Janene Rothwell's Blog, page 2

Love Meter

I have a dirty little secret.  Love doesn’t come naturally for me.  It is something I must choose to do and be.  I have discovered in the past few years that the issue wasn’t just giving love, it was also in receiving love. My receiver was broken!

For what I am doing,
I do not not understand.
For what I will to do, that I do not practice;
but what I hate, that I do.
Romans 7:15

The first time I realized my love deficit was when I had my own children.  I was told that birthing a baby would be difficult, but there would be this glorious moment when I saw my child for the first time and would fall madly in love.  It didn’t happen.  After nine months of constant nausea, 36 hours of labor and an emergency c-section, I opened my eyes to look on the face of a hungry baby and wasn’t 100% confident she was mine.  They said I should trust the plastic bracelet on our wrists that said otherwise and take her home. So I did. 

It was the exhaustion of dealing with colic, day and night feedings and then, surprise, another sibling on the way three months later.  Hello nausea, my old friend.

I was a nurse, teacher, chef, financial manager, housekeeper, etc. all rolled up into one, paid in artwork and kisses.  I’ll never forget their proud faces bringing me my prized tulips flopping in their tight fists because I deserved something pretty.

When my kids were sound asleep at night, I would collapse on the couch as the relief washed over me.  We made it through another day.   Everyone, alive and accounted for.

I was trying to perfectly hold it all together. But with three toddlers under foot, there was always a problem.  Diaper blowouts, goose egg head bruises, bleeding wounds, spilled milk.  One night, their father said that I spoke of our day like it was a horrible nightmare.  He wondered if I even loved our children. 

I was horrified.  Once again, I had failed as a mother. 

Then I stumbled on MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), a wonderful organization where love was modeled, and the training and care of children was taught.  I learned to be confident in what I learned.  I could be an example of a great mother, without feeling anything.

My love became a carefully synchronized performance.  It was the rare and precious oil in my survival skills toolbelt.

A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another;
as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 13:35

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I came to realize that my heart was dysfunctional, even broken.  I came to this awareness in the safe and confidential environment of a Freedom Fighters session.  They shared the good news that Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted (Isaiah 61:1). 

Babies that don’t receive milk when they cry, are silent when they are starving.  Whether it was a birth defect or learned behavior, God desired me to have a healed heart.  A heart that could first receive His love and then carry out His love to others.

When I felt the love of God fill me for the first time, I was on my knees at the couch in the living room giving up on all my feeble attempts at trying to BE what I could not. 

I just had to ask.

His love was like liquid washing into me.  It poured and filled to overflowing. 

That’s how God is.  He always gives more than enough so you splash around on others.  It changes everything. 

It was time to thrive instead of merely survive.

What was normal wasn’t best. I needed and wanted more.

Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead,
cast out demons.
Freely you have received,
freely give.
Matthew 10:8

I poured myself into others I didn’t know for hours several times a week over several years.  I was loving, fighting, believing, and seeing their healings and deliverances. I served as a bridge so that they, too, would know Jesus as the Love and Healing Provider.

My testimony merged with theirs as we moved into healing and wholeness together.

A little over a year ago, I was spending time with the Lord when He told me it was time to get out of the box. 

What box? I asked.

The boxes of ministry.

I was concerned.  What would I do?  I had built my community and family around the ministries I served in. 

So I dragged my feet for six months. 

Three days after I gave my notice, I met Jeremy, my wonderful husband.  He loves strangers and family the same.  He loves unconditionally. 

Now my outpouring of love has changed to focus on family.  In the past month I have come to love people I didn’t even know existed six months ago.  This deep love is being born out of the fires of tragedy. 

We lost Jeremy’s sister Valerie and Hank, her husband and Jeremy’s childhood friend, in January.  Zach, his son, passed from us to Heaven in April.

Last weekend, we had our grandchildren (ages 3, 4, 5 yrs.) stay with us until the memorial service of their father. I am their Grandma Chicken who they never knew before but do now.  They know they are loved, having tasted my human love pouring from my healed heart, infused with the overflowing love of Jesus. 

I will forever see that little face pressed on the window, tapping, tapping.  I look to see what is needed as we prepare a bonfire for roasting hot dogs.  “I love you, Grandma Chicken!” 

I will forever see a little one cuddled up in my lap during worship at church.  I lean down and kiss her on the head and say, “I love you.”  She turns to her sister, kisses her on the head, and says, “I love you.”

I will forever see my granddaughter in the driveway fighting against getting into the car because she must tell me one last thing.  “I love Jesus, Grandma!”

Exhausted and exhilarated, Jeremy and I poured out as living sacrifices into the lives of the littles.  It is a good place of ministry to be. 

Song Child of Love by We the Kingdom

In conclusion, I challenge you to check the calibration of your love.  For, as I have testified, not all love is real love.  It quite possibly is people pleasing or performance. If you want fruit that will endure, you must get your love from God.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Does my love lack, run out or fail?

Does my love keep track of hurtful things done to me or demand justice?

Is my love only for those who love me?

Do you find a deficit? There’s no need for shame or guilt. Merely go to our good Father and ask for it.

Father, fill us to overflowing with Your love.  Teach us to forgive as Jesus did by praying, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)  Please increase our love (Colossians 2:19).  Make us one (John 17:22).  In a dark and decaying world, let us be known for our love (John 13:35).

The Mystery of God’s Ways

I hope you realize by now that I don’t have all the answers, but I do seek after the Lord by studying His Word and investigating His truth.

Hard Question: Why are some healings instantaneous and some manifest slowly over time? With my own eyes, I’ve seen God move in various ways. 

My husband Jeremy experienced an overnight deliverance from a lifetime dependence on cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol he used to cope with his racing mind.  He asked Jesus to rescue him, and God healed his mind that very night.  He knew true peace for the first time in nearly 50 years of life.  The freedom he received was so profoundly life-changing that he will never go back. Stepping out of death into life or dark into light, is like that.

I, on the other hand, was healed from crippling shyness that drove my life since childhood over a 3-year period.  This heart-pounding silence drove me to seek a college degree which didn’t require public speaking.  Through the Freedom Fighters ministry, I learned to lean in hard on God’s truth of who I am created to be and His promises.  It was a long, arduous truth walk not unlike the Hinds Feet in High Places allegory (Hind Feet in High Places by Hannah Hurnard) which I intentionally practiced every day.  My mind came to believe that I was redeemed by the blood of Jesus to be an ambassador, priest, and king on the earth, filled with the Holy Spirit, submitted to the sovereignty of Father God.  Without asking for it, I was delivered of shyness and filled with boldness so I could walk out this reality.

I prayed for other people’s marriages to heal, and God moved in miraculous ways.  All the while, my own marriage was slipping away and there was no prayer of faith big enough to save it. 

It was about choosing to trust in the Lord and His love for me. 

In the pain. 

In the tears. 

In the waiting. 

In the frustration. 

In the loneliness.   

My story didn’t look like other people’s stories of healing.  I studied and saw that Jesus healed different ways in different circumstances. Sometimes their faith made them well (Matthew 9:22) and sometimes Jesus laid His hands on them more than once (Mark 8:22-26).  I saw that sometimes He was hindered from healing because of unbelief (Matthew 13:58).   Sometimes sin was an issue and forgiveness needed to proceed the work of God (Matthew 9:1-8). And there was the time Jesus delayed a healing for a bigger miracle (John 11).

I learned to beware of generalizations when it came to the work of the Spirit.  I decided to let God be God.

There are two life verses for me:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart ,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

And we know that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

When I pray for people who are hurting, I pray over believer and non-believer in the name of Jesus, fully expecting instantaneous healing and deliverance.  I will always do this because Jesus is the Healer, and I am His ambassador.  I speak openly (and now freely), telling others of who Jesus is and what He’s done for me and for them. (Isaiah 53: 5, 61:1-3, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:12). I offer to open up my schedule and get together on a regular basis to study the Book of John and grow together.

Let’s move forward boldly doing the things He’s commanded us to do and see what the Spirit of God brings to earth through our obedience.

Dear One, be hindered no longer, in Jesus’ name!

Bold

The wicked flee when no one pursues,
but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1

Are you Bold?

The Israelites were bold when they left Egypt. 

…the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of the Egyptians.
Numbers 33:3

Days later, they were hedged in between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea and were very afraid (Exodus 14:10).

I’ve been on this earth long enough to see patterns in myself.

As an artist, I will have a bold idea and feel a surge of confidence to move forward. I talk of it, dream of it, and create supply lists. But by day three, the initial self-confidence has vanished, and I am bereft.  I want nothing more than to pull the covers over my head and hope that I haven’t made too much of a spectacle of myself.

In personality types, there is Introvert, Extrovert and Ambivert.  I’m probably an Ambivert.  I can be outgoing like an Extrovert for a few days, then need to recharge like an Introvert.  When I’m in the Introvert phase, I feel like hiding because I am depleted.  Then I hear the lie that I am unable or insufficient to do the thing I started with such vigor just days ago.

Yes, Satan, I am insufficient.  That is the truth on Earth.  But I have this spoken as an overcoming promise from Heaven,

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

My confidence rests in my never-changing Yahweh: His character, His strength, His Word, His love, His constant indwelling. He doesn’t need time off from anything, including me.

The Lord keeps saying to me this week that I don’t know the end of a thing.  I don’t know what the Kingdom's purpose is for the thing I hold dear.  When He says this, I see an Egyptian bracelet on the arm of a Hebrew slave leaving Egypt that, once melted in fire, becomes a gold ring for the heavy curtain that hangs around the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle of God. 

I don’t fully know my Kingdom's purpose on Earth, but He does.  I don’t know what He will do with the books, artwork or speaking opportunities, but He does.

Gently, so very tenderly, He is nudging me into position for fulfilling His strategies and victories in invisible spiritual battles that open doors to shine His light in human hearts.

All I need to know is how to love God and people.  He tells me not to focus on the final product since I cannot see it, but to focus on the daily process and the people I meet along the way.  He will take care of the rest. 

Being confident of this very thing,
that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6

Let’s be Bold in Him with whatever He has put in your hand.

Brave

Do you know that to be Brave, you must first be Afraid? Self-protection is our first response as humans to threat. Brave is not needed in a space that is without adversity. You exchange Afraid for Brave when there is no choice, but action.

Last summer, a dear friend asked to make a website for my books.  It has taken me 25 years to admit I write anything that people will want to read, much less putting a cover on it.  I had some Christian fiction books in my computer and, most recently, non-fiction writings.  Now she wanted to put it in an internet storefront.

For people

to buy,

to read,

to leave comments.

I told her I didn’t really want to.  Secretly, I felt terrified.  This was the same type of terror that you feel in a school bus dream where you discover you are naked. 

She said that she would build a website and I could use it or not.  It was up to me.

I was peppered with questions.  Don’t you speak at women’s conferences?  Don’t you create spiritual warfare artwork?  Would there be a blog?

A couple weeks later, she showed me what she’d pulled together, I was stunned.

I was looking at an overview of what the Holy Spirit has been creating in me in my lifetime through my trust and brave in Him.  Believe it or not, I had no idea that the spiritual artwork had anything to do with the books or speaking engagements. The Blog was fleshed out with the weekly emails I had been sending to more than 100 readers for more than a year. 

Each component was presented as a perfectly connecting puzzle piece.  I was seeing God’s fingerprints all over my life and the masterpiece He’d created.  I was in awe.

Then the struggle really began.  

Was the artwork good enough?

Would the checkout system work?

Wouldn’t the books need another editing run through?

I needed a new headshot, but first I needed to lose weight

Was I being prideful? (Note to self: false humility is just as wrong)

On and on, just to name a few.  Some concerns were true and needed addressing and some were delay tactics.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,
and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14

In December, I had a person contact me who was seeking images to encourage women to fight in spiritual warfare. She’d heard about my Women of Valor art and needed it for a women’s conference in South Dakota this spring. I showed her what I had and got to see her reaction.  She loved it.

I was to order 200 cards to place at each seat with my website listed on the back so that if anyone wanted to make a purchase, they could. 

The very same website that was not live yet.  The one that I hindered for months.

Thankfully, the Lord is so sweet and gentle with His nudges forward into uncertain territory.

It was time to make the website live.

You can visit www.Valor-Victory.com and see what God is doing in me. It is a work in progress, just as we all are. 

I’m ready to be used to move the Body of Christ to action in spiritual warfare in any way He chooses. If this is the vehicle God is using, let me be an armored tank with guns a blazing!!

Do you need motivation for your Brave?  Here is a list of songs I’ve saved in my YouTube library to get me moving forward:

Brave – Sara Bareilles https://youtu.be/QUQsqBqxoR4

Brave – Moriah Peters https://youtu.be/6xWBuWtC8MY

Awake – Beckah Shae https://youtu.be/SPAWurVRBxE

Giants Fall – Francesca Battistelli https://youtu.be/nxpVkbikDVQ

Devil – Anne Wilson https://youtu.be/f1dh3t2F5oE

In the Name – Kim Walker-Smith https://youtu.be/IxPitTpcAOk

You Make Me Brave – Amanda Cook https://youtu.be/6Hi-VMxT6fc

Brave – Skillet https://youtu.be/4A3NqfV994k

Burn the Ships – King & Country https://youtu.be/pOVrOuKVBuY

Fulfillment

What has God promised you?  Know, without a doubt, that He will fulfill it.

You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father;
You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.
1 Kings 8:24

The waiting is painful at times. 

Noah – years building an enormous ark for an event he couldn’t imagine

David - years of hiding in caves from Saul after he’d been anointed as King of Israel

Abraham, Sarah, Rebekah, Hannah, Elizabeth – years of waiting for a child

Daniel – a night of long minutes breathing the exhaled breath of lions

Rahab – weeks gathered with her family for the Hebrew army to arrive and honor their scarlet cord vow

Job – months desperate for healing from the anguish of his broken body and heart

Rather than rescue us out of painful experiences, it is the character of God to go through the trial with us. 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. 
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
nor shall the flame scorch you.
Isaiah 43:2

Fulfillment is coming, Waiting Ones. 

Heaven and earth will pass away,
but My words will by no means pass away.
Matthew 24:35

Three years ago, the Lord told me I would be married.  How did He tell me?  He directed me to Isaiah 62.  My spirit leapt and my heart flipped at these words of promise.

You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,
Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate,
But you shall be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her), and your land Beulah (married);
For the Lord delights in you,
And your land shall be married.
Isaiah 62:4

In the very moment, I was experiencing a heart-shattering divorce and the Lord was saying to me that I would be married. 

I was confused.  Would He heal my current marriage that was dissolving? 
No.  It was not to be.

I couldn’t imagine a relationship where I wouldn’t have to fear my husband’s manipulations, harsh words, ever-increasing expectations, demands and infidelity. 

It would be a blessed relationship where I, myself, would be a delight to him.  He would love me.  I could be at rest and enjoy life.  He would be a place of safety for my heart.

And they shall call them The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
And you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.
Isaiah 62:12

To be honest, I couldn’t imagine such a life as this.  It seemed like an out-of-reach fantasy.

Next to the verse, I wrote the date I received the promise. 

Throughout the years, when my heart would crush with grief, loneliness, and isolation the Holy Spirit would say, ‘Go Read Isaiah 62’. 

Again, I received the promise. 
Again, I would write the current date in the margin. 

This week on February 22, He fulfilled His promises to me.

Meet my husband Jeremy who loves Jesus with every fiber of his being.  Jeremy loves me just like an Isaiah 62 husband would.

In Genesis 15, we see Abraham went to sleep during the making of a covenant.  The Lord will make the promise and He will fulfill it in its time.  Waiting Ones, we need to carry our God-delivered promises like currency, all while keeping our eyes on Him.

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

If you don’t currently have some personal promises from the Father that you hold dear, I encourage you to pound on Heaven until you get some.  Use Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow as your calling card.  (Luke 18:1-8). 

Behold the Love

Have you rea the book “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman?  It follows the concept that there are 5 major ways that we give and receive love. 

·         Words of affirmation

·         Quality time

·         Physical touch

·         Acts of service

·         Receiving gifts

One of the reasons that this book is valuable for relationships is because sometimes the way we feel loved are different than the way that another person feels or shows love.  An example would be my daughter who was born on Valentine’s Day, 33 years ago.  If I were to bring her a rare vintage Rolex and say I loved her, she would thank me for the thought, but not feel very known or loved.  What meant the world to her were the 6+ hours we spent together yesterday savoring her favorite omelet, then quietly painting pottery.  Her love language is Quality Time.  

One of my love languages is Words of Affirmation so I wrote her a wonderful note and shared my heart.

We need to know our loved one’s love languages so we can love them in a way that is easily received.  Just as important, we also need to know our own love language so we can make it easy for others to show us love in a way that we can easily absorb.

When my girls were little, they would cuddle in and get their ‘love tank’ filled. This was the love language of Physical Touch. Now my grandchildren do the same.  It blesses my heart to have the next generation lean in for cuddles to satisfy their need for affection in a much too busy world.

By this we know love,
because He laid down His life for us…
1 John 3:16

God showed us love by laying down His life for us. Self-sacrifice is the ultimate Act of Service!

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1

It is because of God’s love for us that He made a way for us to be His offspring!  We now are a part of a legacy which includes the gift of inheritance (in earth and in heaven) for all adopted children of God.  God loves to give Gifts!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and comes down from the Father of lights…
James 1:17

This is a very brief overview on the ways that God loves us.  Thank Him for His love and consider how you can show Him how much His love means to you by loving others.

By this all will know that you are My disciples
if you have love for one another.
John 13:35

Be a conduit of love. 

Know what is needed. 

Give love well.

Receive love well.

Do it today.

Stinker

I have a stinky enemy. Once, when I was 11, I found an adorable baby skunk in the culvert and wanted to make it a pet. No amount of pleading mattered. My Dad said no.

Later in college, I was traumatized over and over by a family of skunks who lived in the bush at the door of the dorm and liked to pop out in front of me.

I had a break for a few years and merely added a brief note in the “About Me” section of my photography website that I disliked the smell of skunks.

The real battle began last October.

At midnight, I was sound asleep dreaming of something wonderful when my dog, Daisy, leapt on me whining.  I pushed her away in the dark and realized she was dripping wet.  Scrambling for a light, I inhaled and gagged.  She’d been sprayed in the face by a skunk.

Of first concern was that the critter had come into the house through the doggy door.  To my eternal relief, it did not.

My home smelled horrific.  Skunk juice was smeared everywhere.  When Daisy first came through the doggy door from the yard, she had rubbed on the couch and rug, then up the stairs to roll on my carpeted bedroom floor. my bed spread and finally, my face.

Daisy’s eyes were swelling shut so I grabbed my phone to seek natural remedies. 
(Bob Vila website: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-get-rid-of-skunk-smell/)

I scrubbed all night.  Carmel-colored Daisy was now shiny white due to the peroxide in the home remedy.  I showered with my regular shampoo because I wasn’t ready to convert to a blonde.  Everything went in the wash, and I dragged the area rug outside.

I felt that I’d done a good job until I drove to my daughter’s house.  She demanded I stay in the driveway.

“But I need to know if you can smell it,” I said.

“Mom, I can smell you from a mile away!” she shouted. There was a fearful look in her eye that I would move closer.  The grandkids who usually leapt into my arms, clung to her, and were gagging.

I still had work to do.

For weeks, I still had work to do.

My hands carried the scent everywhere.  I discovered that skunk juice had soaked into my cell phone case and every time I picked it up, I was re-anointed. 

In December, Covid visited my house, and I lost my sense of smell.  I was finally free of the fragrance that had plagued me for weeks.

Recently, Jeremy and I went to visit a property I purchased in Central Kansas.  I walked around the corner of the house and froze.  There was the biggest skunk I had ever seen.  The massive beast sported a toothy smile.  To my relief, it was not moving, frozen solid to the ground. 

Even though I was safe from attack, I was not happy about its presence.  This was my land, and it was trespassing.

Jeremy was busy using his muscles to tackle a different problem, so it was up to me.  I put on my gloves, grabbed hold of its tail, and carried it across to a field where I swung it a bit and released it.

Proud of myself, I went and found Jeremy.  “I took care of the skunk,” I said.  “Good thing it was frozen and didn’t smell.”

Jeremy laughed and kissed the top of my head.  “It smelled horrible and so do you.”

Yet in all these things
we are more than conquerors
Through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:37

This morning on the way to work, Jeremy mentioned that I had once and for all time conquered the skunk enemy.  Spiritually speaking, I had taken it by the tail and thrown it off my land. 

In the past, I would have been terrified and run away.  But through the work of the Lord (and Covid), I am a fierce warrior in ways I never imagined. 

Because of all I’ve been through.

Suffering, pain, loss, and trauma have value.

Experience points really do matter on the battlefield.

The Floor is Lava

The Floor is Lava. Have you ever played the game? The goal is to leap from couch to table to chair without falling to the floor and being destroyed. If you are a parent and hear something crash to the ground in the room where the kids are playing, this delightful game is probably the culprit.

(Funny video here: https://youtu.be/K134xuWm4oA)

Well, it’s here in the real world for us grown-ups too.  The world is lava and what we know today will all burn up. (2 Peter 3:10)

What is our response in this crisis?  We look toward the face of One greater.

Who do we know Who walked in the fiery furnace?  (Daniel 3)

The fire doesn’t scorch those who walk with Him.

Not a hair is singed.

They don’t even smell of smoke.

Who do we know Who walked on water during a terrifying storm? (Matthew 14:24-33)

The threat doesn’t cause Him concern.  He invites others to join Him on a stroll.

On the deep water. 

In a deadly storm.

He is the One who stands in the middle of the room of lava and holds out His nail scarred hands to catch us.  We won’t fall. 

Our worried faces can break into a grin.

We can release our grip from the things we hold dear and surrender.

We can take flight through the air into His outstretched arms that will catch us.

And hold us.

And never let us go. (Hebrews 13:5)

Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give to you. 
Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27

The One who is forever Faithful has promised.

You are safe.

It’s time to play.

In the lava.

Two Sams

I was listening to a pastor speak of the differences between Samuel and Samson.  Two Sams with totally different lifestyles.

Both were called to serve the Lord in conception from the womb.

Both had powerful plans for their lives.

One walked in communion with the Lord, and one walked in chaos and turmoil.

You can remind yourself of their lives by reading the book of 1 Samuel and then Judges Chapters 13-16.

This is the differences in their lives from the words of Samuel from 15:22:

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed than the fat of rams.

The Lord has told me to stop eating sugar.  He’s spoken to me in so many ways, so many times.  He is Lovingkindness (my favorite God-word) to me.

One of the aftereffects of Covid is that I only taste sweet or salty things. I miss tasting anything, so I am drawn back to disobedience.

My sister has reminded me that we are like the Hebrews after their release from Egyptian slavery. (Numbers 11) I want to taste things of the past like brownies and ice cream. Even the fact that I succumbed to Covid from a birthday cake where the candles blown out were from someone who didn’t know he had the illness until the following day.  I still want my cake (just Covid-free).

I struggle to obey, like we all do. Moment by moment, I must decide – will I be a Samuel or a Samson? 

Someone pointed out to me that Samson didn’t truly obey until his eyes were put out – the very thing that kept drawing him into disobedience with those Philistine centerfolds.

It is wisdom to obey early!

The verse I am memorizing today is Hebrews 13:20-21 which brings me great encouragement:

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you complete in every good work to do His will,
working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.

He’s got this!  I repent, trust in Him, and learn to walk the path of obedience.  He fills me with resurrection power to walk in life as Jesus did.  His power, like manna waiting to be picked up from the desert floor, is new every morning.   

A Time to Plan

It is January and I am a planner.  

I plan events, business goals, prep for emergencies that might or might not happen, finances, trips, and all of life. These planning abilities are listed in the skill set on my resume.

I love calendars and schedules.  I am currently planning a beach trip for December 2022 because it will be cold and I want to resurrect the Florida beach trip of 2021 that was cancelled by Covid and Frontier Airlines.

Back in the days when nothing was digital, I filled out paper Office Depot planners that were tucked into my purse or diaper bag.  They are now stacked up In the bottom of the filing cabinet. I’ve tried several times to throw them away, but I am not strong enough.  They contain details of births, deaths, emergencies, struggles, life-changing surprises (good and bad), and prayers.  They tell my life story.

I will leave them for my children to throw away.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Recently, the Lord said to release my plans to Him.  I don’t believe He meant that I should cease to bring my dreams, ideas, or creativity to Him in prayer, but to lay down the timeline of fulfillment – the How and When. . .

I did.

Some promises God has made to me were fulfilled in a different way than I imagined, but it was very good and beautiful in a way I would never have dreamed. 

A man’s heart plans his way,
but the Lord directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

There is a beautiful weaving God is making of our hopes, dreams, plans, prayers, destiny, and purpose. 

I can trust Him to guide my plans and my steps.

I intentionally consider these things I dream about and discover what might hinder.  Do I need to save up for an expense? Does Fear or Excuse or Distraction keep me from the finish line?  Is it a challenge that could be easily overcome or moved out of the way with prayer or planning?

I write it all down and save it on my phone so I can review it often.

The thing to ponder is whether these are my dreams that I desire or God’s. He knows my heart and how I long for His kingdom to come to earth just as Jesus told us to pray. (Matthew 6:10)

God has dreams and plans to accomplish with a Janene spiced-flavor and fragrance in the earth in 2022… and He has ones with your flavor and fragrance that will be beyond compare.

I want to accomplish all that God has in His heart for 2022… and so do you.

I want to be a smile on His face because the Father and I are on the same page… and so do you.

Dust off your dreams.  Make a list.  Take it to the throne. 

Let’s see what is possible when we coordinate with the One who loves the impossible!