Calm Center

Hurricane warning!  Strong winds!  Rising waters!  Sound familiar?  It is the sound of life, especially life in the fast lane.  Bills to pay, bosses to please, children to raise, friends that need us, and the inevitable sicknesses and eventual deaths.  What fun!

Maybe it can be.  Maybe if we stay anchored to our hope, the storms of life will swirl

around us and never get into our boats.

Maybe there’s a place of rest where nothing can touch us, not even sickness and death.

Maybe with our eyes fixed on Christ and our ears attuned to his voice, we will be rock steady even in the midst of the storm.

Much discipline is required.  We must quiet our souls, calm our minds, and rest our spirits.

We must know the word, be practiced in prayer, and be in community with our fellow travelers.

We must work when it’s time to work, rest when it’s time to rest, and pray when it’s time to pray.  We must talk a little and listen a lot.  

We must laugh a little and love a lot.  We must trust our lives to the one who cares and who is able to see us through.  We start by trusting him with our souls, then with our families, our friends, our finances, and even our faith.  

He must sustain even our faith!  

We trust him with our past, our present, and our future.  We surrender back to him the earth and keep our minds and our affections fixed on our heavenly destination where Our Lord, Our Father, and our loved ones wait for us.

What a day of celebration it will be!

As a preacher/comedian, Ken Davis, so aptly put it, “Let us live with nothing to prove, nothing to hide, and nothing to lose.”  Let us thrive, not just survive.  Let us live to give.”

  “May the love of The Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all” – 2 Corinthians 13:14.

~ Brad Heilhecker

Suitable Adjustment

Worthy Thought: May we all be in suitable adjustment today and always.

Hero’s

Be sure to thank the Hero’s in your life!

Contend For My Presence

Contend for My presence dear one’s

For the enemy would want to stop

what I want to do for and through you

It is important that you keep your focus

on Me and block out all other noises

The enemy is making it his mission

to distract My set apart one’s

For he knows that his days

are numbered in their lives

He is going big

trying to take you off course

He wants to blindside you

and then take you out

He will do anything to steal your focus

It is an all out war

to stop My plans and purposes

in your lives

You have gone through

many processes

Many levels of warfare

Many learning curves

This time you are battle ready

to stop his schemes

Seek My presence at any cost

Hide in Me

In My word

and let prayer become your wailing song

He is very strategic in his plans

To take you out if My presence

is not your dwelling place

He will take you out when you least expect it

You have come far dear ones

You have paid a high price

Bringing every sacrifice

I have asked of you

There were many days

when you wanted to give up

but you clung to Me with all your might

Prouder, I could not be

Of My army of love sick lovers

Yearning and going deeper with Me

So contend for My presence

I will restore you

and bring healing

to your weary soul

Do not look to your left and right

when challenges want to overwhelm you

Look to Me

the author and finisher of your faith

Your strength lies in your ability

to surrender and trust Me

I will reveal the strategies

and plans of the enemy

When you seek for Me

You do not have to run

and hide and fret

No dear one’s

I never lose a battle

Wait and see

For in My presence

darkness will have to flee

Be amazed by only My gaze

Soon everything will fall into place

and you will see clearly

where I led you all along.

~ Ebigale Wilson

Contend For My Presence

The Journey

http://www.restoredministries.org

New Wine

This song has been stuck on repeat for me!

Hillsong’s latest New Wine.

Enjoy!

Never Go Out Of Style

Manners are like the zero in arithmetic; they may not be much in themselves, but they are capable of adding a great deal to the values of everything else. ~ Dame Freya Madeleine Stark

What Fuels You

Do you let stress and worry consume you?

How about anger and resentments?

All that is counterfeit fuel. Oh, it may keep you going but it’s wreaking havoc on the inside.

Let’s get still today before the Lord. Let’s invite Him into our situations and our life completely so we can be fueled well with Christ’s burning love.

It’s a much better fuel!

~ XXOO Michelle

Till Every Soul Is Free

It’s beautiful when

Your past,

As dark as it may be,

Brings light into someone’s darkness now;

When you share your story,

Your past experiences

And pain,

And show people your real side,

It’s all people really want

To see,

To experience,

Cause fake is so common

In this world,

That’s why victims

Need to know they’re not alone,

That they’re beautiful,

That they matter;

The way you can show them they matter

Is by breathing truth

In the midst of their pain,

Bleeding love to them

Cause all they know is shame;

No matter how painful,

How damaged their past was,

Anyone can be free

And live their lives to their full potential;

It is a choice

I choose to be obedient to God

And be a light in others’ darkness

No matter how uncomfortable,

Inconvenient,

Or scary it may be for me;

I won’t stay silent for justice

Till every soul is free

From bondage

To shame,

Fear,

And pain;

Our past doesn’t define us,

What we choose to do with it, does.

~ Bethany Anne

Pause

Worthy Thought: Pause and let your spirit respond instead of having your soul react.

Salvation Comes From The Lord

Do you ever relate to Jonah?

I most certainly can.

He was instructed by the Lord and quickly dismissed him. However, it didn’t take long for Jonah to realize where he had made a mistake.

He corrected his error, fulfilling the plan God had created for him. Then Jonah went on to praise God because he knew that our salvation comes from the Lord.

It is never too late to turn back to God, nor is it too late to begin a journey with him. No matter what we may be experiencing, we are never alone. The Lord hears our cries, and he answers us.

Jonah 2:2-9

“In my distress I called to the Lord,

and he answered me.

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the depths,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers

swept over me.

I said, ‘I have been banished

from your sight;

yet I will look again

toward your holy temple.’

The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down;

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit.

“When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

“Those who cling to worthless idols

turn away from God’s love for them.

But I, with shouts of grateful praise,

will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

Baring His Beauty,

Tiffany Thomas