Word 39

Therefore, do not be foolish and thoughtless,  but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is. -  Ephesians 5:17  I hesitated to write this testimony for a while because I had recently finished a 7-part series about how God had called me to quit a different job. (If you feel it would be encouraging for someone to get into the nitty gritty of how that process looks in practical terms, you can begin reading that  here .) At the risk of looking flaky, I decided to hold back for a while and also just take time to process. But after some of my stories came up in natural conversation with people more than once this weekend, I felt inspired to finally tell the tale ...of a creature that has a tail and changed my world. And more importantly, how the whole process led to my getting to know God just a bit more. So maybe grab a cup of coffee and a blanket, or whatever works for you, because I LOVE telling this story! It's a good one, and the great thing is th...

"You're going into deep waters," he said over the phone to my husband. This was an acquaintance that we knew to operate in a prophetic gifting, and he had called to relay this message. Continuing on, he said that God was overtaking my husband, and that this wasn't happening in a matter of months, but coming in the following days. "Interesting," I thought, while at the same time analyzing from different directions what deep waters could mean. The night before this call, I had dreamed of being in some sort of community center, similar to a YMCA, with two pools. I was actually trying to get to the restroom, and I jumped into the deep end of one pool with my purse, and found swimmers racing from the other end of the pool. Here they came in their lanes kicking up white water and heading straight for me.  Then, the dream shifted, and I was standing in a hallway by the childcare area of this community center. But  taking up most of the hallway was another pool! It ...

Where can I go from your Spirit?  ... If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  - King David  (Psalm 139:7-8) I heard crying outside my front door the other day.  At first, I thought one of our neighborhood kiddos had taken a tumble. They're often outside with their parents, so I expected a little comfort to ease the situation.  But about half a minute later, when the crying hadn't resolved, I went closer to the door to look.  Seeing no one around, I stepped outside to find out who was crying, and it was a little girl I knew.  Rivers flowed from her eyes, and her emotions were a whirlwind.  As soon as she saw me, she hysterically cried out, "My parents left me!"  This was alternating with, "I can't find my parents!" I tried to convince her they hadn't left as I picked her up, but she was quite insistent that they had. I reassured her we'd figure it out together, and I wouldn't leave her until we found them.   Turns out she ...

Earlier this week, I made a really tough personal decision that I had been indecisive about just the day before. The stress of the indecisiveness had put my soul in a state of anguish, and I stayed in prayer most of that day and evening. Praise God for his faithfulness, who answered two specific questions I had asked him, so that I was able to discern the proper course and act on it.  Once I actively made my decision, I started experiencing some discomfort in my body that I would call indigestion. I took some antacids throughout the day and let that be that. Upon awakening the day after, the discomfort was worse, and instead of working itself out, by 11:45 am, I was in pain. Although I do believe that, to a degree, the stress of the situation set my body out of whack, I began to sense this might also be spiritual in nature. I was remembering another time our family had stepped out into a big, trust-demanding situation, and I had been attacked for almost two weeks, with growing inte...

"For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands." -Psalm 128:2 "And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child."  -Revelation 12:4b In the midst of a high pressure decision, I was feeling a familiar internal conflict.  Holy Spirit had led me to Psalm 128 already, and as I continued praying, I was led to Revelation 12.  As I read it, I realized the internal conflict was coming from not being fully convinced of the impact and importance of tasks God had called me to in this season, nor the spiritual warfare surrounding my decision.   This was causing me to vacillate between the knowing in my spirit-man and the pressures from the natural world.  The decision I made would either take me into or away from a stronger focus of these tasks.  I began to see there was an lying voice (vs 10) speaking things in my ear that seemed like wisdom, but it was really trying to get me to a...

"The steps of a good man are ordered (established) by the Lord:  and he delights in his way."  - Psalm 37:23 This is the last post of a very long "series," I guess we can call it at this point, about how God called me away from a job that took me 2.5 years to truly hear and obey. You can start the story at the beginning if you want to catch up.  For now, I am approaching this post as if the reader understands the story to this point. I mentioned in my last post that there was a (night) dream that came to me as I was resigning from my job.  I didn't have a clue as to what the dream meant, but I knew God was showing me something, assumably not about myself, as I was an observer in the dream rather than a participant.  There was one part of the dream that I was  able to seek out for understanding, as the dream contained a map, with two blue GPS dots.  I supposed the map to be of the city where I lived.   And since the setting of the dream was ...

Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith . . . Joel 2:19 If I had read this story up until now, I would want to know how it ended.  "Ended" is kind of a misnomer though; does a story ever really end? I'm still breathing, so my story is still going.  I digress.   Was I able to afford groceries and lights?  What a great question ... if you're asking.  ( You can start  here ,   at the beginning,   if interested.)   By the time God gave my husband and me double dreams that I was in rebellion , it was April 12, 2022.   I had been having a pretty straightforward, ongoing conversation with God since the three double confirmations , which wrapped up 02.21.22.  It went  like this:  God,  I don't want to have to struggle to buy socks and orange juice . (Yep, those two things were my go-to.)  I believe you're saying to step out, but how do I know when so that I'm ti...