So. I am a worshiper. I don’t need a special reason. If Jesus never does another thing for me, He has done enough. The price for my sins was paid long before I was ever born.

Wow. Before I was even a thought in my parent’s minds, Jesus had already chosen mercy towards me.

Jesus chose mercy before I was born. Before you were born…and mercy triumphs over judgment – James 2:13.

So, I have decided to choose praise…I have decided to choose worship – every day of my life.

Is it easy? Not always. Sometimes my mind tries to remind me of everything that is wrong in my life. And sometimes it succeeds….for a bit. Then, I think of His mercy and I am thankful and a thankful heart will worship. He delights in showing mercy! How wonderful for us who do not deserve it!

His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) If they are new EVERY morning, do you know what else that means? HE IS FAITHFUL! Ahhhhh – The Voice translation says Deut 7:9 like this – I want you to know that the Eternal your God is the only true God. He’s the faithful God who keeps His covenants and shows loyal love for a thousand generations to those who in return love Him and keep His commands.

A thousand generations? That includes me, my children, my grandchildren, and so on. WOW.

Before I was born, God had already decided that I would be shown mercy. He already decided that He would renew His mercy towards me every day. He already decided to show me unfailing love.

What an awesome God!

So – what if things are going wrong in your life? I mean, what if you are facing hard situations in multiple areas? What do you do? Well, I can tell you what I do. I worship and I praise. Is it easy? Not always – sometimes I worship with tears streaming down my face. Sometimes I say – out loud where the enemy and my own soul can hear – it matters not that this or that has not manifested, Jesus You are worthy! Sometimes, all I can do is sit quietly, sometimes I lay on my face. But I choose to worship – even in the tears.

Years ago I heard a preacher say that a person doesn’t know true worship until it costs them something……. You know, when you just got horrible news, and instead of giving the enemy an offering of anger, you hit your knees and say, “Lord, even though I didn’t get the answer I wanted, or even though I am at a loss right now, I will honor You for who You are.”

Like when David worshiped after he lost his son. Or Abraham when he thought he was going to have to slay Isaac, in faith he said, “the lad and I will go yonder and worship and RETURN.”

It takes faith to worship when all seems lost. It takes faith to worship when you lose your job, a loved one or are facing a life crisis. But – Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God! Anyone can praise God when the sun is shining, but I believe with all my heart there are special blessings reserved for those who go through the fire and worship Him.

We cannot enter into the worship of our heavenly Father without our mindset being renewed to His love for us. And when that takes place, what Father would ignore the heartfelt love of a child?

Jesus is worthy of praise, even if He never does another thing for me. EVER. But, because He is bound to the Word of God, we know He will. It just has to be in HIS time. THAT is the hardest thing. Not praising, or worshiping, but waiting. WAITING and not whining! Waiting and keeping faith! How long? Only He knows!

I got to thinking recently, if I am going to praise Him forever anyway, what does time matter? In other words, perhaps, if I focus on His goodness, His mercy, His love for me, and in focusing on that, I will get my mind renewed, my strength restored, and my heart free. With a renewed mind, and strength restored, I can’t help but sing His praises. If I believe His word, then I will let my faith deal with the request and I will choose to focus on Him in praise and worship.

Do I need things to happen? Yes. But, perhaps, if my Father already chose to forgive me before I was born, chose to show me mercy daily, chose to guide me into all truth by the power of the Holy Spirit, just maybe, He is already working on what I am petitioning for in prayer????? (What a concept! LOL)

John 14 tells us if was ask anything (according to His will) in Jesus’ Name we will have it. So, therefore, I will rest in the knowledge that Romans 8:28 tells me He is working all things for my good and I will praise. I will worship.

Worship truly is my warfare.

Will my answers come? I believe they will. In my time? Probably not. But, if He never does another thing, HE IS STILL GOOD.

I have chosen to stand forever, therefore, I won’t have to. But, while I am standing, I am going to praise. I am going to worship. I am going to bow down. Because He is worthy. Always. Forever.

Selah

Sometimes that person you call friend, that tells you something that another person said about you or about a situation that makes you angry or hurt….sometimes that person may think they are telling the truth, but their vision is skewed. Unless they were right there in the midst of it – and even then many times it’s lies and deception and they, themselves are deceived. Before you go and write folk off or take up an ought or build up a wall against a person, a friend, even a church, a school, teacher, etc. – why not go to the source? And always – ALWAYS – go to God. I have had words taken out of context before – we all have. When words taken out of context are used against us – it is nothing more than LIES. And those who do this are liars and many do it in the name of religion :(

What if, when a negative situation happened to us or just happened – what if instead of telling people – EVEN in the guise of a prayer request – WHAT IF we prayed about it first – talked to the Lord and then and only then asked for prayer if He directed us to do so and to whom????

There are many people walking around offended, hurt and the offense isn’t even real – it is a skewed version of an innocent truth or just an unfortunate incident. Life is so short and offenses STEAL FROM US.

My challenge today: search your heart – if there is a person you won’t talk to, forgive them and do something nice for them, or at the very least pray, bless them and SPEAK to them the next time you see them. If we don’t reconcile the ought(s) in our hearts on our own, they can and will be held against us. The enemy of our souls does not fight fair. And if you are struggling to move forward in your life, your relationships, your ministry, or job – check your heart. Release all the captives and set them free. Make a choice to bless and love. That is exactly what Jesus did. He looked at us in our sin and said – yes, I will die for them, even though they don’t love me, respect me and many hate me. I will die for the ones who will never love me. I will die for my fellow man.

Who is in your heart that you need to let go? Jesus laid down HIS right to be right – may we all do the same. Let mercy triumph over judgment.

Have you ever had to deal with great hurt in the midst of good times? It reminds me of a book we read in high school – A Tale of Two Cities. It starts out, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times! I understand that! I am living it.

I am finding that this is actually how things play out most of the time in the Kingdom of God. Where Christians miss it is thinking their “promised land” is all sunshine and roses and not a problem around. That is not the promised land, that is heaven! As long as we are on earth, we have an enemy, the devil, who goes about roaring as a lion, seeking whom he may devour!

So, how do we possess our promised land? WE POSSESS it! Possess is an action word! As Chuck Pierce says – “If there are giants in your land, they are YOURS.” In other words, God has promised the land to you, so take it.

When Moses stopped at the Red Sea and cried out to the Lord, the Lord responded in Exodus 14:15-16 – The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.”

When the twelve spies came back to report to the people, Caleb and Joshua were so excited at the fruit of the land and the produce and abundance. However, the ten could only see the giants. I have no doubt that Caleb and Joshua saw the giants too, but their eyes were on the prize! They only saw what God had promised them! And 40+ years later, they were the only ones that came out of Egypt that entered into that land! Caleb said he was as good physically then as he was before and that he would TAKE his mountain! Go Caleb!

What has God promised you? It matters not what it looks like. What has God promised you? I don’t care how many giants are in the land! WHAT HAS GOD PROMISED YOU? Go POSSESS your land! The giants are yours! They are bread for you! (meaning, you will take them out!)

So, when you find yourself in a great season of life, yet a great hurt or an attack comes, don’t abandon your season! Don’t let the words of your mouth pull out your good seeds sown and all the words you have declared!

Take it from me! When you are in a good season, or you have declared a good season, attacks will come! Remember Joseph? I asked the Lord once, why did He give Joseph the dream knowing that the enemy would come along and attack? I mean, because he shared the dream with his brothers, they grew even more jealous than they already were, and didn’t God know that would happen? But I remember what I heard in response, “I gave the dream because the enemy’s attack was already coming!” AHHHHH – the dream came in response to what God knew the enemy had planned in order to sustain Joseph until he got to HIS promised land! WOW! What has the Lord told you prior to your current attack, distraction or frustration? What are you looking forward to, only to have a hurt, a set back, or attack come? THAT is what you need to go after! The adverse things are ONLY a distraction from what you have been promised.

So, be encouraged! If you are in a good time, yet all hell has broken loose- don’t quit! You are still in a good time! The attack is simply a distraction! The sickness is a distraction! Whatever is trying to steal your joy is a distraction! The hurt is a distraction! The pain is a distraction! Keep your eyes focused on Jesus! How? Take every thought captive! Seriously, TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE! Focus on Jesus and His word! He’s right there with you, as a matter of fact, I will bet He is setting a table before you in the presence of your enemies as you read this! Go and possess your land! It IS the BEST of times!

We’ve all been there. Releasing our faith, believing for things and we wait and wait and wait and then it doesn’t happen, or doesn’t happen like we thought and blah, blah, blah….

Let me submit to you, that it is not our job to figure out HOW, but to believe He will. First, if you know the will of God for the situation, then you release your faith according to the word of God and then stay in faith. (Obviously, knowing the will is a must first!)

But where most of us get into trouble is we try to figure out HOW. This messes everything up. Because once you get an idea in your mind, when it doesn’t happen, you can get discouraged and think God is not working. He’s not! Not in the way you decided, God is God and He IS working, but He’s going to do it His way. And one other thing….blessings often come in disguises. What looks like a bad thing, just leave it in His hands, He will work it for your good!

Romans 8:28 says ALL things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. (or living, being, according to His purpose) So, if you are believing for something, allow Him to do it. Quit trying to figure out HOW and focus on Him! Delay isn’t denial, it’s just NOT YET! Why? If He let us have what we wanted when we wanted it, not only would we be bratty entitled children, but we would miss out on better things had we waited. Or what if what we want looks good to us, but because we can’t see down the road, it would really be a disaster? Trust Him! He knows! And when your answer comes, it will be in such a way you would have never imagined, it will affect and bless more than you thought, and it will be on His timing!

So, rest in the fact that He’s a good Father, He wants the best for you, He loves you and desires you to have faith and trust Him.

God has reminded me that He is a generational God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – that is how He was known in much of the Old Testament. This is good news. Why? Because God cares about our families.

God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Or I can say the God of Reva, Judith, and Kelita! The God of James, Kelita and my children! The God of you, your kids and your grandkids! Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Remember, Abraham didn’t do everything right. Remember Ishmael? Remember when he didn’t trust God enough with Sarah and he lied and said she was his sister… almost getting her taken from him by Pharaoh? Then Isaac lied similarly about Rebekah and Jacob lied to get the birthright blessing? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That was how God announced Himself over and over. He is a covenant God!

It matters not what it looks like- those people were not perfect yet God did not abandon His covenant with them and He won’t with us either.

Psalm 78 1- 7 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

God is a generational God and EVERY promise He has made to us will be kept! He is the covenant God of generations. If you had godly parents, hallelujah, if you didn’t, let this covenant start with you.

Acts 16:31 (Voice) 31 Just believe—believe in the ultimate King, Jesus, and not only will you be rescued, but your whole household will as well.

God is a generational God!

I recently wrote an article about staying ANCHORED in HOPE – the God kind of hope….not man’s wishy washy – maybe it will or maybe it won’t-but the Hope that says, my God is not a man that He should lie! Hope that, according to the word means:

Cord, hope, expectation, things hoped for – outcome, to have possession or possess, ANCHOR, safeguard, firm – that which can be relied on, certain true, steadfast, stable, securely, to wait, expect and tarry, hope in the WORD, expectation of good! (expect good things!) joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation, the author of hope, or HE who is its foundation, the thing hoped for, REFUGE, shelter, (from storm or danger), trust, confidence, act of confiding, object of confidence, STATE of CONFIDENCE, security, to hope, in a religious sense, to wait for salvation with joy and full confidence, hopefully to trust in, to have, possess or lay hold of.

Today, I read a post from my friend Tammy Schwendeman and she made the following statement: “ and she made the following statement: “IF YOU HAVE PICKED UP YOUR ANCHOR because of frustration of its not working God!! – then I encourage you to give the anchor back and let go again. Give the anchor back to the one who who always walks with you to overcome.”

I wish I could insert emojis here because there would be a line of FIRE! She described many of us and what we have done a bunch! When things are too heavy and it’s hard to move forward, we have picked up our anchor! Jesus, help us! What a revelation! We can’t carry our own anchor anymore than we can carry our own problems. When we pick up our anchor, we have pulled our anchor out of the word, out of HOPE and are trying to do things within ourselves and we all know how that works….it doesn’t! It’s cumbersome, awkward, we can’t get a good grip, we can’t move fast nor take normal steps. Carrying our own anchor hurts our backs, our muscles and wears us out! No one, in their right mind, would even try to carry a large, heavy anchor that is meant to anchor a ship, so why do we ever try?

If this is you today, do as my friend said – give the anchor back to the one who makes you overcome. This means surrendering your will, your ideas of how things will work out, your timetable, your frustration and fears. Surrender all of it and pick up instead, His grace, His peace and the God kind of HOPE! Throw your anchor into the HOPE of God!

I will end this with a great scripture to throw your anchor into full on – Romans 5:1-5 (NAS) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Let’s read verses 3-5 in The Passion Translation – Let’s read verses 3-5 in The Passion Translation – “Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, (HOPE) knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. 4 And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. 5 And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (HOPE my emphasis)

The Lord is continuing to say to us ANCHOR YOURSELF IN HOPE! So, pray with me:

Father, we come before You today and we first repent for picking up our anchor! We repent for trying to do things our way because of frustration and impatience! Lord, we repent for not fully trusting YOU! Thank You that according to 1 John 1:9 You hear, forgive and cleanse us right now. Jesus, right now, we take our anchor and we throw it full on into HOPE – Your hope – the God kind, which is backed by Your powerful and precious Word. We release to you the timing of our situations and we thank You right now, that because You are not a man that You should lie – we completely and totally trust You for a good outcome. We are expecting good things. We love You and honor You and we give you praise for this way of escape. We take a posture of adoration and know that true worship trusts the anchor in the middle of the storm. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN!

(first article on Hope found here: https://therockpkb.com/the-god-kind-of-hope/ )

One day this week, as I was driving to work and talking to the Lord and going through my daily prayers and this came out of my mouth – sometimes gratefulness doesn’t go deep enough!

How do you explain being grateful, when it’s more than grateful? How do you go deeper?

Here are some questions I asked the Lord?

How do I go deeper than grateful? How do I go deeper to know that the life I have was purchased for me?

Deeper, than knowing the promises that You have made, to know that when things go awry in life, regardless of how big or small, that I have a place to go….

I have a place to hide.

I have a grace that covers me.

I have a hope that anchors me.

I have a light that lets me see.

I have a peace that goes past any racing thoughts or fears, and passes my understanding.

Jesus is all this and more!

Gratefulness just doesn’t go deep enough!

I have a God that loves me, not some myth in a storybook, not a god that changes his mind or acts on whims or feelings, but a God who chose to die for me, and then give me the choice to serve Him. And now that I have chosen to serve Him, He gives me an abundant life. Not a perfect life, but a life of grace, love, joy, hope and peace – WHATEVER the situation!

I will say it again….. GRATEFULNESS DOESN’T GO DEEP ENOUGH!

How do I go deeper than grateful for that?

Seems impossible, doesn’t it?  Navigating loss with joy.  It’s not easy, but it is possible.

This time last year my sister Sherri was very sick.  Not only did she suffer from progressive MS but was taking chemo treatments twice a year, which eliminated her immune system completely.  Two days after Thanksgiving she contracted covid, and because she had no immune system, she had no way to fight. The truth is, she couldn’t even fight a common cold.

So, what did I do?  I prayed.  We all know the scriptures, the prayer of the faith shall save the sick (James 5:15) and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), and that settles it, right? That was the firm stand of faith I took.

My faith was firm, and I stood, even though the ordeal went on for six weeks, I remained steadfast in the word of God.  Unfortunately, a week after Christmas I got the devastating call that my sister passed.

How could this be?  Did we not pray?  Did we not fast?  Did we not declare? Yes, yes, yes to all.

I remember nights just worshiping God and telling Him no matter what, I would always worship.  One particular day I said, “Lord, look into my future and see me.  SEE ME.  I am and always will be worshiping and serving You.”  With His grace, I have kept that promise.

I grew up in church all my life, but I served God out of fear for the first thirty years.  I didn’t realize that He was FOR me and that He wanted me to succeed.  I always had this impression that He was waiting on me to mess up so that He could mete out a punishment. Thankfully, I have learned that is not our God!  His desire is for good things for us!  And He wants our best, always. His desire is ALWAYS good!

You might say, “Would it not have been best for your sister to be healed and still alive on the earth?”  In my mind it sure was and it was what we wanted.   However, the Bible says, our ways are not His ways nor our thoughts His thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8) We don’t know the future, we are stuck in time, but God is not.  He is already at the end and sees it all.

Sure, I had questions of why.  It is not wrong to ask questions, still we must be okay with His answers.  Obviously, His desire was for her to go be with Him.  One of my friends had a dream two hours before my sister passed that led me to believe God visited her just before she left this earth. I believe she chose to go with Him.  He has also given me signs to let me know this.  He has comforted me.  For that, I am thankful.

How then I have navigated her loss with joy?

1. I know where she is.
2. I trust God completely.

If there was any way she could have lived and had a good life left here on the earth, I believe He would have granted our heart’s desires.  That is just how good He is. I trust that implicitly and will not waiver off that stand.

In my opinion, this is where many people get hung up…they don’t fully trust God.  I mean completely and wholeheartedly trust Him, knowing that He is truly for us.  Taking comfort in the fact that He wants the absolute best for us. Understanding that if it doesn’t turn out according to our prayer, He has made a better way.  We can stand in this place when we believe Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.”  All means all, and that is all it will ever mean!  ALL things work together for my good!  I must TRUST Him and believe His word. I made up my mind years ago that anytime me and God disagreed, I was wrong!  No questions asked, no arguments.  That’s it.  Final answer.

The Bible says in Proverbs 23:18, that there is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.  It also says in Psalm 27:13-14, “I will remain confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

When my sister left us to go to heaven, I could have been angry and dismayed.  After all, I did all I knew to do according to the Word of God, and she still died.  However, I trust God.  So, if my sister went to heaven, this is the goodness I see in the land in which I live.  The goodness is my sister is in heaven and no longer suffering.  The goodness is He is taking care of her family and her prayers are eternal.  The goodness is she is in the cloud of witnesses declaring and cheering me on.  The goodness is, Jesus died so that she could live with Him forever.  The goodness is He is working all things for my good.  I must keep my eyes on His goodness.

I would rather pray and stand in faith and things not turn out the way I want, than to do nothing. For while we are standing, we are building our faith and living according to God’s will and living a life pleasing to Him.  We can’t lose!

How then do I believe the next time?  How do I have confidence in my prayers again? I trust God.  I know, if I pray according to His word and do whatever He leads me to do, He will grant my heart’s desire, if it aligns with His will.  No matter what, God is faithful, and I trust Him.   Ultimately, He knows what is best. He will never let me down! I trust Him.  You can too. Allow Him into your loss.  Let Him help you navigate the way out with joy.  He did it for me and he will do it for you.

*first published for http://www.anewthingministries.com

I keep hearing – anchor yourself in hope. Stay in hope. This caused me to think and ponder and look up some biblical definitions of hope.
See, I have always thought of hope as being wishy washy – like maybe it will or maybe it won’ On the contrary! The Apostle Paul wrote much of hope, and he was not an unstable man.

I looked up hope in the Strong’s Concordance online today and here are the biblical definitions of hope:

Cord, hope, expectation, things hoped for – outcome, to have possession or possess, ANCHOR, safeguard, firm – that which can be relied on, certain true, steadfast, stable, securely, to wait, expect and tarry, hope in the WORD, expectation of good! (expect good things!) joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation, the author of hope, or HE who is its foundation, the thing hoped for, REFUGE, shelter, (from storm or danger), trust, confidence, act of confiding, object of confidence, STATE of CONFIDENCE, security, to hope, in a religious sense, to wait for salvation with joy and full confidence, hopefully to trust in, to have, possess or lay hold of. (Capitalized words are my emphasis)

WOW – I don’t see wishy washy anywhere in the definitions above!

So, when I read Zech 9:12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Or Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

I know that God is telling me that His hope is my Stronghold, my anchor!

Over a year ago, while fretting one day, God said to me “why can’t you expect good things?” and I noticed in the meanings of HOPE – expectation was a part of this.

Psalm 43:5 – Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God! Hope there means to EXPECT and WAIT! So we can read this verse this way – Why am I discouraged and my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God, I will expect Him to deliver me and and I wait for Him to answer my prayer!

We can read Zech 9:12 like this – Return to your fortress you prisoners of hope, of expectation of things to come; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you!

Or how about Hebrews 6:19 – We have this hope, we possess it, we lay hold of this hope, this confidence, as an anchor for the soul, (mind, will and emotions), firm and secure! What is this hope? If you read the previous verses it is talking about the promise God made to Abraham and that He cannot lie – to grab onto THAT HOPE that He has set before us.

God is saying – grab onto HOPE!

Find your promise in the Word of God and possess it, grab onto it, expect it, wait for it, tarry, allow it to build your confidence, let it ANCHOR your soul, your mind your will and your emotions, and stand firm in your faith! An anchor will keep a ship from being moved off course in a storm, it will keep it safe.

I know we have all had disappointments, but those disappointments come from people who are not perfect, and from our own misunderstandings, or our own human reasonings which are flawed. God will never and has never let us down! His ways are perfect and higher than ours. So, determine right now to release the disappointments, repent if you have blamed God, release others from fulfilling your expectations (big one!) and set your heart to expect, hope in and wait for the Lord! Rehearse and immerse yourself in the Word of God. Find your scripture (your legal right to what you expect and desire) and confess it, dissect it, look up the meanings of the words in the verse and get it down into your spirit, let it be your anchor.

God is continuing to say to us EXPECT GOOD THINGS! Put your hope in HIM!

I believe this will help someone….

Yesterday in church, in worship, as we were singing “My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in your love” yesterday, I was enlightened!!!!

We were singing “my fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love”… and the second verse goes – “now shame no longer has a place to hide” – but I saw now PAIN no longer has a place to hide….

People know me as a strong person – and that is true – and in my wonderfully strong flawed personality, I have taken hurts and disappointments and said – it doesn’t affect me – I won’t let it hurt me – I will just say it doesn’t matter and go on. And I have done that for a while now, but especially in the last couple years.

And do you know what happened? I started feeling the effects of great stress in my body – tension and tightness, and even sadness.

About a month ago God revealed something deep to me, and I sought counsel and my friend told me that I had to acknowledge the pain and the hurt and disappointment and GIVE IT TO GOD so He can heal it. She said – how can God heal what you don’t acknowledge? (WOW) So, I have been acknowledging the pain, the hurt and LETTING IT GO.

Then last week I got prayer for my body and the word of the Lord came – LET IT GO and let ME deal with it! WOW! Cause when we don’t, we are saying we know best or we are NOT trusting God to handle our hurts and pains. Only He can heal and make us whole!

So when I “saw” now PAIN no longer has a place to hide – I was like yes!!!!! THEN we hit the next song – “the veil is torn, the doors swing wide….. and God said “I didn’t tear the veil for you to put another in in its place and that is what you were doing when you were “hiding your pain”. (I never thought of it as me hiding it – I thought I was refusing it!) And in me hiding my pain from myself and from God, my pain, in turn was hiding me! OH MY!!!!!

Life is not fair. Circumstances can cut us. People will let us down. These things are all real and therefore, need to be REALIZED and dealt with! Not by retribution, or by ignoring, but by acknowledging, Forgiving (if necessary) and letting it go to the Father. Let Him walk us through the pain, the hurt, the betrayal, the process and HEAL us.

Psalm 34:18 says The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Don’t hide your pain, shame, anger, whatever! Because in hiding it, it will in turn hide you! Let it go! Pour out your heart to Jesus. He knows and He will heal Your heart and set you free!