• How to trust God when dreams shatter

    Has God ever asked you to TRUST Him?

    I mean REALLY trust Him.

    To trust Him when it hurts like crazy.

    To trust Him when you don’t want to let go.

    To trust in His goodness and faithfulness.

    To trust that when He says He loves you and will never leave you... AND that He really means it…

    To trust that you are a child of God, equally valuable to Him.

    To trust.

    A silver Tiffany’s bracelet sits on my wrist as I write. It is scratched and tarnished with time and tears. It was gifted to me on my graduation from Mercy Ministries (Australia) many years ago now. It is a marker of God’s promises of healing and restoration in my life. It reminds me of a time when I was so broken that I didn’t know if this world could want someone like me in it much longer.

    It’s a faith marker…

    Wild Faith…

    A marker of a time when I trusted God with my whole heart and life…

    It’s a remembrance of Who He has been to me in my past and Who He still is today.

    Inscribed on the heart are the words ‘Forever a Princess.

    A reminder that I am a beloved daughter of the King of all kings.

    and a scripture…

     Proverbs 3:5-6

    “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

    In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.” (AMP)

    A reminder that He is in it all with me. I am never alone.

    A reminder that He has been trustworthy before and remains trustworthy now.

    Old wounds that make your roots grow deep in Him

    So I am still standing and proclaiming this scripture, trying to trust God with all of my heart on this new path He has set my feet on. Trying to allow Him to grow my roots down deep in His great love.

    It’s been tough, exciting, joyous, freeing, but tough.

    Mostly because this last season opened up old wounds where my trust had been damaged before, nobody has tried to do this to me by the way, it’s just what happened in the coming and goings of life and I’m pretty sure the enemy would love it if I never trusted again.

    But, I look to my scripture and I TRUST…

    It feels vulnerable and scary.

    Sometimes I cry...

    Sometimes the heart walls come up...

    What happens if I get hurt again? What happens if disappointment rocks my world one more time? Will I break? Will I not be able to rise again?

    Sometimes I feel like a mess... AND then I look to the One who holds all things and I walk...

    I speak the words YES to the Lord and I proclaim His truths again and again...

    “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench; He will bring forth justice in truth.” – Isaiah 42:3

    He doesn’t break us.

    But He does unmake us.

    Wild Faith in the unmaking

    He unmakes all the stuff that can cause our root system to die or be hindered.

    He asks us to surrender who we are and our dreams to a place of trust in Him. In doing so we lose more of ourselves and find out more of who God really is in us. His testimony burns like fire in our bellies, it shapes us like clay and He reawakens us to His constant presence and His kingdom purposes.

    He is in everything, not the cause of everything, but always in it with us.

    As we acknowledge Him in this space of Wild Faith, this trust, this place of deepest surrender, He is there with us.

    He undoes old mindsets we didn’t even realize we still held onto and brings more freedom…and our roots grow deeper more freely.

    "Don't you know that when you allow a little lie into your heart, it can permeate your entire belief system?"             - Galatians 5:9 (TPT) 

    He goes into old wounds and brings the deeper healing that leads to beautiful restoration… and our roots grow deeper in quiet trust in Him.

    "...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes." - Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)

    He covers us in His loving kindness and grace, giving us the time and space to feel, to hurt, to cry and to once again let go and surrender everything to Him time and time again.

    And the beauty here is that nothing sown has gone to waste. Every seed sown in tears will be reaped in joy… and our roots grow deep.

    "They who sow in tears shall reap with joyful singing."      - Psalm 126:5 (AMP)

    It’s all for Him, for His kingdom.

    Trust Him today

    He will breathe on the life of things to come, promises you are holding onto, dreams not yet here, restoration you long for…

    Trust in Him.

    Yield your heart toward Him.

    He is with you and will guide you.

    He will breathe life into your soul once more (Stole that from my hubby’s song LIVING WATER) over your dreams, into your deep wounds.

    He will breathe…

    He will unmake you in all the BEST ways and you will see who you really are as an image bearing child of the King whose roots are deep, trusting in Him.

    Can I encourage you as I encourage myself to first lay it all down, give all your fears, anxieties and troubles over to God? Spend some time in worship at the foot of the cross, surrendering your heart and life to this Wild Faith, this deep trust. Press into His Word because it is a lamp unto your feet (Psalm 119:105). Step out into uncharted waters because He is with you…

    He calls us to trust Him with ALL of our hearts.

    Surrender your heart today beautiful one…and your roots will grow deep.

    Allow the words of this song by Nicole Nordeman minister to you, or better yet, download it HERE and sit at the foot of the cross and allow the words to minister to you and help you release it all to Him today.

     Big love,

    xx

    If you enjoyed this post you may enjoy reading

    WIDE AWAKE: The story of a soul waking up

    If you'd like to grow in your Wild Faith journey, be sure to sign up to my website to gain a beautiful devotional, Wild Faith: Part One. CLICK HERE for more information

    THE UNMAKING

    This is demolition day

    All the debris and all this dust

    What is left of what once was

    Sorting through what goes and what should stay

    Every stone I laid for you

    As if you had asked me to

    Monument to holy things

    Empty talk and circling

    Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?

    What happens now?

    When all I’ve made is torn down

    What happens next?

    When all of you is all that’s left

    This is the unmaking

    Beauty and the breaking

    Had to lose myself to find out who you are

    Before each beginning

    There must be an ending

    Sitting in the rubble

    I can see the stars

    This is the unmaking

    This is the unmaking

    The longer and the tighter that we move

    Only makes it harder to let go

    Love will not stay locked inside

    A steeple or a tower high

    Only when we’re broken are we whole

    What happens now?

    When all I’ve made is torn down

    What happens next?

    When all of you is all that’s left

    This is the unmaking

    Beauty and the breaking

    Had to lose myself to find out who you are

    Before each beginning

    There must be an ending

    Sitting in the rubble

    I can see the stars

    This is the unmaking

    This is the unmaking

    I’ll gather the same stones where

    Everything came crashing down

    I’ll build you an altar there

    On the same ground

    Because what stood before

    Was never yours

    This is the unmaking

    Beauty and the breaking

    Had to lose myself to find out who you are

    Before each beginning

    There must be an ending

    Sitting in the rubble

    I can see the stars

    This is the unmaking

    This is the unmaking

    Oh this is the unmaking

    Had to lose myself

    To find out who you are

    Posted by Carly Thomson
  • How to be brave enough to sit at the feet of Jesus

     

    How long has it been since you soaked in the daily presence of God?

    Since you slowed down so much so that instead of busying yourself to serve Jesus, you simply sat at His feet, loved on Him and learned from Him?

    Have you been afraid of what others might think? Afraid of being 'unproductive' when there is so much to do? Me too...

    There is a beautiful story found in the book of Luke, chapter 10 and here we meet two sisters, Mary and Martha...

    I imagine Martha as a busy woman. I see her with an honest desire to serve those in her world with great love and care as she cleans and prepares a meal. I think her love language might be acts of service. She’s a home entrepreneur, sassy, brave, bold and seemingly can handle whatever comes knocking at her door… even the Son of God. Yet, Martha somehow misses what is most important… she is simply too busy.

    Gosh, I feel her burden and pain…

    Too busy to lean into what is of most value in the treasured moments God gifts to us in this very short space of time in all eternity.

    Mary chose what was better…

    She chose what was of greatest value right now. She chose what would bear the most fruit in her life; she chose what would help her to live freely and lightly in the days to come.

    Jesus was here, present, ready and willing to teach Martha things of great value, things that would help her become the woman He created her to be, to help her see what truly matters in life and how to tend generously to those things. How to find sacred in the seemingly silly...

    Martha was consumed by worldly pressures of hospitality…

    Mary knew what was of more value.

    Mary knew that the word Jesus would speak and would become her “foundation words, words to build a life on.”

    She leaned in and learned how to, “…work the words into her life,”

    Mary would come to know that sitting at the feet of Jesus was not wasting time, but it was a place she would learn to be, “…like a smart carpenter, who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river bursts it’s banks and crashed into the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last.” – Luke 6:48 (MSG)

    Mary chose what was better…

    She knew what she valued most; she knew how to prioritize what was most important right now. She threw custom and schedule out the window and tended to what was of greatest value.

    How many times do we forget this way of living?

    How many life lessons do we miss because our schedules and to do lists are so jam-packed we don’t have time or space to look and see what is of greatest value in the moments we are in?

    A couple of weeks ago I sat in the Tuscon Botanical Garden, a stunning space of beauty in the middle of the Arizona Desert. I had scheduled a day of rest after a busy book tour and thought what better place to find rest than in a garden. So I moved slowly through the space, I took time to look at, explore, read and smell all the sights and then I sensed God ask me to sit still on the dusty, stone bench seat. I sat under a tree, out of the dry Arizona heat and looked around for a short while, I breathed deep and went to go.

    I hesitated...

    I sensed Him asking me to linger longer…

    So I went and sat again…

    This time I just sat and looked around, allowed my eyes to linger over everything. I was still. Be still the bible says, be still…

    Right then my eyes became truly open, I saw small creatures I would never have seen if I hadn’t been still long enough and right there I became even more aware of how stillness opens our eyes, it helps us to see what we’d never have seen even meandering slowly through that space.

    Be still…

    Right there, in the middle of the Arizona Desert, I was working the Word of God into my life and almost instantly seeing the fruit of that. Being still allowed me to be grounded... aware that God was present and holding all things together... being still helped me to know God as the One who holds all things and is in all things.

    Work Jesus' words into your life

    Mary had chosen to work Jesus’ words into her life as she sat at His feet…

    Martha was missing it…

    Jesus longed for her to enter in...

    Pride perhaps got the better of her...

    There He revealed truths and teachings that would help her to live in the fullness of all this gift of life has to offer…

    Mary was learning how to walk with and work with Jesus…

    There she’d learn the unforced rhythms of grace… the ability to live freely and lightly in His presence…

    “learn from me…” He whispers

     “…for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls…”

    Learn from Me…

    Learn from Jesus…

    Lean into all he has to say, all he has to teach us…

                Work His words into your life...

                            Then you will find REST for your souls.

    "Listening to and learning from Jesus guides us to find rest for our souls." (See my article over at Enliven women for more on this).

    Not everyone will understand your choice

    Martha didn’t quite understand how sitting at the feet of Jesus would be the better choice. She didn’t see that the time spent learning from Him would benefit her more than a clean house and a meal prepared right now, in this moment of time. She lived by the, “It needs to be done now” mantra, instead of learning to take the time to listen to and learn from Jesus. She allowed outside pressures to scream louder than her inward yearnings.

    He was there right now, in their home…

    The Word made flesh…

    Martha pushed time with Him aside to be in the kitchen… to get the stuff that needed to get done, done.

    Martha failed to realize that taking the time now with Jesus would benefit her life greatly for the days ahead. She failed to see that learning His teachings while He was readily available would set her up for that life of rest. It would teach her how to live freely and lightly in her daily walk with the Lord.

    You are invited to sit at His feet

    The beauty of this picture is that when Martha complained, Jesus still beckons her to come to learn with them too. Yes, He is pretty blunt, but there is no judgment but an open invitation to drop what she is doing and to choose what is of greater value.

    What about you?

    Are you taking the time to prioritize scheduling in spending time at the feet of Jesus daily?

    Are you coming to Him to learn how to live freely and lightly in your daily?

    What can you do today to prioritize some time in your week to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him?

    Challenging hey?

    But SO worth it!

    Big love,

    xx

    If you enjoyed reading this post, you might also enjoy

    AWAKE OH MY SOUL: Learning to listen for the God whispers

    THE UNMAKING: A journey into WILD FAITH

    Posted by Carly Thomson