Prayer Discovery

This is from Thomas Merton near the end of his life:

"In prayer we discover what we already have. You start from where you are and you deepen what your already have, and you realize you are already there. We already have everything but we don't know it and don't experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess."

What will you discover? enough for now.

Thanksgiving

Blessings of love, family, and peace in spite of the foolishness around you, placed on you, or dumped on you.  You are stronger than that, you are better than that. Embrace your community- family, extended family, friends - and hold on to the joy that only God gives. In spite of stupidity- whether yours or another's, God still is, and God still is able, oh yes. Blessings of giving thanks, now and going forward. Shalom! enough for now.

Giving Thanks

Yes, we are in the season for giving thanks.  What are you thankful for?  Look at it.  There should be so many things. You are loved. You  have the ability to change.  You can walk in your healing. You can walk in your healing.  Let others love you.  Allow yourself to love God and to loved by God.  Experience God's delight in you.  Walk out of the silly real stuff that holds you back. Step into the very real life that has been prepared for you.  Get on your journey, and explore all that God has for you. That is reason to give thanks.  Blessings. enough for now.

Rest

Rest is allowed, even in dancing. Sometimes you must rest, you must regroup. You are invited into God's rest. TODAY. Take long deep breaths. Breathe out anxiety, breathe in peace. Breathe out tiredness, breathe in clarity. Breathe out worry, breathe in peace. Breathe out whatever is causing stress, breathe in peace. Wait, hear, listen. Rest. TODAY. You can dance later, you will dance again. Watch what God is doing in your life. enough for now.

Learn the Dance

Learn the dance. I told you how I learned. That is how I taught liturgical dance to my dance ministry. My dancers had basics. They had to get the steps correct. It is so sad when dancers are looking at other dancers to make sure they are correct. My dancers had to know the steps. Many times we discussed scripture that was the foundation of the dance. Our rehearsals were tight and sometimes young people don't appreciate 'tight.' They worked hard, many times rolling their eyes at me.

The dancers knew their positions, they knew their steps.  Then they were free to dance for the Lord. Oh my goodness! As they danced, those viewing were invited into the worship through their dance. Oh my goodness! Yes, we were all transformed. They learned the dance. You learn the dance by getting the basics first. Get what you are to do, and at the proper time - you move, you flow, you dance your dance- all because you learned the basics and were not afraid to dance. enough for now.

Dance

In life, just like dance, you must learn the basics. Yes, maybe you are one that did not have nurturing, teaching parents to teach you the basics. Your life is not over. You don't need to give up or to overcompensate for what did not happen. It is not too late. Get the basics. God created you to dance, to live. And yes, He is indeed your dance partner, like my father was for me.

Just like I had my dancers to get the steps, they knew that their audience was not the people, but God. And they danced for God. People viewing worshiped collectively, and were blessed.  Sometimes, even rehearsals were worship events. Don't you love it?

You have your basic instruction and encouragement in the Bible. You really do. Find a spiritual director that can aid in your spiritual transformation, one that can show you the steps. The Creator so created you that as you get the basics, you can create new dances- same basics, new dances. On this journey no one dances the same way, but we all move in tune with Holy Spirit's guidance. Our lives can become worship, both individually and collectively, as we dance. We hear Holy Spirit's guidance, we can follow God's will, we can giggle with the love of Jesus. We dance. Go ahead, oh please try it. It is an awesome journey of dancing. Learn the basics, learn the dance, dance. enough for now.

Dance Basics

I just had a good conversation with a mentee. In sharing with how I learned to work in spite of my shortcomings, I shared with her about how I learned to dance.  Okay, let me be clear- we all have strengths and weaknesses.  We should walk in our strengths and strengthen our weaknesses. The first way in strengthening is to recognize it is a weakness. We don't stay looking at where we fall, we get up and go again.  If we all stayed where we were with our faults we would never move more into what God has for us.

My father taught me how to dance. I watched as he placed his feet and then I progressed into dancing with him (yeah after stepping a few times on his feet).  When I got the basics, I could dance around the room, dance with the bedposts.  When I got older there were new dances to learn that Daddy could not teach me.  But I had the basics.  She replied was that she had to learn the dance. You have to learn the dance. enough for now.

Get Up

Feel it.  Go ahead.  Try it on.  How does it fit?  How does it feel to know that you are sustained by God?  It like that all things plan.  It all works together for good.  Hear me.  It gets hard at times, but it is not done.  There is so much available and moving right now on your behalf.  Do not let the enemy take another dream from you. Get your bearing and dream, grow, move, rearrange.  Get up . . . get going; even if in your going you are still, let it be the stillness that God ordains for you.  Otherwise, it is not your stillness, but the enemy killing you softly with his song.  Get up. enough for now.

Wake Up

TODAY!  Yes . . . This is the day! I woke up -  today.  No more I slumber wondering what could have been, what could have happened.  But today- I awakened to the promises of this day! Oh my goodness.  Yesterday and all of its crap is gone. Today is my gift from God -for new mercies. TODAY.  My promises - my hope - my dreams all realized today.  that feels good.  Oh please recognize it.

I read a quote from my calendar; which was confirmation on how I felt this morning.  "When God ordains, He sustains."  Ohhhhhh yes God does . . .yes sir. . . Oh yes.  Let that permeate your mind, your heart.  Yes.  WAKE UP.

This is your day!  WAKE UP to what God has for you - today. Enjoy the peace, the love, the presence of God in your life today. enough for now.

Because of who you are.

Hang in there. Hold on . . . help is on the way. Just breathe. Periodically foolish people come into your life. Foolish, because they don't know who they are dealing with. They have no clue who you are. And yes, they are at times so irritating, even when you try to aid them.  That is all they are- an irritation. Don't let foolish people back you into foolish situations. You are better than that.  When the fog clears you will still be standing. Not because of what you can do- because of who you are. Because of who you belong to - you are a royal priesthood. Don't forget it. enough for now.

Somethng about that Name

Oh how sweet the name of Jesus. No, really it is.  When we can hold to that precious name there is so much peace. There is rest, serenity, hope in the name of Jesus.  There is a release of anxiety, of disturbance, of worry in the name of Jesus.  Go ahead call Him- Jesus . . . Jesus . . . Jesus. Call His name until you feel it.  Allow the realness of His name wash away the temporal worries, fear.  While so many thing do happen to us, we really face them with no fear with Jesus.  Try Him. enough for now.

Real Peace

As I drove home yesterday I felt strangely and wonderfully lifted. Had anything changed in my circumstance? No. Did I win- anything? No. Well what was it? Peace, the indescribable shalom of God. The peace that finds itself in Truth. Peace. I bless you with peace today. Feel it. Walk in it.  Marvel at how you feel.  Giggle and then whisper thanks to God. enough for now.

Walk in the Light

You have turned on the light.  Now walk in it. "Walk in the light, beautiful light. Come where the dew drops of mercy shine bright.  Shine all around me by day and by night, Jesus the light of the world."  You walk in the light by recognizing the lies for what they are and releasing them to walk with truth.  Go ahead, stroll, strut, skip, giggle when you walk, let the truth flow into and from your heart.  enough for now.

Call His Name

Turn the light on.  Yeah I know, you tried to do that. But even when you were little and you knew all you had to so was turn the light on, you were too afraid to get out the bed, or reach your arms out from the cover. Now, it's more about you.  Sometimes your problem is that you are trying to do it yourself.  You can't. You can only do so with guidance from Holy Sprit. 

When you find yourself twirling the tornado/hurricane of emotional upheaval, call Jesus.  Just say His name - Jesus.  say it again - Jesus.  Say it again - Jesus.  Call His name until you can breathe.  Call His name until you stop twirling.  When Peter got out the boat and was walking on water, he became distracted by the winds and waves.  He took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.  Oh but, when he called Jesus. . . Just like that.  Take some time and read that passage in Matthew 14:22-32. 

Stop the twirling. Call His name.  enough for now.

Turn the Light On

Ohhhh how easy it is to get caught up with things that cause disruption in our lives.  You know, those things that "go bump in the night." Do you remember those things that frightened you when you were younger.  The scary shadows that went away when you turned the light on.  Those things still cause fear, worry, doubt - they are now adult things that cause you fear, worry, doubt. They grew up as you grew up.

Does it mean that those disruptive things are not real? Oh no, they are real; yet they are disruptions and when  you can recognize the difference between real and disruptions you can do better.  So how do you recognize?  It's all disruptive if it takes you off your path.  There are so many little things that cause emotional upheaval- just like that.  And many times we flow right with it. 

You know, those things that get us twirling in our own little tornadoes/hurricanes.  We are whirling
not knowing when we will land.  You know, whether it is health, finances, loss of love, loss of  anything.  Those will set us off. Oh I know them.  My hurricanes may not be like your but they are the same disruptive source- to get you off track, off the path, to get you to abort, to get you to forget. 

But- we don't have to stay in that flow of emotional upheaval  No,  we don't.  Turn the light on.
enough for now.

Joy

Joy.  Joy.  Joy, where does it comes from?  Peace.  Seek peace, the shalom of God.  Let go and watch what God is doing. enough for now.

Testimony

Do you really know how much time you spend looking at or talking about what has been done to you? Don't get me wrong.  Yes, there are times when you do tell what has happened but it is the 'whole tell'.  You tell what was done, but then what God did.  That's a testimony!  The world need more testimonies.  People are encouraged with testimonies. Don't waste time talking about what went wrong.  Spend time wisely talking about what went right out of the wrong.

This has another level than just encouraging community. It encourages you to contemplate more, to see toward the final. It encourages you to watch what God is doing in your life.  Go ahead try it.  Give it one month at first, your thanks will be more positive, your joy will flow.  enough for now.