A few years back, I was living up Hell’s Canyon running a Christian retreat center. When a friend came to visit, we decided to take a hike. As we climbed, we came across a harmless, but dead, bull snake in the grass, lying across the trail. Not so unusual. We stepped around it and moved on.

Farther up the trail, we came across another snake—dead also. By the time we came to the third one, I smelled a rat. When I tapped the snake with a stick, a forked back tongue shot out of its mouth, snapping me awake. We had met three, cold, nearly dormant, but very much alive, snakes that for the most part had looked very much alike.

I grabbed my camera, bent down, took a picture of the snake and his tongue, and went on about our hike.

Later, when I showed the picture to a snake-savvy friend, he squawked about how close I’d stood to a RATTLESNAKE! The first two snakes had not been rattlers. So when I came upon the third snake in the grass, with its tail hidden under a leaf, I had assumed it to be the same. But one of these things was not like the others.

Life is sometimes like that. Safety requires discernment. Beware the snake in the grass… Believing first impressions, we can become trapped in a lie.  Trusting too soon, we tread a dangerous path. Standing too close, we will learn the pain of the bite.

Pray. Ask for discernment. Listen to it, trust it, heed it. And when they reveal themselves to you, believe them.

Amen.

Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. ~ Psalm 10:9 NLT

They mark the luckless, then wait like a hunter in a blind, When the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back. ~ Psalm 10:9 MSG

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Who are you? What were you made for? Where do you need to get to in order to do that?

The destiny of many, depends upon you fulfilling yours.  Your dreams lived out, will perhaps carry others to theirs.

Stop listening to the whispered lies: it’s hopeless, worthless, too late.

Truth: an ocean of possibilities awaits. Go find it.

It’s simple but not easy. Just 4 steps to fulfill your purpose. You simply must begin.

Step 1: Remember Who made you.

Step 2: Focus on what you’re made for.

Step 3: Inch daily toward the goal.

Step 4: Trust that God, Who made you for it, will make a way for you to do it.

Amen.

For we are the product of His hand, Heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago. ~ Ephesians 2:10 The Voice Bible

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You are never alone. No matter how it feels. There is always one who stands beside you. Has you by the hand.

Going through a difficulty? It’s in His Hands.

Life and death challenges? He is with you.

Financial, relational, spiritual struggles? Yep. In His Hands.

The enemy would have you believe otherwise. Do not forget the enemy is the ‘father of lies’ (John 8:44).

Remember this… if God has allowed it, He is beside you in it.

You are never alone.

Amen.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ~ Isaiah 41:10

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God wants us to remember… He is God. He is Able.  And He is near.

He already has a way through all that now confronts us. But we must give it into His Hands.

So be still. Let go. And follow where He leads.

Find Joy in trials by drawing near to Him.  For in His Presence there is all fullness of Joy.

Amen.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. ~ Psalm 16:11

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If after a long season of prayer, the thing we’ve asked for arrives and we find ourselves resisting it, it’s time to pray for willingness.

We are asked to do what we do not want to do: serve our time to complete the goal, go through the pain to be healed, get our hands dirty and our hearts broken in order to help. It’s the only way.

If you find yourself being asked to go, to do, to be the thing you once asked for but now resist because it’s not be easy, consider this: to bear the fruit we must be pruned.

The one who made you for a purpose has a plan for its fulfillment. He wants you to bear the fruit that blesses others. He is cultivating willingness in you. Remember to breathe through the process. And be willing.

Amen.

The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. ~ 2 Corinthians 8:11-12 The Message

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There is a pattern emerging. Of God and life conspiring. Circling us back around for another look at something we’d rather not see. To a place we’d rather not go.

Consider this…

There are times when we can only realize our healing by going back for the miracle.

What if…

Going back isn’t always about going backwards?

Resisting the returning deprives us of a gift?

Beauty arises from the ashes of the past?

Our cooperation is required?

My own faltering ‘re-turnings’ have led me to my Savior, my husband, my family, my friends, my church, my healing, my ministry, my work, my home. All of my greatest joys. But first I had to become willing.

So if the Lord is nudging you back to where you’d hoped to never go again, remember: He goes there with you, and He has a Plan to bring beauty from the ashes of your past.

Re-turning is not necessarily a punishment. Sometimes it’s a gift when life comes full circle.

Amen.

… He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair… ~ Isaiah 61:1-3

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This is the perfect opportunity to cultivate gratitude, in this season of possibilities.

Green laces distant hills. Red buds swell. Orchards delight with sudden bloom. Treelines sport a colored crown. Green things push up from blackest dirt. Robins play tug-o-war with sleepy worms. Meadowlarks call ‘game over’ to darkest seasons past, and we welcome driving storms for the new life pressed from the ground.

Our souls lean forward into the promise of the unseen.

It’s a glorious time to remember that what seems dead just might not be.

So relax. Give thanks. And trust.

Remember… The One who changes the seasons is the Master of bringing new life from seemingly lifeless things.  Just look up. There’s evidence all around you. This is the season of possibilities.

Amen.

I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. ~ Leviticus 26:4

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I love this time of year, when everything is poised to burst. New birth is in the air. We feel it in our spirits. See it rising before our eyes. Within us joy flutters, sensing color is on its way back into the world.

Hope stirs in seasons that cannot be contained. God’s Glory all around: trees budding, bulbs bursting, meadowlarks singing, robins worming. Evidence of resurrection from the dark of winter’s cold.

He is the Creator. The Animator. The Sower. The Grower. He is the Caller of the green to rise. In His time, in His will, He calls us each to bloom. To fruit. To the purpose for which we are called.

Remember…

It’s not about us—our life or strength, nor our ability to grow.

It’s about the seed He gave to us, that He’s asking us to sow.

It’s not about how much we have, or living without a care.

It’s all about His love and grace, He’s asking us to share.

So look up. Look around. Listen. Believe. Beautiful things are coming indeed.

Amen.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ~ Psalm 19:1

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Life begs of us to let go of the reins. To trust the One who holds all of existence in its orbit – contains the oceans in His hands. The One who beats your heart is the One who faithfully calls the sun to rise. He can be trusted. And it is He who plans your days.

So relax. Believe. And trust.

Remember to hold loosely your days, that He might insert miracles where you least expect. For it is in loosening our grip that we may be guided to that which is beyond our wildest dreams.

So let go and give the reins to God.

Amen.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

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There are hard things in life that we must overcome. They chisel character and beauty into our souls if we allow. Some are easier than others to forgive.

Forgiveness is a funny beast. Sometimes it slips in sideways, barely noticed as healing unfolds. Other times we must commit our will to march through to the other side. And sometimes it springs up suddenly, unfolding before our eyes like a miracle.

Jesus is in the business of walking us to that other side. Whether far or near, recent or past, living or dead, freedom is the goal, and Jesus is the Way. Freedom requires forgiveness.

God desires our wholeness. A truth so certain, He sent His Son to help us reach the goal. Jesus. The One who forgave in the midst of the greatest sorrow.

Whatever you’re walking through this day, this week, this year, trust the One who walks with you. He knows the Way. If you ask, He will take you there. And one day you will be free.

Amen.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ~ Colossians 3:13 NLT

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