Captain Hook Versus Peter Pan and Tinker Bell!

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Captain Hook Versus Peter Pan and Tinker Bell!

Here are my observations about us people so far.  We start out one way and end up another only to be compelled to seek out and go back to where we started.  Our change isn’t just crows feet and gray hair, unless you color it, no one really knows how much gray you have, not even ourselves but our thoughts and ways about life change.  Youth seems to bring a natural humility and innocence to it but then the worries of the world come along and we become anxious and “try” to be self-sufficient.  When Jesus attempts to teach us about being child-like He is trying to bring us to a place of not worrying and attaining the humility and trust of a child.  The only difference is that we have much more to worry about and therefore we have tons more to give up and trust God for. Our faith is essential to God and He will do anything to help us enter into His “eternal riches and glory.”  For the sake of this metaphor though we’ll call it “Never, Never Land.”   This seems to be the Dichotomy of the spiritual freedom that some of us have tasted, some have never known and the really mature spiritual ones have learned to walk and stay in the place of child-like humility.  There is an amazing rest here for the ones who are so tired and worn out with all their own self-sufficiency and striving.  It seems to be harder for the ones like Peter, who had been there but then got caught up in fear and doubt and the worries of the world.  Why is it always Peter?!!!

In the movie, Hook, where Peter Pan returns, reminds us of the part of the change that we want and should try to resist.  “I’m never growing up!” says Peter Pan.  The catch 22 is that getting older is inevitable as we have more to worry about and the more we are pushed passed our own limitations the more we have to give up and trust a so called good God for. This is not an easy feat as we can see in the metaphorical movie script.  It’s hard to imagine some people who can handle so much on their own.  For some of us it doesn’t take much stress to force us to our knees and call out for help but for others it seems that they can spend all their lives in a type of hell/pride and self-sufficiency just like Captain Hook!  This place is exhausting for some of us to live their too terribly long and at some point we break down and finally come to the end of our own resources and cry out for help like a child or let’s say we become like Peter Pan again. This is a sign of true humility and strength versus pride and self-sufficiency, not to be confused with being a victim, which is just more self-sufficiency trying to disguise its self in a false humility.  This seems to be a layer-by-layer process opposed to a onetime deal or experience with God. Tinker-Bell is the Spiritual metaphor that can lead us to freedom.  Obviously this blog is not intended to make us believers of fairies but maybe they do exist when we’re on our summer hikes, giggling in the trees?  

 Anyway the story about Peter Pan is a great lesson and reminder for us to try and believe.  Believe what?  The story never really conveys the “What” but yet in the movie, Captain Hook The Return Of Peter Pan, reveals what ends up motivating Peter is the fear of losing his children.  This seems to do it every time.  The motivation of actually losing what we love most, seems to be the only thing that can move us into this place of spiritual freedom.  It may be adventurous to say that Peter starts out with the love for his kids and then ends up loving himself better as he finds his inner child again.  Some of us may need to begin at believing that love even exists and that we ourselves are greatly loved.  The stress, danger, wars and evil in our world do not seem to help us trust God with this but that’s where Tinker Bell sprinkles her magic fairy dust because in the end we are not really in charge of anything, even our spiritual journey itself needs to be given up and surrendered to God.  Great movie to re-watch this Christmas Season!  Have a very Merry Christmas!      

Dialogue with God. by Laurie Jackson.

Dialogue with God.

(Maybe I’m 10 yrs old)

Can you believe me Laurie?

Uhmm, maybe?  Can you help me?

Absolutely!  Can you trust me?

I’ll try to?

Smile from God.

I see you kinda, and maybe trust you a little.

(Years go by)

(Teens to 20ish)

Lord are you there, really?

Yes always.

Why the pain?

Silence from God.

Are you real?

Can you believe me?

Yes, will you help me believe you?

Yes always!

(More years pass 20’s…1…2,..3 etc.. )

Lord I need to know if you are really real?

I am!

How do I know for sure?

Keep asking.

Ok.

(A few more years go by)

No more alcohol for joy and peace I know you are the better source for this!

Yes I am.

I quit…. Where are you?!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m here with you.

Where is joy and peace?!

In me.

How do I get it?

Silence from God….

(A yr or so later..)

Why am I so depressed, discontent and dead inside?

Can you trust me?

Yes, I will.  Will you please give me relief and some joy? I haven’t been drinking I’ve been waiting for you!!!!!!!?

Yes!  Here is a hunger for my truth… read on… I’ll reveal to you my love in Jesus’ life.

Oh my goodness!  I love this.  The bible never was this exciting to me ever!

I’m giving you revelation!

Thank you… so I can’t give myself the revelation?

Hell to the “know”… revelation comes only from me.

You wanted this and your heart was receptive to the true gospel.

Thank you Lord so much for Jesus…. I love Jesus!

(A few more yrs go by..28, 29… etc….)

Where are you Lord, I’m still struggling so much but I know you are good!

Can you trust me more?

Yes… with what?

Will you do something that makes you scared?

Yes!  No wait. That!????? No way… ok…scared.. you’ll help me I know.

(One day goes by)

I can’t do this I need to pass it off!!!!… frantic phone calls… a word aptly spoken from a true sister in Christ….

(I was asked to lead worship for a small group and this freaked me out… insecurity galore!  Very afraid! She said something that challenged my inner spirit “you can’t lead where you are not going.”  This spoke volumes to me and basically said to me that if I would authentically worship God myself as I led with the music that I chose to use for leading the worship sets, then God would give me the ability and strength, little did I know I would find great Joy in His spirit and find a taste of freedom that I’d never known existed.  This went on for over a decade and God taught me much about surrendering to him.  He never forced me, only asked me.)

(around 33 ish… etc… )

Lord, I’m still so restless.  I haven’t touched, needed or wanted alcohol and have only sought you for Joy and peace but I still feel so empty and often scared.  I’m tired.. So tired of being scared.

(A book and word aptly spoken, ”Practicing the Presence of God”)

I began seeking His presence and truth with all my heart.

March 3^rd 3:00 in the morning 2002… He touched me with His love it is to this day the most amazing experience I’ve ever had in God!  It’s indescribable other than that I felt his love for me and loved others in a divine way. I continued to seek his touch for years and learned that I must seek His face now and not his hand if I wanted to go further with Him.)

Lord!  Please I need your touch again!  I’ve been ruined by your presence I can’t enjoy normal living. I need your manifest presence again please please please!

Silence…

(A couple of years later)

Lord?

Seek my face not my hand.

Ok… show me how..?

(More and more revelation from glory to glory and even some manifestations but never as intense as march 3^rd.)

I was becoming familiar with God now and our dialogue changed.

Isn’t that funny Lord?

I hear Him laughing… in the spirit.. can’t explain it.

I just love her Lord.

He speaks insights about her and we enjoy her together.

Help me love this person Lord.

He gives me insights and opportunities to love.

Thank you so much Lord.. I’m so blessed to love and serve her and you.

(A few years of this..My family, friend’s, neighbors, prisoner’s and amazing love!)

The dialogue is less wordy and more feel.

Seeking

Finding

From Glory to Glory

I love to know you Lord.  How lovely is your dwelling place help me to know you more and more.  You are the treasure that I seek.  I trust you with this journey with all the pain and pure delight together.

Can you trust me Laurie?

Yes!  Will you help me?

Absolutely. You know I will!

I know

We both smile at each other.

Three years ago, around 41-ish, He asked me to trust him with something very precious to me, I barely said yes…. I was confused for three years… I learned a lot about myself and Him.  He revealed deep doubts and replaced them with trust.  I would have not said yes had I’d known the loneliness and emptiness that I’d face all over again. The storm has subsided and love and joy seem to be more constant and less like a roller coaster now.

What do you think about that storm Laurie?

I think you protected my loved ones and asked me to give up a cherished friendship.

It will be whole one day.

Yes, I trust you for this Lord.

We both smile! 

Thinking For Your Self. by Laurie Jackson

Thinking For Your self!

My mother always told me that I didn’t follow the crowd and that I would just do what I wanted, which was sometimes with the crowd but often times not!

As a kid I always liked everyone for the most part.  In high school and in junior high I wasn’t oblivious of the clicks but I constantly countered the pressure to be in one of them.  It was a natural instinct in me.  I later married a “black man” and depending on which side of this country you lived on this was “against the grain” so to speak.  I had “home-births” and decided to “home-school” as well as be a “stay at home” mom!  Being a Christian and follower of Jesus has been my own decision and not based on churchy people, parents or friends.  In fact many years ago I was ready to give up the whole Jesus thing, which made me seek out many answers to my deep- hearted questions in life.  I know better now as to why I believe the way I do and that is good for me.  

The interesting thing that happens when you make choices based on your own “thinkage” is that you don’t feel the need to argue, persuade or force someone to feel, think or choose like yourself.  You lose the need to convince another as a means to feel more secure about your own decision because you’ve already made it in a healthy and stable way.   This has brought much freedom in my life.  Lots of so called, non-conformity in my life choices and I won’t even get into political by- partisan issues!  Sheesh!   Each time I was met with disdain or opposition and differences of opinion I usually listened and thought through the arguments.  One question to ask your self in these situations is, “do I want to be like this person that I’m following?”  Truly I look back and this is what I definitely did and still practice doing today.  Typically I come back to my original decision but being open-minded has convinced me to do the opposite as well.  At least I knew that I wasn’t setting out to make a decision simply based on trying to be a “non conformist” which by the way, I rejected that click as well.  At the end of the day I am glad about my decision making process and it comes down to thinking for yourself and not allowing persuasion to move you with dysfunction.

             Recently I’ve looked into On-line schools and after thinking it through and researching much.  I’ve come to my conclusion.  There is a stigma to all of the things I’ve mentioned above and there is one to on-line schools as well that I’m willing to deal with.  This goes on and on depending to whom you are talking to.  This school that school, Christian or home-school, working mom, stay at home mom, rich, poor, black or white.  Seriously we will be tossed to and fro if we don’t know why we think the way we do.  This doesn’t always mean you think you are right but rather you made a decision in the right way for the right reasons.  This isn’t a quick and easy route!  The quick and easy route is to follow the masses.  The wise and stable way to make decisions is laborious and time consuming.  Most people will not take the time to even think anymore.  I see this so much in our health care system.  Do what the doctor says because they must know best?  Not a good way to process.  I’ve learned that to trust God and seek his wisdom with my decisions, to have a stabilizing affect.  James 1:6 “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”  This has proven to bring much peace and stability in my life.  

               I’ve seen myself and others be tossed back and forth like a piece of garbage in a windstorm by the media, advertising and even their own friends and family.  This political season is bringing so much of this type of wind, in fact, it’s a storm and no one seems to be going inside to just think alone.  If you try thinking for yourself, you’ll have to face opposition, disdain, prejudice and more.  This is the truth but it does set you free from the storm. 

Personal problems/Guilt, Doubt and Shame!

Personal problems/Guilt, Doubt and Shame!

Laurie Jackson 8/25/2012

So I’m not sure if this will be a blog or rather a ventilation system for my issues today as writing to myself usually helps me navigate through my toxic emotions and as a result, siphon them out altogether.

I was chatting with a friend recently that had just gotten back from marriage counseling and I said without any doubt at all that I didn’t think we had  “marriage” problems but rather we all had “PERSONAL PROBLEMS!”  Their reply was simply that their counselor said something very similar.  I didn’t need confirmation about my own insight but it did feel reassuring that my friend had a counselor that is getting to the core issues and I believe they will do very well.

That particular day I was feeling quite irritated at my husband and I KNEW it was “all” due to my own issues.  I then jokingly exposed myself and my toxic attitude to my friends and took two stuff animals sitting on the floor and said this is me and this is my husband and I took my personified animal and proceeded to punch and hit my husbands personified stuffed animal in the face repeatedly!  That actually made the point more effective and included a comedic edge that we all so desperately need.

The toxic emotions I am dealing with today are three fold; guilt, doubt and shame.  If you have read many of my blogs you know that I believe in God through Jesus Christ and surely have mentioned the Holy Spirit a time or two.

God has led me to do things for people that I would normally never do like clean dirty houses, bring homeless people to my home, spend time with murders, drug addicts and rapists on a regular basis. Every time I’ve followed or follow the Holy Spirit’s leading I am ALWAYS blessed, at peace and have a deep, strong desire to do these things. Albeit I have had fear accompany some of the things God has asked me to do, His peace always surpasses my understanding.  I love listening to the Holy Spirit cause He’s ALWAYS right!

My toxic emotions today are NOT of God and because I don’t have a counselor to talk to today I’ve been conversing with the greatest counselor I’m ever going to have, The Holy Spirit.  I am assured and have no doubt that these emotions I’m feeling are indeed toxic.  I am also feeling led to write because often this is how the Holy Spirit will speak wisdom and truth to me and almost every time, like clock work, this brings me to the place of freedom that is rightly mine because of the precious blood of Jesus and His gift of the Holy Spirit He has freely given to me.

To say that freedom is rightly mine, took many years of healing and learning about Gods power that supersedes any good deeds I could ever do.  So today I can receive this truth with gladness and ease.  Although it was a long time before I really understood grace.  I’m thinking today He will be giving me more of the same teaching about how His Spirit operates and more truth about His grace. 

So many people need a revelation of grace.  I believe today grace will be the only opposing force to these toxic emotions.

So let’s open up the first toxin, Guilt:

Guilt is the opposite of God’s grace.  It is full of pride and thinks it can earn good standing with God.  Good standing with God comes through Christ alone. (Really I’m hearing all this for me and if I do share this blog/journal… God must make it clear as this is quite revealing) Guilt also attempts to accuse you of things you should do.  Guilt “shoulds on you!”  We shouldn’t “SHOULD” ON OURSELVES!  I’ve always liked that one ‘cause it feels like real cussing and sometimes cussing is fun!  Guilt is not of God and can often be disguised in the religious circles as “conviction.”  This is very misguiding because as a follower of Jesus Christ, when I have conviction, I am never CONFUSED about it but when there is GUILT, there is ALWAYS  confusion that whispers in your ear! (Maybe I will share this because that right there is freeing me and I know its God helping me out)  How true is this?  I must remember this myself.  I’ll just copy and paste it so we can all read it again k. This is very misguiding because as a follower of Jesus Christ, when I have True conviction, I am never CONFUSED about it but when there is GUILT, there is ALWAYS confusion that whispers in your ear!

DOUBT:

Doubt comes from lack of trust in God’s ways and love for us.  Some doubt is absolutely necessary as we must grow in our faith and doubt propels us to wrestle with the truth until it becomes clear.  Other doubt is like a dart from the enemy; let’s call him Satan!  I believe God uses our enemy to make our faith stronger.  Again, we must wrestle with doubt when the arrows come flying and this makes us aware of the battle and the truth gets more solidified after a good battle with our enemy.  We end up knowing better how to fight battles that will come again and we get wiser at identifying the enemy’s tactics.  So be glad when your faith is tested cause it’s a good thing!  James 1:2-4 says it best. “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish it’s work in you so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  I love How God doesn’t want us to lack in any of His peaceful, fruitful life giving sap!

Shame:

Shame must always include other people because it’s based on how others see us.  It is overly concerned with what everyone else is doing and thinking about us.  This is an area that can go way deep if you’ve come from a sexually abused background or other types of abuse.  Being a victim is what Shame’s job is.  Shame counters everything Jesus did on the cross and if you have shame you shouldn’t feel ashamed about that!  I’m so serious!   If shame causes you to cower from God’s face, you will never get the only power that can heal a shame filled person.  This is definitely the enemy’s tactic!!!!  Shame longs to fill up the isolated empty feelings of a wounded person.  Shame is the counterfeit to God’s pure love and acceptance.  Most often, Shame will blame God, (the very power that can obliterate it) thereby keeping the person shackled in shame forever!  I’ve seen this countless times in my own life and as I’ve helped others in their lives. 

The only remedy for all this is “Revelation” and as I’ve written about each toxic emotion, God again, of course, like always and on numerous occasions has quite literally set me free! J

A few more insights about God’s ways that I’ve noticed as a follow of Jesus Christ are: 

1)    Following God can make you look good to some and almost evil and unloving to others.

2)    Following God requires faith and most often you won’t understand why He is asking you to do a thing or Not asking you to do a thing until much later.  Maybe we won't understand until heaven.  I have yet to experience this as I’m still waiting for this "one thing" I believe He asked me to do to be a little clearer.

3)    Following God may surpass your own wisdom about a persons needs.  I know that when he does not give me the desire, strength or leading to “help” out a particular person, I find out much later, the answer to WHY he seemed to withhold my “Help”… Help may not look like Help to God.  Sometimes a person needs you to only be “out” of the picture.  This is why it’s important to understand the above about Guilt, doubt and shame. When we get in Gods way, it just takes more time for him to do what He’s doing.  

4)    Following God always brings about the fruit of peace.  NOT peace around you but peace inside you and the two are VERY different as we can see in the gospels of Jesus Christ. 

 I’ve decided to share this as I’m NOT ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and or how he is working this all out in myself.  Thank you for observing, participating and or enjoying this sometimes-difficult journey with me today!

  

Hidden Everywhere!

Hidden Everywhere. By Laurie Jackson 8/21/2012
 Just felt like blogging today as my daughter plays the beautiful music theme to my “favoritist “ movie, “Pride and Prejudice.” Funny thing is, she doesn’t even like the movie but she plays the song with incredible passion and musical maturity! Although our other daughter will watch the movie with me anytime of the day, so I get the best of both worlds anyway. LoL!

 As I had a little nap this afternoon and some great time out with God, I began being thankful for His way, truth and life and seemed to have a short, highlighted summary come to.

 His ways …

so far I believe this is His wisdom brought about by our earnest seeking, which is always rooted in a humble heart before Him. He has helped me admit having no wisdom and caused me to ask and desire it. Praying for this seems to be His way. Proverbs is packed full of it and you can learn it from so many variables, including children! My own children! I’ve also learned that God’s wisdom can be hidden in the most mysterious places!
 Everywhere!

 His Truth!

 Mysterious for sure! You can find it in the bible, but only as revealed by the Holy Spirit. You can’t contrive revelation and you certainly can’t force it to come too early. He has perfect timing. His Truth can seem very frustrating to learn and you never quite arrive at a complete revelation, as there is always more to be revealed. I’ve also learned that The Truth can be hidden in the most mysterious places! Everywhere

The  Life.

 Not a formula, nor a list of to-do’s but rather His spirit flowing through you. Mysterious and hard to understand intellectually, requiring faith in His goodness and Love. We must be after His life otherwise He’ll let us choose the opposite. I heard Charles Stanley say, “ you can’t have Love without choice.” I believe this is truth. I’ve also learned that life can be hidden in the most mysterious places! Everywhere!

 I believe that the way, Truth and life cannot be separated! I believe all of the above adds up to a most mysterious conclusion. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. I don’t quite get this completely but have experience what I am saying to some degree. I’m so glad about this! I am also convinced that there will be a time that we will be able to experience Jesus and His person completely one day. It is interesting how Jesus’ words didn’t waiver one bit. He simply stated, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” “The way” leads the question…”so there is no other way?” I find this intriguing.

 Thanks for walking with me on this journey today. Deuteronomy 30:19

Ageing Well or With Ridiculous Deformity.

Ageing Well or With Ridiculous Deformity.

So I’m blogging today for two reasons. A friend of mine gave me a compliment on my blog and this encouraged me. I also have an issue on my mind.

I just got off the phone with a friend who is the same exact age as I am and we were discussing the beginning stages of aging that we are both feeling. I also had a funny conversation with another friend recently and she starts out saying… “So I’m wondering if I should aspire to live the rest of my days as Rosanne Barr and give up, or kill myself and go for the Angelino Jolie look?” I busted up laughing, but said really quickly, as I’d been thinking along the same lines and immediately stated “Neither! We need to avoid both extremes.” I promptly assured her that I wasn’t saying I’m not gonna get any face work done but we started discussing all this and along with the talk I had last night with my other amazing friend I came up with this… The ageing blog now begins.

If you are fifty and older and know that I’m only 43 years old, don’t laugh as I realize it’s just the beginning and I haven’t seen anything yet, but this realization of aging is beginning to happen and I am attempting to try to handle, understand and deal with it, rationally, graciously and with as much wisdom as I can seek and find.

I know a few older friends who, to me, are ageing well and giving me great wisdom by just watching them live life.

Ecclesiastes, chapter12 is where my friend and I started discussing, as we wanted the wise perspective and not this crazy unrealistic perspective that we are bombarded with day in and day out from the media. It’s just not real! What is real is the truth.? So far this is what I’m seeing as I seek the truth in this matter of ageing.

1) It’s not about wrinkles, gray hair or stiff joints, but this IS indeed part of it. Our container is wearing out! This is normal and a natural part of our lives. I don’t believe we should spend every waking hour in the gym and deform our faces with plastic surgery or spend tons of money on this but I believe we should try and take care of ourselves with wisdom that is balance. I’m not going to talk about balance. I believe if we seek the truth we will run into balance on the way.

2) The older, are supposed to inspire, help, support and give wisdom and guidance to the younger. This should be natural, but we can also reject this stage of life and start thinking unnaturally, as I believe if the media is your teacher that you will become a “Deformed” older person. What do I mean? The visual that comes to mind is if we put a baby in a play pen most of the day and didn’t let them learn to crawl and or walk around they would be stunted and in extreme confinement they would end up being physically deformed and emotionally stunted. This is how I see Joan Rivers. Sorry, but she doesn’t look right and where is the wisdom that she should have by now? She does not inspire me one bit. I know some older people with a few “more” wrinkles and gray hair that when I have even a five-minute chat with them make me feel motivated, inspired and refreshed after being with them. This should be the norm. Unfortunately many of us are looking to the wrong sources for our guidance. Something is wrong here. The truth always makes me feel free. So I’m going for the truth about ageing.

3) It’s not a time to give up either but rather to take the wisdom and apply all we know and have. Ecclesiastes 7:18 not letting go of one to grasp another. Over the years I’ve learned some wisdom about eating and exercise. I shouldn’t let go of this just because it doesn’t seem to have the same effect on my body. So I don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, but I keep on moving. Maybe my movement will look different as I “move” into my 50’s and 60’s? But we can take the wisdom of avoiding one extreme of giving up and the other extreme of focusing so much on our outer container that we have nothing of substance flowing from the container.

4) There were many truths from Ecclesiastes chapter 12; in fact, the entire book is full of wisdom and life giving sap. Lastly, the best advice for all ages, and this is in Ecclesiastes 12:14 The Message version: “Fear God. Do what he tells you. 14And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.” To “Fear” God is the beginning of wisdom and what I have learned about this scary FEAR word is that you gotta study the language that it was written in so you don’t get all freaky and religious with it. All it means is to Reverently respect Gods truth and ways. I hear this verse with a loving Father’s attitude full of wisdom and the best interests in mind for his kids. My rendition is… “Hey, this life is short and full of emptiness apart from loving relationships, it’s meaningless. Sow good wholesome seeds in this life. You will reap what you sow. Go ahead sow to your fleshy body and plastic surgery… you’ll reap just that. Sow to finding wisdom and love and guess what kids? You will indeed reap wisdom and loves reward. This is only the beginning not the end. The end of the container is certainly not all I have planned.”

I’m finding it rewarding and difficult to age. I need more wisdom about this and I believe if I hang out with the wisdom giver, I’ll surely get some. Let’s age well, without becoming literally deformed individuals. Father God, you have a plan for this natural process of ageing. Let us look to you for wisdom and truth as we enter into the second half of our lives.

Thank you to my older and wiser friends. You are excellent examples to all of us coming behind and so much so that you are overpowering the ridiculousness of what the media is portraying.

Rest For Our Souls.

Rest For Our Souls. by Laurie Jackson: 2/15/2012

I’m only blogging today because I told myself that I wanted to write at least one blog a month. Last month I exceeded this and put up three blogs. I usually go off total inspiration though so I’m not sure if this will take or not. I thought I would just start typing and something would inspire me and then I could pay-it-forward.

I heard God today. For some of you this sounds weird for others it sounds wow and for those that hear God often, it just sounds normal. Well, I haven’t been ignoring God but I have been distracted with worry and fear lately. I’ve finally calmed down and heard God tell me to be child-like again and just believe what He’s taught me. This gave me an immediate restful feeling in my heart. Then this morning I heard Him tell me this again in more detail. I’m not going to blog about what He told me but what is beginning to inspire me to blog now, is the fact that we can all hear the God of the universe and depending on what you think of Him this could make you happy, sad or even mad and or scared to death. For me, because I know that He is good and loving, I was happy to hear Him this morning. It took many years of my life, to even trust that God was a good and loving God. He had to prove this to me over and over and I found out that He was happy to heal my heart from fear and distrust over and over again. He is indeed patient and knows why a person would think bad of Him. He gets it, so don’t worry about being angry at Him. Just talk to Him about this or yell to Him about it like I did for years. He can handle us. We don’t scare Him one bit.

I realized that hearing Him only requires me to soften my heart toward Him. A Softened heart, makes me think of a trusting child-like person. So because my heart was able to hear Him, I did. I think it’s easy to soften our hearts. We can actually pray that God will help us soften our hearts. By the time I pray this, I’m usually already participating in humbling my heart before Him anyway. I’m thinking that we get distracted and this can make our hearts forget His amazing presence and help in our lives. It’s easy for me to be distracted with worry. New worry, stuff that is new to my life, like new challenges or old ones I haven’t dealt with for a long time.

Now that I’m restful, I’m realizing how God himself brought me here. Once He gets you to know Him and trust Him a little, our hearts have a natural longing to stay in this restful place. We crave it! When this place of rest gets disturb we notice it. Sometimes it takes me awhile to notice, but eventually I get tired of being tired.

I’m not sure if I’ve communicated to anyone but at least I wrote a February blog. This verse comes to mind as well. What I think it means by the word “religion” in this verse, is when we get “none relational with God” so I go about my life kinda ignoring Him and or avoiding Him because hearing Him, requires me to soften my heart and believe like a child that He is very real and present. This requires me to not be so heady about life or try to figure it all out by myself. Matthew 11:28 I love it from the Message version so here is what I’ll end this blog with:

28“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? (“none relational with God”) Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”