Meet Tara

The Lord is your keeper.

Someone needs to hear this.

So often fear makes us want to turn around and go the other way.

Or we think we must hurry ahead to achieve all the things we want to.

Staying steady, our hand in his hand is often hard.
The enemy comes in and tells us that uncomfortable is not the place we want to be. He says “in control” is better.

But, oh beloved what joy is found in surrender.

“For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you. Isaiah 41:13

#seekandsavorpodcast #liftupyoureyes #incourage #proverbs31woman #dailydevo ...

Sometimes, we just need to step away and remind ourselves that our God knows all that is troubling our souls and He has not given us over beloved.

For me that often looks like walking.
After I walked this beautiful farm I sat on top of a hill and witnessed the ever changing sky. Minute by minute the colors changed, chasing each other until even the lavender faded to black.

It reminded me that everyday he goes to great lengths to show us He is present. We can either stop and notice or continue on, overwhelmed by what our feelings are speaking to us.

He is for you beloved!
How do you press pause and remind your soul this is true? ...

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 ...

I love this sweet reminder I stumbled across one day, that joy is found in His Words.

Although I often look for joy in so many other places, no one else’s words have the power to remake me.

Like a surgeon’s scalpel they can precisely strike the place in my heart that is believing something other than the truth.

And when His Word replaces that old lie, new life springs up and with it comes joy!

Oh that we would go to your Word FIRST, when all is not well, Lord! Gives us a hunger for it, so that it becomes our joy and delight!
#itiswellwithmysoul #onethousandgifts #seekandsavorpodcast ...

God will always shine his light in the dark places for our benefit. He wants to tend our hearts. Are we looking for His light?

Removing things, that are dead or just taking up space will actually make room for LIFE friends!

And something wonderful happens each time we surrender to God. Whether that be the first time we surrender our lives to him or when we surrender on a normal day in an ordinary moment.

Hop over to the Seek and Savor podcast as we learn to disciple our hearts. ❤️
Link to listen in my bio. #seekandsavorpodcast #newheart #lightoftheworld ...

I’ve been asking the Lord for more.
I’m realizing I need Him more than I’ve reached for Him in the past.
What I mean by that is, of course we need Him to save us, friends.
But, He didn’t just sacrifice His life for ours and stop there.

Psalm 139 says He is intimately acquainted with all our ways.

When my husband went to heaven and the fog of constant grief started lifting, I began to see how very much alone I was..

Who would help me make all the decisions I was used to making with a partner?
The ones, we take for granted like; What’s for dinner?
What color should we paint the house?
Is it time to replace the water heater or should we wait?
And the bigger ones like how should I handle a conflict with my child or is it time to sell the house?
It only took a few weeks before I had decision fatigue.😰
Then one day out of frustration, I said, Lord, since he’s not here, I need you to do all these things….And you know what?
He did.
As I waited on Him, he answered.
I began asking him to be everything: my counselor, my friend, my physician, everything.
So, it was no surprise to me after one particularly stressful week, I came across this verse in my reading.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statues of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple.”
Ps. 19: 7(NKJV)

There He was again, giving me the perfect prescription for a dry, weary soul crying out for direction.

What do you need the Lord to do for you beloved?

Ask and he will answer. Seek and you will find.

Tag a friend who needs to remember that He wants to be our Everything!
#liftupyoureyes #seekandsavorpodcast #heiswithus ...

I am trying to remember to press in.
I want to be in tune with His voice not just when I am desperate and in times of deep suffering. But also when the sun is shining, my to-do list is long and all is right in my world that day.
Commune means: To converse or talk with profound intensity or intimacy. I have not mastered it, but I long for it to become second nature, this walking and talking with God.
No more boxes of time that he must fit in!
Morning devotions, Bible Studies and church, yes, but also doing the laundry, taking a walk, driving in my car.
When you walk in relationship with someone beloved there is a back and forth a giving and receiving.

Paul said that he had NOT YET attained to knowing Christ as he ought, but he pressed on toward that goal. Phil, 3:8
I want to know Christ and I want to be sensitive to His voice. Imagine a world where we listened more and talked less.
What are some ways you make time for the Father to speak to your heart?
#hisstillsmallvoice #leanin #soulfuel #hopeforthefuture ...

We serve a God who will not let us go missing.
He leaves the 99 to go after the one lost sheep.
Sometimes beloved we are lost because we wander.
And sometimes we are lost because the weeds grow high, we get distracted and darkness falls all around us.
Take heart.
Lift up your eyes.
And let the stars remind you that he knows your name and he will not let you go missing.

“Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who created these stars,
The one who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name.
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.”
#liftupyoureyes #countthestars #thosewhowander #lightoftheworld
Is 40:26 ...