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Have you ever noticed how many times the Exodus story is recounted in the Old Testament? The Lord was very clear with His people that they should never forget how He saved them from slavery in Egypt. He wanted them to always remember how He brought them into their own land and blessed them.

I’m realizing that this “remember” mindset is key to living a life of joy, freedom, and peace. I have been reading the psalms every day for months now, and I come across passages like this all the time:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Psalm 42:5-6

When we are downcast… depressed, feeling lonely and defeated, we need to turn our gaze upward. The Lord calls us to praise Him in these times. I find that this is the hardest time to praise Him! These verses are very clear though… we are to praise Him simply by remembering.

Remember how He has saved you in the past. Think back to when He rescued you. Look back to when He provided all that you needed. Remember all of the loving things that He has done for you.

As soon as I start doing this, I am lifted right out of the pits. The despair leaves and His peace comes. I am even able to experience joy. This is why the Lord always instructed His people to remember.

If you’re like me, there was a time when looking back did not bring me peace or joy. Remembering did not lead to praising my God. When you look into the past, are there seasons or moments when the Lord seemed absent? Uncaring? Angry? Distant?

I had a couple of moments in my life that were painful, to the degree that it paralyzed me to wonder where God was in those times. The things that happened to me were so ungodly that I couldn’t make sense of His part in it. Why did He let that happen?

I have a dear friend that challenged me to ask Him. Where were you God? Show me where You were. Show me Your heart. Why did you let that happen?

Well, I asked. And, of course, He answered. Not immediately, but over time He began to reveal things to my heart through scripture and in my prayer times.  Then one night, when some friends were praying over me, I saw some images in my mind. I saw myself in one of those painful situations. I saw the situation end the way I always remembered it, but then I saw Jesus enter the picture and minister to me in that painful moment. There were many tender words and actions that followed. I felt such healing!

I want to challenge you… if you are unable to look back and stand on what God has done for you in the past, then you need to ask Him to show you where He was. I promise you that He will answer. Be open to the ways that He will communicate to you! Through a movie, a bible verse, a word from a friend. Maybe a gentle whisper in your heart during your time of worship. Be ready to hear from Him!

As much as hope looks forward, faith looks backward. Our faith is strengthened every time we look back and praise our God for the miracles He has done in our lives. Take time every day to remember!

By Posted on Posted in God's presence, hearing God, prayer 1 Comment

I’d like to share with you (in a two-part post) what are probably the two most valuable things I have learned to do in my Christian life.

The two practices that I want to share with you have deepened my relationship with the Lord in ways that I cannot even begin to describe or measure. Overall, the last couple of years have been desert-like for me in many ways. However, God has been determined to get through to me with His love and grace. It’s one thing to understand in my head that He loves me… but it’s completely another to BELIEVE it wholeheartedly, to feel it, taste it, hold on to it when life is thrashing me about.

The two practices I want to share are in fact conduits for God’s love, power, and presence to be poured into my life. There is really no power in the practice itself… but God uses it to reach out and touch me. The first of the two is incorporating visualization into prayer and worship. That might sound kooky… so let me explain.

A couple of years ago, I started having little pictures pop into my head when I would pray. I realized in short order that it was the Lord who was putting these pictures in my mind to show me things. Sometimes they were images of things like waterfalls, ropes in a knot, landscapes, etc. Often they were images of me with Him. Then the pictures started coming in a series… kind of like a movie in my mind. The Lord would often combine the pictures with a message from a friend or a bible verse to confirm that it was indeed Him trying to tell me something. I was concerned that maybe I was losing it!!

These pictures were coming during a time when I was struggling with an issue from my past. A dear friend challenged me one day to ask God where He was at a particularly traumatic time in my life.  I began to ask the Lord to do exactly that. I had no idea that He had been preparing me with these little visions and that He would literally show me where He was.

One night at an intimate mountain retreat, I received an answer. Some amazing women were praying over me, and I saw a series of events unfold in my mind. I saw myself as a child, in an awful situation. Amazingly, I saw Jesus come into this situation and show such tenderness to me. The “vision” was 100 times more powerful than any of the pictures I had seen before. God gave me a new perspective on this piece of my history, a new perspective of Him and His love for me. I was forever changed in that moment.

As time went on, the Lord showed me more. I asked Him where He was during another difficult moment in my life. This answer came in several pieces over maybe a year’s time. Sometimes while I was in prayer or in worship, I would see Jesus walking with me through the most awful seasons of my life. In one particular vision, I saw Him rescue me from a painful situation and whisk me away to the beach. The Lord took me back to that spot in my mind several times to show me more. At one point, I realized that the beach is the place where He wants to meet me. Again and again.

In times of quiet prayer or during worship on Sundays, I close my eyes and imagine myself walking out to the beach. Jesus is always waiting there for me. Sometimes He tells me things. Mostly, He just holds me or sits with me. He has shown me the scars that He bears on His hands, feet, and hairline (from the crown of thorns). In the sky over the crashing waves, He has shown me the glory of the Father. He has walked with me on the sand, carried me on occasion, and washed me in the waves many times.

Yesterday, He showed me something new.  During the worship music at church, I imagined myself on the beach. I ended up standing on a pier with Jesus, watching the howling wind and rolling waves mix with raucous thunder and lightning. In an instant, He scooped me up, carried me out on the water, and suddenly we were beyond all the torrents. Standing on the water, He held me and instructed me to look all around. I became aware of our position… we were in the eye of the storm. I felt complete peace in that moment. I could see the violent stirrings of the storm a mile away on every side. I have never felt so safe. The words we were singing at that moment in church:

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us so….

In the eye of the storm, it was so quiet that I could hear Him say:

I love you. I made you. I know you through and through. I am wrecked with love for you. I can think of nothing else but you. I am with you, watching you, protecting you, fighting for you. I love you.

Visualizations like this one have made my Jesus much more tangible. It has opened the door of my heart for Him to communicate to me more clearly. I find that more of my senses are involved in my prayer or worship time because I literally feel like I am with him in those few special moments. I have learned to relax more, so that He can guide my imagination and show me more. I want more!

I encourage you to give visualization a try. Start by asking the Lord to show you a place where He wants to meet you. Close your eyes, and let Him suggest the place. Let Him suggest the time, the surroundings, and your interactions with Him. Close your eyes and be with Him!

By Posted on Posted in God's presence, God's provision No Comments

I was reading in Psalm 67 today…

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,

2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.

5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.

7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

I saw the simple cycle of praise and blessing. In the first two verses, we see that God showers us with grace and makes His presence known in our lives so that we will know Him personally.  He wants our reaction to be joy (v. 4-5). When we praise Him for the things He is doing and for the ways He is making Himself known to us, then He is inspired to do more (v. 6-7).

How often the Lord blesses me… and I don’t show my appreciation! Today this psalm reminded me to thank Him for all that He has poured into my life. It reminded me to look for the evidence that His blessings flow on a daily basis.