Meet Tara

She isn’t tiny anymore.
But as I look at her little bowed head and heart full of faith I am reminded that God is faithful.
We may live on a battlefield and feel the tug of war over our hearts and those we love but we forget something beloved.
Our God is able.
He isn’t dependent on our earthly wisdom.
He doesn’t rely on our ability to figure things out.
Even as a mature grandmother who walks with God I find my own heart forgetting.
I find myself anxious about waves that come against us, the ones that threaten to overtake us.
But when I quiet my soul, and surrender I remember.
I am not alone.
We are not alone.
He fights on our behalf.
Will He use us? Yes.
But the answers, the relief, the rescue lies in Him.
I got the joy of talking to this dear girl this week who isn’t this little anymore, about hearing God’s voice. We talked about how to recognize it, and how to make space for it.
Ah… that is the rub isn’t it friends?

“My soul waits in silence for God only. From Him is my salvation.” Ps.62:1
“My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him.” Ps. 62:5

When was the last time you waited in silence? If your heart feels conviction you aren’t alone.

Who is willing to wait on the Lord with me?❤️
#waitonthelord #hopefortheworld #seekandsavorpodcast ...

10 years ago we spent our spring break at the beach.
Alan’s body had just been buried but I knew he was fully ALIVE.
2 years after that I penned words sharing what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that day.
The truth of them is still breathing life into me today.I find myself growing in the fertile soil of them.
I pray they will breath life into you as well, no matter where your heart is challenged in believing today.

“Yesterday as I worshipped I felt Christ brushing past the rubble in my broken heart. In some ways the pain of Alan’s absence can feel fresh all over again. It’s on those days I’m made aware again of how life doesn’t look like I thought it would.
The shock has gone. The flashbacks of painful days are fewer and fewer.
Yet, I often found myself kneeling in a graveyard of broken dreams, unable to find a vision for the future. As I would walk about seeing others grow old together, I would wonder what that would have looked like and sometimes the new dreams God was giving me felt too BIG or far away. But God…

I felt the Spirit whisper to my heart, ‘The graveyard is the perfect place beloved. I am not daunted by death. No, I conquered it. In fact, you must know something… I Still Move Stones.’
Cue the tears friends. He still moves stones!

Have you ever heard more beautiful words? I can hardly think of any.

Mark 16:4 says, “ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.” That great big stone that covered the tomb where they lay our Lord’s body had been moved. He came to conquer death.
Then He tells us in Romans 8: 11, “ The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you.” At work in us? How is that possible?
He is in the business of moving stones.
The resurrected one wants to resurrect our hearts.
He wants to conquer death on our behalf . Not just once when our earthly flesh fades, but every day! He longs to take the stones of brokenness, sin , heartache and death from our hearts.
He wants to move the rubble out of our paths so we can LIVE resurrected lives.
Because He lives, we can too.❤️#seekandsavorpodcast #christinus #liftupyoureyes #sundayiscoming ...

Many of us have been asleep.
We literally are moving from one day to the next, our schedules filled from morning til night with things for us to do.

We try to make our lives here as comfortable as they can be.

But God’s word says, to be on your guard, instead of asleep to stay alert and clearheaded.
He calls us to
prepare our minds for action and exercise self-control.

The enemy of our souls would have us remain asleep. He would have us believe that the action we might take surely can’t make a difference, so why try.

We have a choice whose voice we heed beloved.

Join us for today’s episode of the Seek and Savor podcast, “It’s time to wake up.”

This is one you might want to save/share.
Find it at the link in my bio.
You are here… today…. for such a time as this. ❤️
#wakeupnow #liftupyoureyes #seekandsavorpodcast #christianpodcast ...

We live in a fallen world, people sin, and hurt abounds.
But God…. It is the place I am learning to live in.
Yes, these things are true.
My leg still hurts from an injury back in February and my car broke down on the way to church. But also, a friend painted my kitchen cabinets cream and my son repaired my deck. I find myself savoring more of God’s word, I read books to my grands in silly voices and I get to have conversations about Jesus everyday.

I am standing in faith waiting on God for many things… You are too right?
But God.
He Still lives and His promises are true. He is not man that He should lie. ❤️
Dear friends, if your heart tends to linger over what has not yet been made whole maybe like me you need the reminder of who God is and what he has done so that gratitude can revive your heart.
Don’t miss today’s new episode of the Seek and Savor podcast on this topic. (Link in bio.)
Many things may be true, the hard and the beautiful but gratitude can revive your heart. ❤️
#givethanksforlife #thehardandbeautifuljourney #graceupongrace #alwaysrejoice ...

Have you ever wondered what it means to LIVE by the words that come from God’s mouth?
Matthew 4:4 tells us that
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Just like our bodies need bread to continue living, our spirits need the word’s breathed by God to sustain our souls.
Breathed by God beloved.
Of course it would be these words alone that have the power to actually Revive us.

Revive us according to your word God.

This is how His yoke becomes easy and His burdens become light.

It happens when we fill our hearts with so much of Him, He spills out in the pressing.
I want to drip Jesus.
Don’t you? ...

I woke up this morning with these words coming out of my mouth. “Up from the grave He arose.”
But they continued…
“With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.
He arose a VICTOR from the dark domain
And He lives FOREVER…”
These words are from a song written by Robert Lowry.
But my heart claimed them aa my own upon waking.
The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus came that we may have LIFE friends!
I don’t know the things you may find yourself wrestling with in your everyday life.
I don’t know the wilderness season you may find yourself in or the grief that may feel like is breaking your heart.
But I do know this good news is bigger than a day!
It was for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
It will carry you when you feel weary and hide you in the shadow of the Almighty as you wait for deliverance.
The good news that Jesus came, He died and He rose from the dead is for EVERYONE!
It’s for you beloved.
John 14:1 (ESV)
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.“
Psalm 9:10 (ESV)
“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.“ ...

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think....(Eph.3:20)
We serve a God of FAR MORE beloved.

Somewhere along the way, whether by fiery arrows of doubt and fear from the enemy or by our own insecurities; this truth becomes threatened.

We begin to think small. We begin to ask for little. We begin to tell ourselves to settle for less. We may even begin to think that we are hoping for too much.

Ah, what welcome relief to know that we serve a God who is able to do far more, abundantly than all we ask or think.
And the cherry on the top is the next verse: “According to the power that works within us!”
When you follow Jesus and His Spirit comes to live inside you, you have this same power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That’s no small thing friend.
So let’s dream with God. Let’s set our minds on things above rather than the earth. Let’s ask and seek and knock and do it all for His Glory.
#seekandsavorpodcast #hopeforthefuture #renewyourmind ...

I don’t know about you but I often feel like I am going to war every day now.
Why you ask?
Because time is short and the battle is fierce. Just look around you.
I feel a sense of urgency to keep in step with the Spirit. I pray often for Him to tune my ears to hear his voice.
God said that He prepared good works in advance for us to do.
So how are we to walk in those if we don’t keep in step with His Spirit?
Are we doing those things?
Or are we allowing the cares of this world, (even valid ones) to distract us from them?
What are those good works He has prepared for us to do?

Dear friends, until Jesus calls us home we get the honor of co-laboring with Him this side of Heaven.

There is work to be done. There are people to intercede for.
There are human beings to love and stand in the gap for and it shouldn’t require us to strive.
It becomes the overflow of our hearts the more time we spend in His presence.
 
 
‘But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
–Psalm 73:28

For more encouragement listen to Seek and Savor Podcast. Season 7 episode 1- The Sheep Hear His Voice. ...