When God Is In It.....

I'm finding often, much more recently, I'm given the privilege to pray for and over others. Prayer has become such a huge part of my spiritual journey. God continues to show me over and over again the POWER behind the prayers of His followers. It's breathtaking, it's earth shaking, it's LIFE CHANGING! To know that we have a heavenly Father listening to every petition from our heart....wow, incredible! 

I'm learning that in prayer, I have to put myself OUT of the picture. And that any envisioning "I' may have about how this thing will go down is irrelevant. This week, I was asked to go pray over a young lady (only 17 yrs old) who suffered a severe asthma attack which caused her to go into cardiac arrest. The hospital then had to induce coma for her so they could stabilize her heart. When they stopped giving the meds to keep her in a coma, it was expected she'd awake pretty immediately  That didn't happen. She was responding VERY little to anything. But would not wake up. So of course I agreed to come to the hospital to pray over her. 

Now, I think naturally we tend to have a pre-envisioned idea in our minds of how things will go down. A fellow sister in Christ was meeting me there. In my mind, we'd go into the room, greet the family, ask for any specifics they'd like us to pray for etc..and go from there. Well, as I mentioned above, we have to get out of the way because God's plans are ALWAYS higher than ours. Here's a perfect example of that:

We arrive at the hospital and upon getting off the elevator, there is a waiting room FULL of people, 15-20 easy. There were 4 other members of our church there who were friends to this young woman. They are the one's who'd asked us to come pray with them. So we are standing with them, talking and catching up on the status of the young woman. On the other side of the room there was very obvious divide, tension even. Many folks kept walking in and out of the room. Some speaking to some, others speaking to others. I had just an overwhelming sense of a room not only divided with family issues, but spiritually as well. Was very odd and uncomfortable.

Much time passed and there was talk of one side of the family not wanting anyone to go back to the young woman. It was nearing time that we all were needing to leave. It was very awkward and I just remember thinking to myself, "OK Lord, this isn't exactly how I envisioned this going down....what are we supposed to do here, we obviously aren't even going to be able to get back to her!" My heart felt overwhelmingly from the Holy Spirit, PRAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! Well, the group of us decided "ok, we're here....the Lord knows why, He can work a miracle whether we're in the room or not, so we'll say our prayers for her right here in this waiting room". One of the ladies with us said, "should we ask the family/friends if they like to join us in prayer?" Absolutely we all agreed. (Mind you....the awkwardness was still very thick, no one had even spoken to us really at this point). So she let the family and friends know that we were going to say a prayer for their loved one and they were more than welcome to join in. 

Now, just to give you an idea of how my mind works...I'm a very "visual person". Photos & music speak to my spirit on a deeper level than most things. I'm VERY observant of my surroundings. Most specifically the people God places around me. I love to watch them as deeply as possible. I love to see their hearts, regardless of where their heart is. It builds compassion, perspective and love in my heart for them, for WHERE they are. Hard to describe, I'm wired weird I guess....but hopefully that gives you a glimpse into this mind of mine. I'm a true "people watcher" as they say, but for much deeper reason. So as I try to explain how this went down, I'm going to break it down how my mind, heart and eyes saw it.

As we told them we were going to pray, many of them had a sudden beam of joy & hope and said YES immediately. (Especially the precious grandma who was there...I fell in love with her spirit!) But, what I noticed most were the others who looked somewhat perplexed but agreed hesitantly anyway. I mean, afterall....it seems the "right thing to do". Right? Who says NO when half the room is about to pray. So I felt many agreed for that reason alone. What happened next, was too beautiful to adequately describe but I'm going to try. 

We all formed a circle (baffling a few who shuffled into place with uncertainty as they realized what we were all doing). We each held hands. (Again, awkward for many). Here we stood, easily a circle of twenty. Bowing our heads. I spoke a simple prayer that started out for the young woman in a room down the hall, but QUICKLY my spirit steered me to change gears, to pray for the family. For comfort, for peace among them, for them to FEEL His presence, for strength, for healing, for encouragement, for love. I'm not the most glamorous at prayer by any means, it was simple, to the point and from my heart of what the spirit placed there. Then....it was over. As we lifted our heads and opened our eyes, I saw AND felt such a different energy in that room. People were hugging each other, hugging us, thanking us for praying, tears were streaming down many faces, tensions & hardness had soften to more gentle demeanors. It was so amazing, so beautiful to watch. Upon leaving the room and approaching the elevator, the sweet grandmother was waiting in the hall and she hugged me, said thanks to us all and looked me in my eyes and said God is saving my family, this was for my family, God is so good! 

Now, as I said before, my mind is wired kind of crazy I think at times. I'm a deep thinker and think DEEP about almost everything. I believe there's a deeper meaning to all things that happen, even that which seems small and insignificant. So, a part of me on the ride down the elevator thought to myself "Wow, was that just as deep and meaningful as I felt or was that just "my mind" making it deeper" LOL, I talk to myself this way alot. But as we made our way down and off the elevator, the sister of mine from church who met me there comes alongside me closely, grabs my hand and whispers something along the lines of "wow, wow......that was incredible, did you feel that...you could FEEL it in the room!" Thankfully God reassured me through her that YEP, He did it, it happened and I'm not just some crazy deep thinker and deep feeler! Thank you Lord! LOL. 

The point is, no matter what we think a situation should look like or is going to be like; no matter how we think a situation is going to go down, it PALES in comparison to what our God has planned! We can never prepare completely for what God wants to do. We just have to be available, trust Him to show up and prepare to be amazed! That mission to go down to that hospital and pray wasn't about that young woman as much as it was about that family and the brokenness that exists there. We were never supposed to make it to that room! The waiting room is where our purpose was. So as awkward and confusing as it was when we got there, as much as it was "not what we were expecting"; it was totally orchestrated by GOD!

It is with sadness in my heart for those left behind that I must say the young woman did pass away. And I'm sure there is still much work to be done in the hearts of much of the family. But I do know that in those moments, on that day, the presence of the Lord was felt by all and HE will water that seed. I will continue to lift and believe for this family. I pray for their peace and comfort as they grieve the loss of their loved one, but most importantly....I pray they will allow God to use this loss to draw them closer to him. 

Things are not always as they seem. When God is in it......ANYTHING can happen. Much like the picture that I posted to accompany this post, our hearts must face the ocean with the world behind us. Allow me to explain what I mean. The ocean has by far always been one of my most sacred places. A place where I feel so close to the glory of God. The enormous ocean that He created. He controls. He tells the water how far it can go. It's just majestic to me and shows how mighty, wonderful, beautiful and powerful He is. I don't know how anyone can stand beside the ocean, look out and still NOT believe there is a God. I don't make it to the ocean as much as I'd like because of where I now live. But it used to be a daily or at least weekly thing for me. Lots of tears, joy, brokenness and healing has taken place on the ocean for me over the years. Many conversations with God I'll never forget, especially in my darkest of days. But since the ocean is not as accessible to me as it was then, I have found a way to still enter it's beauty in my mind and heart. I can simply look a a picture of it, or imagine I'm there with my eyes closed or as I pray I see me and Jesus sitting on the ocean together. The ocean is so significant to how I approach much of my life. You see, when I enter into any situation be it going to pray for someone as described above, or if I'm dealing with a personal struggle, trial or storm; I simply picture myself standing in front of that ocean. As I stare out, I see God, I give the control over to Him, I cast my cares out to sea and into His arms.I TRUST Him with whatever it is just as much as I trust Him NOT to unleash that ocean to swallow me whole. The same way He STOPS the ocean from drowning me, He also stops the cares of this world from drowning me. He does the SAME for YOU! The world, the struggles, the prayer request, the needs, my pains, my trials....sure they are all still there. BUT, instead of of looking at them, trying to tackle them, face them or approach them in MY ability....I stand before that majestic power, beauty and love and allow HIM to tackle them in HIS ability. I allow Him to work through me, just as the ocean breeze blows through my hair as I look out upon His glory. HE leads me by HIS wind which way to go. He fills my sails and directs my actions. Whether my flesh envisioned it this way or that way....doesn't matter one bit. Our flesh naturally wants to predict and control, but if we surrender to HIS will, it ALWAYS ALWAYS turns out BEST and for HIS glory. 

Ultimately....that's all we should ever, ever want; to do all things to bring Him glory.

Let the Holy Spirit be the wind in your sails, be the driving force and power  behind all you do! Be willing to BEND to that wind and leave what your flesh envisions so you can allow yourself to be redirected in a moments notice to what the Lord of Lords wants you to do. Not only will YOU be transformed, He will use YOU to transform the lives of others too! ALL FOR HIS GORY! 

Be blessed......

ysiC,

D.

"Comfort Zones" = Way Overrated!

Comfort zones. We all have them right? Surely I'm not the ONLY one. They are called comfort zones, I think, because they ARE actually VERY comfortable. Healthy??? Not usually. But they are comfortable! They are familiar, they are "known". There are no surprises. They feel safe, hidden from change or challenge right? Much like the picture you see to the right, I've always loved this picture. There is much beauty to it from many different angles. But what I notice the most is how it relates to my own life. the familiar, safe, hidden shadows at the bottom of the staircase. 

Now, we know there is life at the top of those stairs. We see the light. We know those stairs must reach "something" right? Could be wonderful. Exciting. Answers to prayers. But what if what's at the top of those stairs is scary, intimitating, rejects us, or worse....isn't what we thought or hoped it would be? It's the "BUT's" and "WHAT IF's" that generally keep us locked in our comfort zones.

If we really sit and think about it though.....isn't the even SCARIER thing NOT knowing what life could be waiting for us up there? I recently was blessed to hear a message from the incredible Hillsong Church Pastor Brian Houston about "Living the un-lived life" inside of us! This actually prompted this blog. Here's why......

I want to live my un-lived life. PERIOD! I don't want to miss a thing that Jesus may have for me while I'm on this eart! For years my passion has been writing. Not books, nothing fancy.....just my throughts, inspirations, passions and feelings. Be it's only been expressed in my private journals, be it on my Myspace (WHATSpace??? I know, this was YEARS ago...I've evolved, no worries), later on to Faceboook/Twitter post and now this. I've had many, many people tell me for years that I need to write. I don't quite know what that looks like for me. A book? A blog? A devotional? A columm? I really don't know. But I do though that over the past few years, I've learned that passions in our hearts, accompanied by promptings from the Holy Spirit to DO SOMETHING with those passions is not to be ignored. 

In September 2010, the Lord gave birth to a passion that he'd hidden in my heart for a very long time. To begin leading a small group for women. With the goal of loving them and walking through life with them. Helping them find their indentity in Christ; helping restore them from brokenness and painful past; to help them see their absolute beauty; encouraging them & empowering them in the Lord! While the passion was there for a while, I dismissed it. Fear, lack of courage, etc.. BUT today He has blown my mind at what He has done with that passion! While I was scared and it took me a good minute to BE obedient.....I finally got OUT of my comfort zone and am forever changed because of it. You see, I considered myself "unqualified". But I didn't need to do anything but TRUST the Lord ability to work through me and be ready to act in love toward others! We are ALL qualified if we allow Christ to do HIS work through us. It's not about us.....at all. Understand that the LACK of qualifications we think we have, do not disqualify us as vessels for God! 

I find myself at an all too familiar place again. THAT place. A passion, a desire followed by that "prompting". But don't quite know what to do with it. I don't want to be dismissive to the Lord again. EVER. And although I don't know what this is supposed to look like for me and what writing will actually be done, I'm stepping out of that shadow again, and taking a step. So.....it's starting here. I've found a place to "write", in a way that will hopefully be a blessing to others. Am I wired or destined to write a book? I don't know....but what I do know is that IF I am, God will lead me from here; this small step out of my comfort zone; to THERE, wherever that may be. If He's called me, He'll lead me. 

So as I begin this journey and I open up my heart, thoughts, inspirations and feelings to this blog, I pray it pours out love and blessing you. That is serves it's purpose. With NO intention of sitting in front of my laptop tonight and setting up a website.....here it is! (Jesus did it! That's all I can say) Am I a little unsure, uneasy, even scared....you bet. But I'll never know where He wants to lead me if I don't move out of the shadows of my fears and start climbing those stairs! 

What's stopping you from grabbing the banister and stepping OUT of the shadows that keep you in your comfort zone? Is it fear? Is it a past you need to deal with? Present struggles you need to work through so your vision can be cleared? Whatever the next step is for YOU, I encourage you to take the steps. If I can do it, you can. I believe in you, but more importantly..God believes in you! He has plans and a purpose for your very existance. Besides...if you slip or fall, you have the BEST security blanket to wrap you up, dust you off and set you on your way again. His name is Jesus! 

Jeremiah 29:11 has changed my life and is a verse I live by among many. But by far my favorite verse. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us: " 11 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."

We can trust that, we can walk confidently in that! 

ysiC