Delightful calm

For years now I have been pondering this scripture.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I have had quite a few big T trials in my life. But I also have noticed how often we have these trials of many kinds or little t trials. Or even the Greek work means temptations. But let’s focus on trials. Your van breaks down or the AC doesn’t work when you wait in the pick up line for school. Or one kid gets sick and thus begins a continual sickness in your home for a month. Even somethings that are as small as the phone call you need to make or a return you need to take to the post office. And with these little t trials you can guarantee the minute you check off one you will get the next one in the mail. They are never ending.

Maybe it’s a hard relationship or even something you personally struggle with like anger. Or the baby sleeps great all week until tonight! I often have asked the Lord. How can James say to consider it pure joy? Pure? Joy? So I looked up the Greek of these words in the text in the Strongs.

Joy in this context was from chara or chairo which are defined below.

cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight:–gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy(-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous).

a primary verb; to be “cheer”ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be well:–farewell, be glad, God speed, greeting, hall, joy(- fully), rejoice.

Calm delight or calmly happy. This is not the joy that is based on our circumstances. This is from another source. I have prayed for this kind of Joy in my life. It only comes from the confidence and love of God in a surrendered confession of faith in His son Jesus Christ.

But just becoming a Christian does not automatically give you calm that is delightful. This is a choice. These daily trials and even annoyances are there to keep us pressed in. In prayer, in the practice of asking for wisdom. More on this later.

Jesus said himself.

““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.””
‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We will have trouble or “pressure,” Jesus guaranteed it.

I don’t know if it was turning 40 or just seeing this pattern of my joy being stolen by the little things. But I have really focused on my calm delight. I don’t want my emotions or reactions to these things to steal or even lead my life. I want pure joy! I celebrate the little wins. I will tell my husband. “Hey I didn’t freak out about that this time” or “I got upset about that but not as bad as before, I am proud of myself!” I know that including him in this process has been powerful and it gives me someone to celebrate with.

Praying you can experience the calm delight or calm happy of the Father today! Praying for the increase of the Holy Spirit as you walk through trials from His perspective! More about what they produce in us next week!

His word

Let not your heart be troubled…

Do not worry about your life…

Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart…

These scriptures, short phrases have been my meditation for over the past year. Like waves over my heart and mind. They have been become a standard or lense that I see everything through. Simple and completely necessary for a heart like mine. Easy to jump to the negative outcome or worry about what people may think. I steadied my heart on these words over and over. A situation would happen and I would find one of these phrases echoing in myself. Does my response align? Honestly I have wanted a “system” or routine for the tangled heart I own for years. Kind of like organizing your house. I have tried it all. I know singing these phrases helped. But mostly I just stayed here day after day. Month after month.

A fear would come up or a hard situation and I would find myself worrying. Nope. Do not worry about your life. Okay but…nope do not worry about your life. But but…Michelle let not your heart be troubled. Like digging a trench for my heart. This is where I am going to living. Right here. Too many years of fear. Too many wasted days with worry. You are no longer my friends or leaders. My emotions or knee jerk responses are no longer to be trusted. I am done. I surrender. God I am yours. I am just a simple girl who loves you. I don’t need elaborate understanding although I have learned a lot and have a degree to show for it. I am just here.

Like the song says. “I want to sit at Your feet. Drink from the cup in Your hand. Lay back against You and feel Your heart beat.” If this song were a book it would have deep creases in it from how many times I have sang it. It never gets old. Simple devotion is where it is at. You and me. Me and you. Even if I hide. Even if I try to run. You always are there. Always faithful! Unmoved by my weak love. Even touched by it. Nothing had changed there. It’s like I am 22 all over again reading these words and knowing really for the first time they are true. “You are all fair my Love.”

The time of singing has come! It’s time for love, it’s time for new life, it’s time for love, you will sing again! Let sing, write, dance, and be all that He created us to be. With eyes fixed on Him. I want to be in His eyes as one who finds peace.

change

This title has lingered in my mind for a long while. I know it is a theme for so many things this past year. I am not even ready to really process all that it entails. We lost Abigail Ann on May 26th, 2022. Time did not stand still but I have never been the same. In so many good and hard ways. Then as life does the season changed and we suddenly went from homeschooling to private school life with drop offs and volunteering and a new group of people. I didn’t know how much I would need this but so much inside me fought this change. But yet His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than my ways! So much higher. Then in almost the same breath we swung the hammers and began the long awaited DEMO!! Aka renovation on my Dad’s house. 

If you have watched any amount of Youtube or HGTV you have a thought that renovation means quick change. Nope. Not at all. Most things are much slower than you think and so much does not go as you hoped! Yeesh I was a newb and I learned so so much. Especially the hard way. Which is my speciality. Thank you Jesus that our marriage was still in tact after all that. I think if we could make it through 2019 we can make it through anything. Let the reader understand. So in October I began to box up our home for a hopeful move in around mid December so we could be living in the renovation while we sold our beloved first house! But nothing really lined up that way and the house was not ready to move into. So we prepped our house while living in it with three kiddos and a cat! Yikes! Not my favorite plan! 

Then at the end of December, Stephen had his planned shoulder surgery. I think this is like drowning and someone throwing you a baby.  So I dug in and kept pushing. Clean, declutter, care for all the people, support my husband. I am telling you it was not easy. And in the midst of it all life just kept going and going. Then praise God we sold the house just as my Dad’s house was ready enough for us to move in. It was a juggling act. But it worked out. We literally had one working toilet, a working sink, and a tub when we moved in. Thankfully by the second night we had a working shower. And all of our bedrooms were painted and ready minus closets! Still working on those closets. That was the beginning of February. What a crazy thing to just kind of look back and sit in the memory of it all! I am blown away that it all worked out! Our awesome construction team worked up until May and got all the inside of the house done minus a few things. Money wise we needed to take some time off and it just worked out that the time frame was the summer. 

So then I had all the kids home at once again. Just like old times but this time I was pregnant again. I will write more I believe about how hard the early months of this pregnancy were. It unearthed so much. But the summer was sweet. Pool time, popsicles, friends, and settling in a bit more into our new place. Then August hit like a freight train with school supplies and haircuts and memories of our first school drop offs from last year. The day after we took those “first day of school” pictures we began phase two of the Reno. I am so thankful to see the transformation happening again but it adds its own chaos. But for the first time I can see the end is in sight. Although we may have projects here and there to work on over time this part with workers in our home has an end. It almost took my breath away to realize that. This transitional feeling has been a part of my life for over a year now and I wasn’t really prepared to feel like it may have an end. 

Why am I sharing this? There are honestly so many details I am not sharing. I am mostly giving a broad stroke to the immense amount of change I have experienced this past year and I am still experiencing. I share to say. I am okay. God has taught me something this past year that honestly never knew I needed. I remember our pastor preaching a message called “The illusion of happiness.”  A couple weeks later he ended up preaching it again at a conference I attended. I had no idea how much I needed to hear this. My circumstances and emotions have pretty much kind of driven a lot of the undertone of my life. I am not sure I would have been able to tell you that cognitively. When you are a victim of your life, trying your best to make do with what you have for so long it becomes like breathing. You can ask most people that have walked through any amount of trauma. 

It really began two years ago with an invitation to “let not your heart be troubled.” And then a couple months later another layer, “Do not worry about your life.” And then these teachings last fall inviting me to break my agreement with living according to my circumstances. Then this past May “learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart.” I can not even explain how these simple invitations from the words of Jesus have changed me from the inside out. But I have drawn that line in the sand and committed to trying. And I have been simply blessed with the outcome. Change. Transformational change bit by bit deep inside me in ways I could not have done on my own. Basically these principles are my new plumb line for life. Anxiety, fear of man, and the waves of life are not going to dictate to me how to live or respond to my life. 

I am basically just grateful. And believe me these changes have been tested. At every single turn. God knows! But here I am. Not sure if it’s turning 43 or just lack of energy from pregnancy but I am not going to beat myself up for not being perfect on these principles. I just keep hearing His voice calling me to come to Him and learn from Him. I can do that. I can be gentle with myself and with others. Even as a mom. I just have to take myself out of the rat race and comparison game. I am me. I am learning how to love. I am learning how to live in this new freedom. Letting it change me bit by bit. 

break the silence

Too many days have gone by since I last wrote a blog but here I am. I am thankful for this space and have known since 2008 that God wanted me to write and has continued to invite me to write. There are so many voices in the world right now I count it a privilege if you find yourself reading these words. 

233 days ago we lost our little Abigail Ann. She was only 8 weeks only in my womb, but she was ours. It’s not that I have been living under a blanket since then, honestly life has barely stopped. She was due December 8th and today she would be just over 5 weeks old. I do long to hold her and to see her Daddy and older siblings delight over her little self. The sting is still there. But as I said in my last post this grief has been different than other losses I have experienced. I am more at peace than I have ever been that God decides the number of days here on earth. I debated on sharing this story about her. But I feel like it is not just my story. 

One night this past October as I was on stage singing with my worship team at IHOPKC I heard the Lord clearly say to me. “Abigail, Abigail.” It was very clear and loud but not audible. I paused what I was doing and rested to hear what else He would say. It honestly took my breath away to hear the Lord say her voice. Stephen named her so it wasn’t a word of the Lord to name her that. The next thing I heard Him say has probably changed me the most in this season. “She sees me fully!” Wow, yes she does! In my world we pray often to “see the beauty of the Lord.” as Psalm 27 says. We say “you become what you behold.” And yes that rings true especially with our screen time. I felt God show me that we don’t really completely know what we are asking for when we pray a now common prayer. “Lord, reveal your beauty to me, I want to see you!” But that night He told me what Abigail sees and how He wanted her with Him. 

It set me on a short season of grief related to losing her. Up until that point I had not focused at all on how pregnant I was supposed to be. But as December crept closer it was hard not to think about it. I believe He was forcing me to grieve and come to some deeper healing related to losing her. And on another evening of worship we sang a song with a line about how God sets the days of our lives. It struck me that He set her life at 56 days. And for that I can say Yes and surrender to His Lordship. I can agree. And yet I will still praise you my God and King! That is my hearts cry! 

We have been in a whirlwind lately that is unlike any other season I have ever experienced. We are remodeling my Dad’s house that He left to us. We also were finishing up the probate process with that house (I do not highly recommend this and request you do everything in your power to get a beneficiary deed to your house and Transfer on Death on your titles for your vehicles) almost two years later). At the same time we spent this last three months prepping our current house to sell. The house we spent our whole marriage and baby raising in. And as we were almost set to sell Stephen got a shoulder surgery he should have gotten 20 years ago when he badly hurt his shoulder in a skate boarding incident. Are we crazy? Nope. Maybe just a little. 

And we want to try for another little Wick baby! Two of my friends just had their rainbow babies (babies after loss) and one other friend is due next week. So there is a lot of HOPE in the air for it to happen! Revival is in the air friends! Have you been medicating your pain? I know I have ran to overeating and sweets during this past season of extra stress. Ugh! Not proud at all. Just need to take a breath and recalibrate myself! Come on Michelle! Come on and run to Jesus! You know where you belong. Sit at His feet! Read His word! Let Him remind you of who He says you are! He is way more faithful than cookie butter ice cream! 

If you have been around my words or life for very long you might know that in 2006 my mom was hit and killed by a sleeping driver and T-boned. 50 years old. Not enough days with us at all! I was 25, single, and on furlough in the states from my YWAM/missions gig in Australia. I felt like I had been snapped in half. That grief made my chest hurt. I had a broken heart for years. At times it was oppressive. I did not really know how live and move on. I tried working hard and being the one who picked up all the pieces. I tried just laying around and resting and “taking care of myself.” I found myself in a few different ministries in 2007 that finally led me here to KC and to the house of prayer. What is the most crazy is that my mom had actually found IHOPKC just after she found YWAM and had kind of regretted sending me to YWAM. She knew it would be hard for me to switch once I had traveled to the nations. But when she found the prayer room its like she knew where I belonged. In all honesty even when I was single I had one foot in the prayer room and one foot out. It takes a lot of effort to actually get your butt in the chairs there. But I highly recommend it. For over 23 years now there is a place on earth where worship and prayer has NEVER stopped. It is a bright light in the midst of a lot of darkness. 

It took me three years to agree with the Lord and come back and sing. I honestly just did not even know how to leave my babies. Its not like a leave for a long time. But it has been such a grace to me to sing again in the prayer room. I share about it not to brag or to try to convert someone to prayer but to share this small miracle of my mother’s prayers. This full circle that has happened in my life. I have been here in KC for over 13 years now. I wish I would have just come in 2006 after my mom died and just grieved here in this room. But I am a process. I am still healing. I am still learning. Even at 42. Lord help me. I am slow to obey and slow to listen. But I could not be more grateful for getting to sing. To sing over the nations and to interceded knowing He moves at the sound of our voices. 

Now my momma, Connie, she could pray! Her fellow prayer warriors called her “the Bulldog!” She would grab ahold of the hem of His garment and not let go! Such a powerful legacy to walk in and to pass on to my children. Thank you Lord! Actually the last day I spent with my mom before she died was at a prayer event in the GPS center of the United States on 6-6-06. We drove a literal stake into the ground there and claimed the youth of America for Jesus. I guess this is originally how God got me to stay in America! Put your money where your mouth is! Or be careful what you ask for! I didn’t honestly mean to share about my mom this time but it feels good to share a tiny bit of her story. I totally believe she would be here with us had she lived. But then again if she had lived I am not sure if I would have gotten here either. Regardless here I am! And I am a life that has been changed by the mercy and grace of Jesus. I have not lived a perfect life or made all the right choices. But I can say I have made the changes I need to in order to walk righteous before God. And He delights in the righteous one. 

Let’s lift our voices together and find ways to talk about Him today and to Him. Let’s break the silence and get into our secret place and read His word and say it to Him. Even sing it to Him. Help us Lord be the ones who you say we are! Here we are God, have your way! 

-Michelle

loss

I think the most interesting thing about loss is the way each one is different. I lost my Mom suddenly in a car accident in 2006 and my Dad slowly through cancer starting in 2017.  And a month ago today we lost our baby in the womb to miscarriage. It is so weird to me to even type those words. Regardless of the different types of loss the main theme to me is how the rest of the world keeps going. Summer is rolling strong here in Missouri with trips to the pool and camp starting today. If you look outside its as if nothing even changed. But for me I am no longer pregnant, no longer looking forward to our “Christmas baby.” 

When we found out we were pregnant with our first baby I asked my husband, “Should we share so early?” Our first was our honeymoon baby and so I knew for sure when I was pregnant. I had never had my body feel quite like that so I knew for sure I was pregnant. Of course I got the test and took it and we celebrated. Right away my husband wanted to tell the world and I was more cautious. “Well, what if we lose the baby, then what we will do?” He just said so confidently. “Then we will tell everyone and those same people who celebrated with us will then support us. We don’t get to decide if the the baby will grow to a full term baby, God decides that.” Or something to that effect. I love my husband. I love his thoughts on things. But I thought he was slightly wrong, yet I still went along with it! So each of our babies we have shared pretty much as soon as we knew. 

So as soon as we saw the positive pregnancy test with number four we put a BIG SISTER shirt on our youngest and had her wear it around her 3rd birthday party! What a sweet day to celebrate! We felt surges of Joy to be having another Wick baby around here. It was just the kindest gift from the Lord! I didn’t always want to have another baby in all honesty. The year after my third was born was probably the hardest year of my life or at least of my motherhood and marriage. I had three kiddos 4 and under and almost all in diapers in some way shape and form. I was juggling a lot and to top it off my husband had three wrist surgeries that fall and couldn’t even lift our three month old. To say I was stressed was a complete understatement. 

The Lord might have asked me to consider another baby at that time but I was for sure not listening. But in the last year He had been putting it on my heart. I called this season a time of weakness and surrender. I was trying to come to a place of YES in my heart but it was a struggle. Most of my struggle was a harsh judgement against my motherhood. I have fought self-hatred deeply in my life. I was in a court of my own doing accusing myself and holding against myself every failure of my mothering. It really boiled down to “Why? Why would you give me another baby when I failing so massively with these ones I already have.” I guess I was not very convincing in my arguments. He had shown me areas where He wanted me to shift to kindness and gentleness. Areas where I had failed and He had forgiven me. But He wasn’t holding these things over my head. He tenderly told me. “I want you to see what I see when I look at you!” Just like a song I wrote years ago and the line says “Let me give you My eyes for just a minute so you can see what I see!” (https://music.apple.com/us/album/untold-stories-ep/1304662440)

So at the beginning of 2022 I said Yes and gave up my case against myself. I sat in some of what He wanted to tell me about me. He is so KIND and GRACIOUS. He is LOVE! By March I had given my full yes and we found out we were pregnant at the beginning of April! We took the kids and even saw the heartbeat on the screen all together! I then posted that video on social media and everyone rejoiced with us! We spent all of those weeks celebrating Baby Girl or Baby Boy as our daughter referred to the baby.  I had a sweet name of “Joyfilled Surrender” as a name for the baby since it had been such a wrestle to get to this place for me. I was pretty sick during the pregnancy which wasn’t completely unusual for me but it seemed a bit extra. But I am also 3+ years older than I was since last time I carried a baby. In complete transparency this time was marked for me by small hints that I may miscarry the baby. Little whispers that I wasn’t sure where they were from or even a knowing. I was encouraged to pray against them or to stand in faith (and this was not bad advice) but I also wondered if God was preparing me. 

In May I went to the OB with all three kiddos while my husband was at a meeting.  The doctor wanted a more detailed sonogram and then it was confirmed. The baby had stopped developing at 8 weeks. I was supposed to be 10 weeks along at that point. I cried all the way to ChicFila and cried at the table with my husband while my children played in the play place. But something shifted as we talked again about why we share early. And again he reminded me about how God decides. I thought it would offend me and make a unbridgable chasm between us. But it surprisingly comforted me and reminded me that God had been telling me this whole sick, stuck on the couch time that this pregnancy that I had wept for would not go full term. I had never even spotted during a pregnancy let alone lost one of my babies. 

I was surrounded. We started sharing with people and meals were brought and prayers were prayed. Again just like he said. The very people who rejoiced with us were now the ones crying with us. It was just stunning and I love the body of Christ! I mentioned in the beginning of this post that each grief is different. Losing my mom was devastating. I could barely function for the longest time. I was single and absolutely lost without her. But this grief I felt surrounded and prepared in a way that I just can not explain. I am also 41 and not 25, so that may have something to do with it. Am I grieving? Yes, very much but its been a very gentle grief that sweeps me up in moments.  Grief is honestly a mystery. I feel like I have a grip on it some days and then I acknowledge I know very little and every single persons story is different. 

The Sunday after I found out about our baby not developing I decided to go and sing on my team anyways. I felt like that was where I was supposed to be. And I sang a spontaneous song that just really described where I was at during this whole process. I want to share it with you and let you hear my heart before the Lord! 

Surrender Video

I am going to have to make this a two part post because I ran out of time to share about everything else. God bless you for reading this far. Please check out the Youtube video and reach out to me if you want to talk about grief, loss, Jesus, or miscarriage. I know so many people have lost loved ones and babies and I hope this blessed you! 

vulnerable

Where do you go when you are in pain, sad, frustrated, hurting. Who do you run to? I often run to food, send a voice mail, numb out on my phone. Last week I spoke at a conference and found the words tumbling out of my mouth. I challenged everyone listening to pause in those moments of grief and anger. Just stop and go to God. Tell Him about it first. Invite Him into the hard of it all. Now here I am with waves of grief hitting my heart being tested by my own challenge and instead I ate an extra cookie and muffin. But there was still a little reach in my heart. “Help…God…” I say at the sink as I load the dishwasher. I heard Him say in response. “Worship me.” So as I moved to the bedroom and folded the big pile of laundry I sang the song that literally carried me through my Dad’s death last year. 

“All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so so good!” And my 5 year old came in and started singing with me. I saw the ripple. An hour before that I had been laying on the couch searching info about something on my phone. My face mostly covered and not looking available. But here in my room I was weakly singing and folding and he joined me. What happened when I reached out to God. Something shifted. I think though my self -pity/victim rut often makes it even harder for me. (Not that I am the only one who struggles with that but it runs deep with me.) Because when I am hurting I do not want to work for healing. I want to hide. I want to tuck in and protect. It takes effort and work to reach out and be known. Be vulnerable. 

Eating my feelings has been a timeless way to hide. Intermittent fasting has been a beautifully exposing way to find freedom and to know God in the hard. (More on that in another blog, but I will say I started IF to lose baby weight and God 100% highjacked it and it has been one of my favorite gifts from Him!). “Come of out hiding and know Me. Know true comfort. Know the only one who can heal Your heart.” We can talk, declutter, read books and try and try and “do” all the right things to heal these hearts of ours. But I can attest to the little reach of my heart saying “God…help… I am hurting, I am mad, I am sad.” And every time if I let Him I am met by the Holy Spirit. Often I am challenged to find higher ground with Him. “Let’s do something different sweet girl. These things and ways are not serving you anymore. Let it go.” I hear Him when I let Him speak into the challenging places.

I promise seeking Him with a holy heart is the way to go. So today as Mother’s Day causes pain for some of us I know He is waiting to talk about it with us. Patiently present in the hard  moments. I have been just counting the wins. When I do not get angry about something ridiculous. Because those angry moments have a ripple affect too. They mark and hurt others, especially those we live day to day with. Who will still love us after but still what if we have. a part in changing the story.

Today I ache with the thought that it has been almost 16 years since I physically saw and hugged my Mom! That kind of separation leaves a mark, an ache. Death is so permanent. In some ways it does not hurt on the daily like it used to. But when it hurts it can sometimes catch me off guard and knock the wind right out of me. Then I can be cranky instead of vulnerable and tender. “God, I’m hurting. I miss her.” Simple prayers that change things. “I know.”  For years I honestly did not even know how to do this or even that it was so necessary. I was a push through and do it myself kind of gal. But when you find yourself married with three little kids and you are just yelling and you do not even remember why anymore you start getting desperate for a change. 

2019 was my hardest year of marriage and motherhood. But I have learned so much from that year. And I mean that. I have also learned I do not want to go back there. But I know what shifted more for me than anything else. The little prayers. “God help…” 

“Michelle, do you know that I love you, even like you right now. Right now in your hardest moment. I see you and know you even in this moment and I delight in you.”

“So you can come to me any way you are, every way you are. I am here. I will give you rest. I am what you need. No post, hack, suggestion, friendship, program can do what this can. Just you and me. Me and you.” 

Maybe you don’t hear God talk back to you when you pray those prayers of help. I had to delete social media apps for a season and turn off the YouTube shows I watched. Resist the initial urge to voice memo or Marco my friend. I had to get a little bored and uncomfortable. I had to read a chapter or more of my Bible everyday (I did and do miss days). I had to make space for His voice. Read His word to know what to listen for. Tune into His frequency to be able to hear more clearly. Let’s make space for His healing to flood in or drip in. However it happens I KNOW He will meet us in these vulnerable, weak moments. I have set my heart to not just invite Him or talk to Him when it is easy or makes sense. But in all the difficult moments when I just hid or muscled through before. 

For 7 years after I lost my mom I stumbled with this seemingly gaping hole in my heart. I longed to be healed from grief and immature decisions and just ached to be whole. I didn’t know as a single woman in ministry if I would ever get married or get to become a mom myself. But I decided to take things into my own hands. During a season of raising up partners for my ministry. I honestly stopped caring if I raised up financial partners (although I did need to pay rent and all that.) But I reached out to the ones who were willing to meet with me and said “would you pray for my husband?” Everyone I asked seemed excited to pray with me and many of them are dear friends to us today as a couple. I had to do something. I had to change my story. I couldn’t just wait and hope for something to change. And honestly the minute I started praying and asking for prayer my life changed forever. 

But guess what?? That awesome husband God gave me. He didn’t heal the hole in my heart. I know its a bummer. But its true. And he honestly doesn’t want that job either. I have tried to give it to him. (lol). Only these bit by bit prayers and invitations of weakness have healed my heart. It has a been a journey of healing and obviously its still ongoing! Let’s make a change! Be the change we want to see! No one can make my negatively go away! No one can help me ask God for help. But I know I can do it! I can change my family tree in this way. These little moments really are where all the difference is made! “Help God…” I would venture to say me crying out to God when I feel achy, broken, weak, angry, etc are His favorite moments with me. 

Let’s pray for ourselves!

Father of Glory, give to me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your Son. Open the eyes of my heart. God give me wisdom on how to bring my pain and anger to you. Give me revelation on how You see me and who You say I am. Give me a legacy of healing and intimacy with you to pass to my children. Write a new story for them. A story of knowing You in every moment of their lives. Give us the Fear of the Lord. I love you and I am so thankful to be growing into love everyday! Meesch

weakness

This has been my theme this past season. We got the “big sickness” on Thanksgiving this and I just could not fully get back to myself for many months after. Each month I would find myself battling a head cold. And with a full schedule of homeschool, singing, and life it was frustrating at times. I prayed and asked the Lord to heal me. Others prayed. But in the midst of it there was a sweetness. His voice cutting through the noise, His love carrying me. 

I posted something on my Instagram one day knowing that some might misunderstand. But it was a risk worth taking to share with those who feel this constant weakness. (post here) He said to me “I want you weak.” Over and over I have felt His invitation to come to Him for the answers. There is something that intimacy with God can do that Google or your best friends can not give you. It may seem ridiculous to think that God has the recipe to the meal you need to figure out tonight. But He is waiting, longing for you to come to Him with all of your needs, cares, wants, challenges. Your weakness. 

I can not tell you how deeply I feel this right now. A call to my friends, especially mommas to take our questions to God. There have been shakings. There are more to come. We have to work this weakness muscle. Not just to get answers. But to realign our hearts and minds to the source. The source of peace. The source of true love. The source of wisdom. So when we feel these tremblings and others are scrambling to find steady ground we are not shaken. We may be weak but we are rooted. 

Let Him remove the excuses for not reading your Bible or taking time to sit at His feet. Put the first things back in first place. The every day devotion that will not always be glamorous or filled with emotion experiences. But He knows what you need. His word, His voice, His leadership. Fully submitted. He might even surprise you and tell you what He sees when He looks at you. This can be your foundation of life versus your list of failures and unfulfilled expectations. 

Permission to be weak. To not have it all together but yet walk out life with joy and purpose. I can not even explain how good it feels to be in this place. Although I warn you I am so tempted to go back to pushing against this place. As if worry and anxiety will keep the world going and will solve the problems in my life. I was singing on a set last week and after a bit of worship our chorus leader, Miha, started singing out of Isaiah 40.  I had just written in my journal, “Weakness” and I had written down all of the verses in the back of my Bible’s concordance under the it. I had written that word because once again I was feeling weak and decided to turn to the Lord and acknowledge my need. He answered so quickly. 

She sang this chorus “I shall run and not be weary, I shall walk and not faint.” And then she sang an oracle about it. Then Andrew added his own song. As we sat there in this sweet moment I heard this revelation drop into my heart. I heard the Lord say that when I choose to trust Him in my weakness that is a HOLY decision. Not only does it move His heart but like intercession it brings heaven to earth. It shifts things not just in my heart, my life, my family, my home, but it shifts things on more levels here on earth than I understand. So as we soaked in that moment I felt to release it in a chorus. I heard the lyrics and melody from my heart but it seems more from Him than from me. So sweet to me. 

Here is the full moment with Miha and Andrew: https://youtu.be/F3EO-RRpxj4

Here is my chorus on it’s own: https://youtu.be/mS2ZGcKHm5k

Then last night my 3 year old woke up crying around 3am which is not usual for her. She had a bad dream about dragons and so I brought her to my bed. I realized that a song was in my heart as I comforted her. I had tried to remember the chorus I had sang on but just couldn’t get the melody locked in. But here I was at 3am in the morning and I heard the Lord singing it over me. It really was His song all along. I love when that happens. 

“When you trust Me in your weakness, your doing something holy, your bringing heaven to earth, when you let go of fear.”

I can phone a friend, I can google it, I can try to process it with a friend, I can push through and try to ignore it, but our hearts are crying out for God! The source of life that never runs dry! There is not a planner out there that can stop this weakness and need we have for Him!  Be blessed! God is with you and for you!! 

Full set from that night is here: https://www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom/#asset/event_site_68FBe1c2dE_9271_5118/auto/true

planned encounter

We just finished a day of mom’s meeting together for encouragement. Specifically homeschool Mom’s. I like to call it for me. A day of planned encounter. Like a going to church camp. There is an expectancy that God will meet with me, teach me, transform me in more like a moment than the slowness of every day life. On the normal day to day I am starting to see the subtle changes in me. The subtle answers to prayer. I see the progress but it is seriously so small and so slow. I am more of the extremist type. My prayers are sometimes like “God can’t you just change me right now, completely, no need for the process.” But he loves the process and the slowness. Drawing me to repentance with his daily, moment by moment kindness. “I see you. I am doing this. You can trust me” kind of process. 

I am honestly starting to accept and appreciate the slowness of his work in my heart and life. Its like losing weight slowly. IT stays off easier. The slow work God is doing in my life is incredibly valuable. And so necessary. It is completely an answer to my prayers. “God help me love my children. Help me love my husband well. Help me not say horrible things. Help me love my friends. Help me love people I do not understand better.” These are the day to day. Moment by moment things. The dishes, the laundry, the legos, the toy everywhere. The serving and wanting to complain. These are the things He is working in my heart and I almost can not even see it. As I yield to the Holy Spirit in these simple yet often hard things I can see His work in me. Tiny little movements of my heart. 

Oh but I do love the encounter. Being changed in a moment. The aha that shifts something quickly. The breakthrough. On my face crying out the Lord, asking Him to move and then suddenly He speaks and something changes forever. I love those moments! What grace! I can not even tell you how many altar calls and ministry times, how many instant moments I lived by at church camp or CIY conferences as a teenager. I have always loved the presence of God. Even before I understand much about it! The spirit fell often at our Christian Church (non-denominational) church camp! I would be weeping in my seat and the next thing you new the whole row was wailing! God would move and we would all get to the altar and just weep there and God would touch us. It wasn’t even a spirit filled space. I didn’t even honestly know the Holy Spirit BUT God isn’t stressed about that!

I believe in and love these moments of encounter. BUT, in it I feel a weight of responsibility. His special grace has fallen and changed you in this moment. Now you get to walk it out. Whatever you repented of, start now to make habits/changes to not go back to that thing. The instant transformation requires partnership! God will honor your part if you honor yours! Today, they did not have any altar calls but I went up front anyways. I found a little spot and I got on my face (during the break) and talked to GOd. And guess what? HE met me! He moved on my heart. He talked so loudly to me. I repented of saying NO to Him on a few things and He lifted a burden in my heart. It was sweet! Just like old times! But I had to plan it. I bought a ticket this this mom’s day, I drove here, I sat through the teaching (which was inspiring) and I bonded with some friends. But then I had to answer the pressure in my heart. I had to say yes to “come away” with my Beloved one. To listen to the Holy Spirit and repent of my kicking and screaming ways! 

It was the best of “planned encounters!” It was clear and powerful and so needed! I am so thankful and somewhat inspired to do it again! Set a date, run to the altar! Its nice to have an invitation. But make your own if you don’t have one. God is waiting with open arms to receive you! His love is home to me. His love is my safety. I am nothing with out Him! 

seasonal devotion

I am struck today with the beautiful fall stormy day. These are the days I long for a hot chai latte and a good book or time with Jesus! But I felt Him stir my heart today and say to me “I am not looking for your seasonal devotion!” Whew that really knocked the wind out of my Fall Lovin sails! I would say this is a weakness of my devotion to God. And I would venture to say I am not alone in this. 

Where is our devotion in the “in between?” After the 40 day fast or amazing conference? What about the longing to wake up early or read the word long into the night? Where is our consistency even in the mundane or the challenging seasons. I believe there is always something going on in the background but the Lord longs for time with us everyday of our lives. What about when I am cranky or I forgetting what He said to do? I believe this is where I have been derailed every single time in my life. Not knowing how to maintain devotion in the “in between” has taken me out more times than I would like to admit.

I believe this is why I writing today. The Lord is challenging me to see every single day the same. Every single season the exact same. As if they were stripped of all of the glory and the mundane and they were the same day. Get up, seek me, seek me, seek me, and go to bed. Repeat. I know some will see this as religious or too simplistic. But if this were my goal everyday then I could make it through the good, bad, and ugly. I can see success so much easier. I have been taught practicing the presence of God. I know how to talk to Him in the middle minutes of my day. I have not always had hours in His presence during these past seven years of motherhood. And even before that I did not always make time to seek Him or read His word. So here I am saying YES! I will seek you first Lord. No matter if the leaves are falling or the sun is shining or it seems like a good time to take a picture of my journal and latte. 

Every day is a good day to seek you. I am going to strip it all back. Simplify my imagination. Make it easy for myself. Today is a good day to seek the Lord and tomorrow will be more of the same. Until I breath my last breath! I am setting to love the Lord in normal every day no matter what. I will not love Fall more than I love Jesus! I will set my heart to not have any idols or any other lovers above Him! He is my one thing! 

Psalms 63:1 NKJV. “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.”

I wrote this chorus one day a year or so ago and sang it into my “mini recording studio” as a someone called it recently. Aka my smart phone lol. And this past week I put some chords and more words to it. It is still a work in process. Enjoy! And God bless you as you seek Him first! 

i’m a process

I am not sure why it takes me soo long to “get with the program” as they say. (insert emoji with the girl with her hands flipped up) I am as my mom used to tell me “a process.” I shared in November that God had told me to lay everything down in early 2018. So I did. Some things were obvious and then others where more of a “oh this too.” It was honestly relieving to just “let it all go.” (Read this blog to find out more details.) But then in 2019 He began speaking to me about picking it back up and the first thing He asked me to do was share about my mom’s death. Then when I didn’t do it (I still haven’t) he gave me a dream with my mom in it telling me to basically obey and be myself. It was a very specific dream and I honestly do not get many dreams with my mom in them anymore.

Then He sent friends to cheer me on. One friend in particular told me to do the very thing that God had shown me. Not about the accident but about other things. But yet still here I am in 2021 dragging my feet. Before my mom died she told me a story about me that I will never forget. Especially because she was helping me to see how I work. How I am a process.

When I was 7 my dad decided that it was time to take off my training wheels on my purple Huffy bike. Without explaining at all he took them off and had me get on. He hung on for a minute and then just let go without any communication at all. I would get upset with him and then he would say let’s try again. We were really missing each other in this ordeal and I finally told him I was done and did not want him to teach me. The big problem was that I loved riding my bike and now I couldn’t. And that my dad probably didn’t know that it would be a good idea to say extra words like “okay now we are going to ride for a minute and then I will let go… on the count of three… one … two.. three…” Just had to say that because I realize now as a mom that I needed those extra words and instructions. Bless his heart. He did not have those extra words growing up either so it makes sense.

My mom says that the next day she looked out the kitchen window and saw me riding my bike down the very slight hill that let to our tree house. It was barely a hill but I went down with my legs dragging along the sides of the bike and then I would walk it back up and do it all again. By the end of the day I was riding all over and had found my balance “all by myself.” It took years and years for me to stop riding that bike. My knees were way over the handle bars before I finally retired it. I loved that bike and since we lived in a small town I rode it to school and to church and to the pool. No truer friend did I find during that time in my life and I am so glad. But that was her story to explain why it takes me so long to get where I am going. I am the turtle watching the world while the cars fly by.

In fact, that is how Facebook and Instagram felt for me when I returned to them a couple months ago. Fast paced and full of “people” doing what I felt I was supposed to do. But its just not true. I am me and they are well, them. They can not tell my story or give my perspective or even obey God for me. It just isn’t possible. So here I am. In fact one of the songs I recorded in 2013 really speaks to how unique and special each one of us is. So my process is actually precious to God. It is important to Him and He even speaks my language. He knows how to talk to me. He isn’t frustrated with me about how long it takes me to get to where He is asking me to go. I can really learn from His ways with me. Especially as a Mom!

Do I wish my process was different? Ummm… Heck Yes!!! I am often outside of myself mocking my lengthy process. It’s actually called “self hatred” and it is something I have struggled with my whole life. Embracing who I really am and not wishing I was a different way is 100 percent helpful for me. Radical acceptance. It helps me to see the good things about my process and myself.

When I was 14 my dad bought me a car. I was super excited until I found out it was a stick shift without power steering. We went out to my grandparents farm and dad put that old Yugo (yep! Here is pic of one that looks like it). He pulled it into a field with decent sized ruts or terraces. He then proceded to try and teach me how to drive a standard in terraces that were almost half as tall as this tiny car. It was horrible. For reals!! I cried and walked back to the farmhouse and told him to sell it. About four months later my dad came to pick me up and said we were going to learn how to drive it again. Thankfully he hadn’t sold it yet and he had a better idea. He took me to a big parking lot north of town and there he taught me to drive it. Once a week or so he would come and pick me up in it and I actually learned how to drive standard. It was such a fun first car (when it worked lol). I am so proud of my dad and me for not giving up. It was definitely a process but I learned so much. And I can not wait for my kids to learn how to drive stick shift. I think it should be required! Just like cursive! IF you can drive standard you can drive anything. At least I think so!

So embrace who you are! What about yourself is frustrating you? How can you use it as an assett versus a deficit? God knows I will get there when I get there. And with three kiddos under 6 and homeschooling on top of that Lord knows it takes me even longer than before! Be yourself! Be who God made you to be! He knew you from before the foundation of the earth! He made you in His image! He made you to reflect a part of Him that no one else can! We need you! Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing! Ask God what He thinks and feels about you! Get alone with Him and listen to what He says back to you! Cherish His thoughts about you! And walk out who He says you are! You won’t regret it!