Beauty

I attended the funeral of a beautiful woman last week. There was a lady who comforted the family with her attempts at speaking and sign language. Some may have felt challenged by her looks but God graced me to see something in her eyes. She was confident in her beauty and comforted the family in her confidence and love for the deceased. The message of her life was loud: I can't hear what you think or say about me. I have spent so much time in His presence, your words do not influence me any more. I know what He thinks about me and that is all that matters to me now. 

Wow, she was free. I was at a very influential and wealthy church but she did not care. I was supporting a family well known for their ministry and influence but that did not influence her, not in the least. She wanted to bring comfort to the family and she had comfort to share.

She humbled me in her beauty.

Dear Job,

Job, shut up! i know you want to answer your foolish friends foolish assumptions. You know that your heart is NOT convicting you of sin yet you try to answer their accusations as if there was some truth to what they are saying. Be still and be quiet. Do not let them move you off your confidence. God is good - all the time. Yes, I know you have suffered unbelievable loss, more pain than a person can manage in a day or even in a life time. I am sorry. But be quiet. If you open your mouth your bowels will open and you will spew trash you know is not true. You will think for a moment that you will feel better but you won't. You will feel awful! And whoever you spew on will feel awful as well. Be still and wait for God. Learn to still your soul before Him. Let the tears and pain of your situation flow freely but open only your heart and not your bowels. Learn the difference, precious child.

In this moment of pain God is working deep in your heart and your soul. He is moving your soul furniture around and you are going to be different because of it. You will not even be aware of the changes that He has made until much later. Let Him do His work in your heart. The pain and grief causes things to float to the surface so that He can deal with them. Let your stuff float and face Him. Release the tears, the groans, the hopes and the joys from deep inside of your being.

Years from now God will use the depth of the work that He is doing right now to lead you into deeper truth that you would not be able to grasp if it were not for the pain and grief that is wising you up even now. The fire burns the HAY, WOOD and STUBBLE and the gold of faith remains, purfied. God delights to use that which we cannot grasp to purify us. Trust Him and let His fire seek your heart

Fear

Nothing is more anti-heart than FEAR. Fear causes us to not breathe with our hearts but revert to letting our mind and emotions control us. I have seen many a marriage ruined because one mate was more committed to their fears rather than to God or their mate. I have an extra chair in my office that I sometimes place next to a HeartTalk student. Their spouse sits in a chair across from them. The smaller chair sits next to them while their spouse is about three or four feet away. I comment that they are going to hold to the one (usually fear) and despise the other. They do not mean or think that they are despising their spouse but they are. Fear laughs and mocks our heart and our heart's desire. To live without fear means being committed to the way of the Heart without any editing allowed. It means being committed to letting the Spirit of God and the breath of God flow through us. It means being and staying connected to God through His Spirit and the hearts of those who follow Him with all their hearts.