Moments

There are moments in life where everything makes sense. Split moments when the universe is aligned with a window into God's plans. But not only his plans, you feel as if you have a story and you see his hand writing, knowing there's more. You feel important, seen, known by your maker in the fullest sense. This moment is just that. A moment. There are no seconds to it. Just one slight understanding that you're not forgotten. An understanding that no one can give you this moment. An understanding that you were made to live in a moment like this for eternity when that little window will become a home you dwell in. If you don't understand this moment you haven't had it. Your time will come. And when it does don't try to grasp the meaning of your life, because in a split second that same meaning will change. Just grasp the hand that created it and hold on for the rest. And moment by moment you will learn of his sweetness, you will learn of his love, his delight in you, and most importantly his never ending grace that keeps extending through these windows. Never because of something you did, never because of who you are. But only because of one truth that whether you are near or far to him remains certain. You were created for him, by him, and whether you use your moments to know him is up to you.

When Life Seems To Cater

With my eyes set on you there's no left or no right

No bridges to cross just your hands on both sides

And I'll think of us in this way when I waver 

In thought or in action, when life seems to cater 

The fears, the what ifs, the lonely feel 

Of no hands to trust or arms to seem real

I'll remember how far you've brought me to know

In my life I've never been left alone

Every night I felt you, and felt your need

To tell me our story with memories

Setting my thoughts in truth

 As conviction resets the course 

I cling to the wholeness your breath came to restore

To speak to my soul and make known

The worth of my heart 
Is the love it will hold

Climbing Ladders

Been stepping on stones 

Waiting to fall right in

It's hard to leave crumbs

When that's all I got left to eat

Can't wait for a hero 

When I'm always doing the rescuing 

Can't be the princess 

When in true loves eyes I'm a queen

Warm, cold, hot, still doesn't feel right

Didn't want to taste what was never mine

 Pouring back the porridge 

Giving into thought 

Climbed the ladders high enough 

Found the giants to be small

No towers left to keep me

No powers to defeat me

When the heart knows what it wants

No reason can set the mood

To turn numbness into life

And return a love that I once knew

Love Free

Paid attention to the sound 

Watched the waves toss around

Braced myself for understanding

Listened for greater gaining

No burning bush to distill these thoughts

Only the one I watch and gaze upon

Becoming my set decision

To act out love with no condition

Such change in thought not just fundamental

But like air I breath it is essential

Not slowly becoming the new creation

But being to others the sole initiation

To letting him reign so they can see

The one I envision as I love free

Lullaby

A reflection of love in rest

A connection with grace at best

Finer things in life cannot be found

Sweeter notes will never sound

Than your whisper in my ear

Stay here with me, be near

A surrender of my will unneeded

When a rendered heart is greeted

By the giver of my days

By the keeper of my ways

To places left untouched 

To places left defeated

Until words came to grasp 

My heart, my mind, my life

Replacing what once I called my sight

 Your voice, my sweet lullaby 

Scattered

Like scattered seeds are the scattered hearts

 Like summers heat are the blisters from

 A life of not knowing who planted us here

 A life of not knowing why no water is near

 Unscatter us that we might grow

 Water us that we might know

 When unquenched desire arises within

 When our strive to live is growing thin

 Give us a place to rest our feet

 Give us the courage to take our seat

 On dusty trails where no love is found

 Provide your will to make the ground

 That has no stones to throw without

 First looking at the weeds come out 

 Our withered hearts that need to know

 The planter who desires his seeds may grow 

Unmasked

Unmasked to see a familiar face that stared at me so long ago

Seems like only yesterday I promised her I'd never change

Years of living without her say

Of what she thought or how she felt

Found her hiding and set her free

With her alive I can finally see

The one I masked so long ago

She's shown me more truth than I'll ever know

I can feel her telling me to be

The girl that loved to be alone

Because alone was her way of knowing him

Alone were her enchanted days

Magical lands were not in her fairy tales

Magical lands were not in her dreams

They were all around her in every step

The king welcomed her with every breath

Existing here was a gift unwrapped

Living here was figuring out

How to use that gift inside

How to live a life unmasked

This Safe Place

A stillness you bring to my life running free

A stillness that allows me to see howi you see me

With a smile on my face and a peace in my soul

I find myself thinking about this safe place you've shown me

I find myself waiting for the next moment

I'll be taken into what's mine

This world of you wanting to be with me

Surrounded by people yet feeling seen

Surrounded by noise but hearing a song

I can't understand anymore with my mind

Im only learning to feel this time

What it means to be still and know you are here

What it means to know and find my heart

Beating with you from the very start

Harmony

 He's in love with his rhythm

I'm getting lost in his beat

His melody entwines my affections 

I can tell he's been places in his soul

Places where we've met before

He leaves a trace of his divine

For me to assemble into my own perfect rhyme

Pieces string away after other affections 

To leave holes of beaming light 

Where rhythm sounds her transcendence and once again

Harmony reunites me with the writing on my walls

She's become my greatest teacher 

And now I understand why he strums along

Behaving because he hears when she calls

She keeps him tied to her direction 

He's found in her a divine perfection

Harmony he says always keeps him from misbehaving

Dignified

I saw myself in your past thoughts 

I found my heart with new insights

Your intentions as pure as my understanding

Both refined for greater gaining

Of love purified

Of grace undeserving

Of hope that keeps truly preserving

I see myself in this new life

Find my heart with new delight

Lie back and feel peace seep through

The stony road I crossed with you

To a destination still undefined

To a purpose left magnified

All to say we will become 

More dignified through grace

Boundless

No depth to your perfection keeps me gratified

Your word stirred up within me longs to purify

In step I aim to follow

Though so often I fall behind

But you use this view to show me

How I'm never off your mind

How I'm lacking in perception

But never in connection

How I'm in need of truth renown

How I'm falling into a love unbound

So much clarification when I drink from your endless life

So much justification for never going back

To stale waters where a limit was set

To point to where my deepest desires can fully be met

Inspired by Psalms 119:96

~'To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.'~

Light In Bloom

Light behind closed eyes is where you meet me

Light between the lines I form is where you seek me

Where is darkness when Im directly beneath the sun 

What can the wind touch that is not yet consumed by your rays

Walking close to your perfection I cant help but to refrain

From these unintended assertions I was quick to entertain

Let go of those emotions that told me otherwise 

Found your regulation of love that never dies

My open eyes your light now finds 

While bended lines they follow

As the wind dies down nothing remains as certain

As knowing  your rays have followed me here

Peace by Peace

I get past the noise to hear you say

They don’t know your heart

They can’t plan your steps

I loose track of time to feel your timing

I loose my way to see you guiding

I loose my sense to feel yours 

Pushing me to forget my past

Pushing me to live in the present

Pushing me to see the future in light of what you've done so far

I’ve never known this side before

This side of you that let's me be human

Never asked to understand 

Yet somehow you’ve been showing me it’s all part of the plan

Still don't know myself and what I really want

Still don't know my dreams and where inside they hide

But I know all I need is what you've got 

All I need is to exist in your sweet thoughts

Nowhere in time yet everywhere in between

Holding together every part of me that still can't see

Holding in your hand everything I'll need

Waiting to give it to me peace by peace

Dare to Confess...

I have a confession...

I’m insecure, I’m not sure of anything, I’m sometimes even embarrassed of how I think, how I feel, afraid that it might be wrong. Who am I to control the experiences that make me feel and think about life and God the way I do? I can't that's why I have to cling to Truth, cling to the promise that if He loves me then in Him I am beautiful. How I think, how I feel is beautiful, because it's unique. I can’t attain freedom from my mindsets by thinking I’m secure in all I know, just because I am in Him. Because the truth is I’m not sure of what I believe to be true (what am I really supposed to be doing with my life, what is God really speaking to me). But I am sure of this...Those who seek out Truth never stay the same, they are constantly changing. They are changing in the way they think, the way they act, the way they exist. By changing we learn to be free, we learn that one way of doing something isn’t necessarily the right way or only way, we learn that others might actually be right. By changing we recognize that others are beautiful and unique. To be constantly changing is to be in constant recognition of the beauty of His children, that others are more important than ourselves. To love God is to love others, but how will we love others if we don’t recognize them as being more important than ourselves. To recognize them as we ought to we must deny that we KNOW what truth is, instead cling to seeking it out. 

This way we are constantly changing into the people God really wants us to become. Changing as we transform our thinking into the likeness of Christ. Jesus said that the Counselor will lead us into ALL truth. Are we allowing the Spirit of Truth to guide us, or are we simply thinking we know what is true and have peace about it just because we think it's right. Jesus said that many will be deceivers of themselves....how do we deceive ourselves? I believe it is by assuming we know truth instead of having allowed the Spirit to lead us to that truth. In Jeremiah God speaks to the people who allowed prophets not comissioned by Him to guide them, instead of allowing Him to lead them. He compares trusting others for guidance to Baal worship. That is because the people forget that He is the ONLY way of direction for their life. Im not saying people appointed by God can't help direct where God is leading us, but God specifically wants ALL TRUST to be put in Him. Over and over he talks about not sending the prophets that led his people astray. This shows us that it was too often that people took peoples opinions as truth instead of seeking it out on their own.

If God says my sheep hear my voice, then how come we are so quick to listen to others who say they hear his voice instead of trying to hear it for ourselves? I believe it is because it is much easier to listen to others and wait for the feeling of peace as a sense of confirmation. But what about getting that sense of peace because the persons opinion was what you wanted to hear? Then that would be a false sense of confirmation and not the Holy Spirit bearing witness. The Holy Spirit bears witness even if God is calling us to sacrifice something. The Holy Spirit bears witness in times of suffering and tribulation. The Holy Spirit is not a respecter of a persons will. He will allow things to bear witness to our spirit even if it was the last thing we would have ever thought of as being the direction for our lives. That is why we must rely soley on the word of God and what it says about Truth. For Jesus said that He leaves us a Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, and he “will teach you ALL things, and REMIND you of everything I have said to you.” “He will guide you into ALL truth.” “He will not speak of his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Has the Holy Spirit been reminding you of what Jesus spoke? Has he been reminding you about loving others, being a servant, walking in humility? Has he been giving you direction that might have cost a price, required the sacrifice of your own will? The life of Jesus and the life of His followers show one thing that is certain...that they lived by “Let your will be done.” Jesus calls each one of us to be a disciple. There is no such thing as a high calling on one persons life and not another’s. Everyone has a high calling...that high calling doesn't happen when you are recognized by this world as some famous evangelist, preacher, singer...etc. Stepping into our high calling means we have OBEYED the voice of God and have allowed His will to go forth in our lives, allowing Him to make of us what HE wants, not what we desire. 

The lives of the disciples paint a perfect picture of what a high calling looks like. They were saved and commissioned by God, but they didn’t jump into full time ministry just because they had already been commissioned. Instead there were years of spiritual growth and instruction that followed. God tested their faithfulness and hearts by seeing how well they served. As they followed Jesus and served Him their testimonies of Him grew stronger. When the time came and they preached repentance and the words of Jesus, people were saved. Because of the faith the disciples had attained from their years of instruction, service, and even tribulation, their words were not only preached with power, but with conviction by the Holy Spirit. Their passion for God did not cause them to preach “ blessings if you believe in Jesus.” Instead they spoke of turning from evil and from sin and accepting TRUTH. Many believed when they spoke, but many did not accept the Truth and allow Him to transform them into carriers of the Truth. Have you allowed the Spirit of Truth to lead you to and remind you of who Jesus and the Father are? Or are you living a life built on what others told you?

(Jan 2009)

One Space

Help me exist in this moment, where I'm in love with mankind

Let compassion burn through me, leave me refined

Let this understanding stain my life

That there are no dreams broken in your time

Let my substance be your touch

Let my countenance be your reach

Drench me in colors that can't fade

At any moment come and invade

This soul that exists as a black hole

That seeks out life to be made whole

Let my rotation be not in vain

Let my gravitation pull in your rain 

For I exist for your pleasure alone

I don't want to make life my own

Only for your purpose, only in your embrace

Help me stand complete in this one space

Abide In Me...

At times I forget what it means to simply abide in Christ. Somehow simply abiding has been cast down to 'passive' living. I get so caught up in needing some kind of greater intimacy, revelation, or knowledge, that I become blinded to the love that grows when I am just resting in him. His love being enough without my longings to tell me otherwise is not a disenchantment of the yearning passion I should have. Instead it is the development of what alone brings peace and real passion into existence. Abiding in him is not only purely passionate but sustains me unto righteousness. How else can he sustain his righteous ones as he has promised to do, unless I give up striving for that righteousness and intimacy with him and exist in the reflection of the cross. That reflection is the abiding. It is the ability to realize that he is not looking at me for righteousness, he is looking at me for faith. When his son becomes my covering for righteousness I understand the beauty of not only grace, but the beauty of simply abiding.

Let them come...

Let the little ones come  -  Emma Mikityuk (Team Member)

Jesus said, "Let the little ones come unto me", and it is to no suprise why He would say that when you experience the reality of being surrounded by pure innocence and joy. Jesus' words about the kingdom of heaven belonging to such little ones take on real meaning when you watch the little ones here worship their loving Father.

 

The truth of what they know, what they experience, and of what God seeks from each one of us is evident here. Jesus said He is looking for those who worship in spirit and in truth and if He was to look upon the earth in the moment these children worship, all of His attention would be on them.

  

The pure love they express with their voices and their bodies as they lift up their hands or touch their hearts, moves you to tears. And as the Spirit of God moves among them you hear Him whisper "this is how you are to worship".

But the worship doesn't end when the singing is over. The little ones here worship God with the way they line up for their food and wait patiently, the way they eat silently and thankfully, and the way they make sure not to leave leftovers. They know the meaning of being thankful for each meal. Many times we come and think we can teach these little minds something about God, when God has other plans and allows the little ones to teach our hearts how to better love Him.

As our hearts are forever changed from such an experience, the knowledge of God grows as well, and we are the ones leaving with minds renewed. The real teachers are left here in the care of their loving Father, worshiping in spirit and in truth, living out the meaning of living life to the fullest.

If everyone was given a chance to look at the worship of these children, they would understand the abundance of Him, of life. 

Full link: http://www.heart4children.org/en/what-others-did/groups/2010-CA-USA-Roseville.htm

Fashioned by Love...

God wants to dress us in garments of righteousness. He longs for us to trade in our rags, our altered appearances with their “burden of striving” price tags. How tiring and mundane life becomes when we don’t take time to look into our own closets, and instead search after garments the world puts such a high price on. We only come to find that our searching, effort, and time has left us with an unsatisfied state of mind, weary from trying on everybody else’s thoughts. Why all the striving to be different or new when the priceless garments waiting to be discovered in our very own closets are unique? They are of the highest value, fashioned by love. The beauty of their vivid colors expresses our worth, our worth to their Maker. How joyous the look on His face when we delight in what He has to offer. He didn’t have to make them so wonderful, so perfect, but He did just to show us how perfectly He knows us; how He knows exactly what our hearts desire. Every detail says, “ I know YOU best,” and He cant wait to see how we look in them. As we stand before Him clothed in these precious garments we cant help but exclaim, “This fits perfectly, this makes me feel as if my value outweighs the universe, this makes me feel like a true child of the Most High King!” He cant wait to dress us in garments that can so well make us feel exactly how he intended us to feel. But will we take the time to let him take our measurements, allow him to know us more intimately as he strips off our worldly rags? That we may open our closet to find garments fashioned precisely to express who we were made to be, to express who it is we belong to.