a little summer Vlogging

You can find this audio book club series over in The Room to Read!

But He said to them...

"But He said to them, 
"It is I; do not be afraid."

                                                                                     

Many times, the most fearful of situations and circumstances has Jesus written all over it.

How different it would be.

What a difference it would make in our hearts...

in our life...

if we could, in the midst of our fear, have the ears to hear Him say...

"It is I, do not be afraid."

It's not so much the circumstance,

as it is Jesus.

Presenting Himself to us in the midst of it.

Fear has the ability to blind us from seeing Jesus.

Fear distorts our vision.

It closes, not only our eyes to Jesus, but also our hearts and minds to Him as well.

We respond to the fear with the very thing fear feeds upon the most... our flesh.

Fear gets fat when we operate in the flesh.

It starves when we are walking in the Spirit.

I love the narrative that follows the declaration of

  "It is I; do not be afraid."

It says...

 "So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, 

and immediately

the boat was at the land to which they were going."

Am I, are you, willing to receive Him into the boats that are our particular lives?

Into our hearts?

Not placing our trust in the circumstance, the fear, or our own flesh.

But placing our trust in Him and in His Word to us...

"It is I, do not fear."

This being willing to receive is not just our initial receiving of Him at salvation.

This being willing to receive is an ever present continuous action, 

for every moment of every day,

until we take our final breath here on planet earth.

Yes,

our salvation at that one moment in time has secured our place with Him in heaven.

But it is our daily,

moment by moment willingness to receive Him here and now,

 that ensures the immediacy of our very heart, mind and soul stepping with solidity upon the shores of our promised land...right now!

Right where we are this very minute!

What is this promised land amid the fears and circumstances of life?

It is the land we have been given to reside in,

and live off the bounty of NOW!

The land of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

It's a land Whose shores can only be reached through the hearing and willing receiving of The Very Word of God...

"It is I, do not be afraid."

Many times, the most fearful of situations and circumstances has Jesus written all over it.

Climbing Walls...

One of my birthday gifts this year was to go and climb a wall.

I thought it was fitting that it was one of my children that gave this to me.

I have been wanting to do this for quite a long time now.

I invited my husband to come along and enjoy the thrill as well.

Here is the 'yin' to my 'yang'.

Thrilled he was not.

He was a trooper though.

And so we scaled the wall together.

Just as we have always done.

Some walls were harder than others.

Tiny footholds.

Large gaps of space.

But every small movement upwards,

carried with it the thrill of victory!

There will always be those moments in our lives,

when to heed the call to 'Come up Higher',

will require of us.

Body, Mind, Soul and Strength.

But the Joy of the climb outweighs it all!