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233. Not Done

 I’m not one for chasing signs and wonders, but I’m also not one to ignore them. Months ago I was done. I wanted nothing to do with ministry. I wanted nothing to do with serving the Lord. I wanted nothing more than to run right back into the world, guns blazing never looking back. In every room I felt the glares and heard the whispers. Sometimes I still do. You’d think it gets easier over time, it’s only gets easier with Jesus. 

I didn’t feel worthy to go to this retreat in Wyoming. I didn’t know why the Lord called me there. I was struggling with my identity now more than ever before, and I spent months at home crying out to the Lord trying to find a reason to cancel. 

God has a funny way of reminding me “I’m not done with you yet”. He said it firmly in 2018 and He reminds me frequently to this day to keep going. That’s how we learn, that’s how we grow. As individuals, as leaders, and as ministers of the gospel, it’s all about never giving up, learning from our mistakes, and never losing faith. 

Friday night I received a word from the Lord that freed me from so much. It confirmed what I knew all along. When the Lord speaks through someone who knows nothing about what you’ve gone through and hits it perfectly…. Oh Jesus! You can’t deny the existence of the Lord. 

Saturday morning during worship the Lord had me release a vision for the leadership at the retreat. I saw a lake glassed over. The water perfectly calm and still. The clouds in the sky were slowly blowing past as the summer winds kicked up. One single rain drop hit that water and caused a ripple that went out. Then another, and another, and another. Then I saw the hand of the Lord sweep across the sky and it began to pour down rain as if the heavens themselves were opened by the hand of God. That is the effect this yearly retreat is having in that area. That is the effect we can all have in advancing the kingdom of God. Every word, every action, a ripple. 

About an hour or so later it went from clear blue skies to raining confirming the word. 

The Lord covers me in His love. He shows me the things that other people are too busy to look for. He reminds me that He’s with me in my mom’s old Correlle pattern 1,614 miles away from home, in a cloud in the sky, or in a cross on the floor that I didn’t notice until I sat, kneeled and cried there for almost 3 days. 

The Lord reminded me this weekend why I do what I do and of my authority in Christ. He reminded me who I belong to and where He is taking me. He reminded me of His restoration, reconciliation, mercy and grace. He reminded me of His sacrifice on the cross and what it really really means to be washed clean. He reminded me of His love. He reminded me why I’m not quite like everyone else and that it’s ok. He reminded me to get up every time I fall. 

He picked me up this past weekend and I pray He picks you up too. Up out of the depression, up out of the hopelessness, up out of the cycles of family dysfunction. Up out of financial bondage, up out of your harmful thought patterns, up out of your fleshly views, worldly beliefs and your need to fit in; and I pray you are seated with Him in heavenly places and that your Spirit overrides your flesh, that the word of God renews your mind with the truth of the Gospel, and that you encounter the Glory of the Lord in Jesus mighty name. 

He is with you, He is for you, and He is NOT done with you yet!

Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”

Ezekiel 34:11

“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.”

Psalms 44:21

“Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Ecclesiastes 1:13

“And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.”

Galatians 6:9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Luke 1:37 - For with God nothing shall be impossible.

2 Chronicles 15:7 - Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

John 8:12 - Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Proverbs 16:7 - When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Proverbs 27:17 - Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.






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