My life has been transformed.

If I had to sum it up in one word?    Encounter.

Being with Jesus.  Jesus being with me.

It really is that simple.Maybe not ‘easy’ for us on-the-go, insta-everything, always talking to someone somewhere, anytime and most all the time …. girls.  But simple.

Simple = Hopeful

Your Father wants you to be free and know the joy of living in union with Him 24/7, 365, even more than you do.  Therefore, as any parent would when giving a good gift, He has made it quite doable,   quite accessible to ANYONE.  ANYWHERE.   ANY TIME.

My life has been most profoundly changed when I have been alone with Jesus, waited on Him, and He has graciously revealed himself, his overwhelming love for me,  and just how NEAR He really is.

The thing he tells me most often?    “I’m right here.”

That’s it.  When I see His kind face, and hear His joyful voice, and feel the peace that descends on me like a blanket,  everything changes.

All of a sudden, I see that He is everything, that he sees and HAS everything in His great plan of redeeming, and He has me, and He has all whom I love, and nothing is threatening Him and nothing is worrying Him,  and I’m Ok.    Everything really is Ok.

He is right here.

“I am the Vine, you are the branches.  Anyone who remains in Me (abides, lives, makes her home in, stays connected to) will bear much fruit…  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in My love….”   John 15: 5, 9

“I will not leave you as orphans;  I will come to you….On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you…..  The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them….   My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…” John 14: 18-23

Jesus does live in me.  And in you if you have invited Him in.  Jesus HAS revealed himself to me…  over and over again.  And it has changed me, it has set me free:

I was at a Heaven Come Conference, worshiping Jesus in a large auditorium with thousands of others who love Him and live in Him and long for more of our lives to be lived with Him….  We were singing that most amazing-of-all-time song, “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God…   From my mother’s womb, You have chosen me. Love has called my name.   I’ve been born again into a Family, Your blood flows through my veins.  I’m no longer a slave to fear.   I am a child of God.”*

Something happens when you declare truth in the presence of Truth, agreeing with Him that it is true.  This may be a good definition of faith = actively believing Him.  And declaring it so that all can hear, including my own heart.

As we were singing, I saw this picture:  I was a little girl, caught in a whirlwind of worry and anxiety and real troubles and others’ troubles and fears….  when all of a sudden, my Father came and picked me up and held me close to Him as I wrapped my arms around His neck.   He was so much bigger and taller than the whirlwind He had rescued me out of that I could then turn and look back down on all of it.  And all of a sudden, I wasn’t afraid.   At once, I was just fine!   Papa had me.  I was safe, and quite secure.

But, of course, this is true!  When our boys were little guys, and we were out and about in new or scary situations, they were just fine as long as we were with them.  But if they looked around and couldn’t see us, they became scared, afraid they were all alone in the big & frightening world.   But- as soon as they saw me, or their Dad, they RAN to us, jumped into our arms, and everything was OK!   “Hey, Buddy!  It’s Ok.  I’m right here!”  At that point, they even had courage to turn back around and engage with whatever had scared them: the big dog, the crying child, the scary man.  It didn’t matter:  Dad’s here.   Everything is OK.

At that point they were even emboldened to be concerned for the crying child or the scary man who didn’t have a home…  Their own security made them want the OTHERS to be ok… and they would often ask, “Can we help them, Daddy?”   “Can we help them find their parents?  Can we buy that guy some food, or a house?”   Somehow, they had forgotten about their own fears and were able to SEE the others around them enough to want them to be OK, too.    This is what being our true selves will do for us:

“You split the sea so I could walk right through it.   My fears are drowned in perfect Love!  You rescued me so I can stand and say, “I AM A CHILD OF GOD!”*

And then, while in my Papa’s arms, still relishing the safety and security of being HIS child, He set me down, split the sea of trouble that had been in front of me, and (in my picture/vision) I called out to all those who were lost in the chaos of worry and anxiety and troubles, “Come on!  Our Papa is here!  Follow me!  He’s split the sea for us!   We have nothing to fear!   He will take care of it!”

That was over two months ago.  Nearly every day since then, I run and find Papa!  When the phone call is bad news, and the circumstances around me become scary, I run to find Him and he picks me up and lifts me above the fray and chaos of the world, and I find safety.  I can see again.   From this vantage point, I can see clearly how much bigger He is and how much He loves me and how nothing threatens Him or could ever compromise Him…. and I can look back at my troubles and fears and very real life and see it differently.  I have nothing to fear.  He is right here.  And I am free.

I am a child of God.

If you read the last few blogs, you know that I have ‘grown’ so much by studying and memorizing His word, being in fellowship with others and living in the light.  I believe in and practice all these things daily.

But of ALL these things, only one has brought me peace that passes understanding and joy that no one can take from me:   it’s actually BEING WITH Him.   It’s ‘fixing my eyes on things unseen,’ like His face, and sitting quietly while I ask Him questions and listen;  it’s soaking in His presence as I listen to a worship song… it’s putting the phone away and even my bible away for a bit, and just looking to Him.  Picturing Him.  Asking Him to speak to me…  and knowing He loves to!   I have come to find that He’s always smiling, always more than willing, always speaking and wanting to share His thoughts with me.  I’ve learned to take this relationship into the busyness of life and continue the conversation with Him while I’m also conversing with others;  learned to ask His thoughts on the matter -whatever is at hand.   He’s my dearest friend, and the kindest person I know.  His love has transformed me.   And I need the times when I just sit with Him and receive it.    He is not just any Papa.  He is the most loving, most powerful, most wise , and most just… and He is crazy about us, his kids.  He’d rather die than live without us, and He’d do anything to bring us home safely.  And, in Jesus, He did just that.

We are safe.  We are eternally and presently secure.

He is right here.

And we are His.

* “No Longer Slaves”, by Jonathan & Melissa Helser, can be listened to in its entirety on YouTube.  My prayer for you?  Let it play as you sit with Jesus, look into His eyes, and ask Him how he feels about you!   Then let your Father pick you up and just hold you.   Look with Him down on your greatest fears and troubles, and ask Him, “What are your thoughts on this, Papa?  How will you keep me safe?   How does your love free me in this?”     After you’re done, write what you hear Him saying.   You’ll want to remember!