give more attention to the prophetic word subject later, when we can dive deeper. So, here you go.
You know you are getting a bit older, when you start referring to things happening in “decades”. It happened this morning. I mused about how long it has been since we have gotten an accumulation of snow in the south like we have right now. Five to six inches is quite a lot for us, “southerners”. Yet, as I thought about the last time this had happened, I thought, “Well, that must have been at least a decade ago.”
“A decade ago.” “Two decades ago.” “Three decades ago.” Yikes.
And so, here I am a little over five and a half decades of life lived, thinking a lot about what I want the rest of the decades of my life to be like, realizing that “the longer I live, the less I seem to know”. That famous quote is true, because the longer I live, the more perspective I gain, which shows me the more room I need for growth. The more understanding I have leads to perceiving how I really don’t know as much as I thought I once did.
I am going to bullet point some things I have been learning about in the past 55 years of living. I say been learning because again the more I think I got it, the more I seem I have to learn. A new curve ball gets thrown that makes me refine my perspective. I will flesh out some of these statements over the next few months, as the Spirit leads me to do.
Words and their meanings really matter. Over the course of the this past decade, (Remember, I’m older now and can refer to life through that lens, ha!) the meaning of words have been morphing and changing. I’ve been informed of this phenomenon many times by my younger generation friends. One thing I’ve really noticed in our culture is that there is a tendency to group several meanings of words under one word, which blurs the meaning. This causes confusion and opens the door to misunderstanding and even abuse. Take the word “autism”, which I’ve had a crash course in recently due to a friend who has it. The meaning and application of that one word is extremely broad, so much so they had to call it an “autistic spectrum”. Other religious examples that come to mind are “prophetic” and “forgive”. There is also a ton of abuse that has gone on using scriptures or Biblical principles, as they are weaponized against people to control or manipulate them. If you want help with that, take a look at Rebecca Davis’s Untwisting Scripture book series. In all this, the importance of understanding the meaning of words and how they are used is paramount. This requires us to stop and ask good questions, and not just assume the meaning of things.
God doesn’t command us to forgive, unless a person is repentant. He does command us to love and to pray for people. I’ll dive into this one more in the future, as I am unlearning and relearning some things about this.
Creativity is a huge component in healing our brain, our body, our emotions, and even our Spirit. It causes our brain to shift to a positive place, where connections can be made to help us process out trauma and pain. You can refer to come of my previous blogs on this. Start with “Exploring Our God Given Imagination: Part One”.
Love. Joy. Peace. Faith. Even things like Unity. These are actually forces that move and change things. Everything else will fail, except for love. Think about that. When we get caught up in attacking one another, cursing each other, placing one other in “camps”, we are giving into the work of the enemy. Yet, when we turn away from that, and truly love people, which is an action that begins with patience, we can literally change atmospheres. One act of patience, kindness, gentleness can defuse explosive situations, and restore unity. We don’t really understand the power of it. Love is patient, kind, gentle. See 1 Cor. 13 for the definition of what love really is.
Unhealed pain that we refuse to allow into the Light of God, that we nature and hold onto, leaves the doors wide open to the enemy to come in and harm us. One of the main temptations that get thrown our way, and seems so right is to take false responsibility over things that aren’t ours to do. As soon as we put our hands on what is meant for the Holy Spirit to do, we become our own mini-gods, and control and elitism are right on the heels. According to Kathie Walters, every move of God has been stopped by someone taking false responsibility. That’s huge.
Seek justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God. If we follow this recipe, then we will stay balanced in the tossing waves of the storms we are in as a society. Justice is the foundation of God’s throne. Last year, particularly, God consistent spoke to me that justice is coming and being done. Personally, I went on a journey of reporting some crimes that I had experienced as a child, at the beginning of last year. Again, this is one I’ll dive into later, but there were some important lessons learned in that whole process. Our legal systems may not bring justice as it should, but God will in His time.
Sitting in the mercy seat is essential for dispensing justice and judgments. See the blog I wrote entitled “The Two Thrones” for more of this.
Sometimes, you just have to let go. Freewill is REALLY important to God. As much as you want to help someone, and you want to love someone, you can’t force anyone to do anything. In fact, you truly can’t have LOVE, if you don’t have freewill. When someone chooses to leave, you have to let go. Letting go is also an act of TRUSTING GOD.
“BE like the CENTURION,” rang in my Spirit on New Year’s Day this year. That meant to me that it’s not up to me to fix things, or fix people. I don’t even have to be present. All I have to do is believe that Jesus knows what HE’s doing and has the authority to do it. All I have to do is ask Him, and BELIVE Him. Our FAITH in Jesus is what moves the mountains, and we all have a measure of it.
Sometimes, I just need to listen. What people need more than our instruction and “great wisdom” (a little sarcasm here) is to be heard and seen first. Then, that may open the door for us to share our hearts too. I’m too fast to jump in with advice, because of wanting to help. It’s so easy for me to get into fix it, momma-mode. And almost every time, it’s not received and causes relational stress. Most of the time, people know what they need to do. They just need a safe person to share with.
We have to have a true north – a compass in life or we will wander off and get lost. There is truth that is unchanging and is stable to stand on. As a believer in Jesus, that for me is found in my relationship with Him and in the scriptures. If I veer from that relationship and/or His word, I become like that ship tossed about on a ship in a storm.
Sometimes, we just need to REST. This is a constant battle in me. I want to do. I want to fix. I want to take action. Finish a project. I hate it when people I love are hurting, and I can’t do something about it. Yet, Jesus consistently had to pull away from people Himself when He was on earth and rest. He had to go rest in His Father’s Love and know His Father’s heart. That’s how He knew what the Father’s will was at every turn, because He was in constant fellowship with Him. If we try to do life, without staying in the Ps. 91 place, abiding under the shadow of His wings, we will quickly burn out. Jesus didn’t respond to the needs of people. He did whatever His Father did. He pulled away. And He responded to faith.
Identity. Identity. Identity. It’s in those times of RESTING in the heart of God and meditating on His word, that I find out who He has created me to be. He already knows the future; therefore, He already knows who I’ve become in Him. These times of experiencing God define me. He reveals to me my identity in Him, which is uniquely mine, because He has created each of us with a divine blueprint of who we are in Him, and what HE has called us to do and be. Knowing this and remembering this, keep me on the right path towards life in Him. And in turn, I learn more of who He is. And how much He truly love us, which changes me more to be like Him.
Well, I think that’s enough to chew on for a few months at least. Thank you for reading and allowing me to share a few things I’m learning on the way. I pray it helped you.
Hopefully, I have a few decades left to live on this earth, and I hope I can live them well, in timing and relationship with my Lord and Savior, obeying His will. I pray I can do that with a little more perspective than before – with a bit more understanding, that only walking with Him through time can give. And if I have gained any wisdom, that I can share that in the right way, at the right time, so that it can help someone else on their journey with Jesus.
That’s my simple birthday wish.
Grateful for each of you. Love to you all.
