Robes And Rings At The Ready...

Today is Christmas Day. The sweetest thing happened with God.  Oh wow.  I tasted a little of what the prodigal son experienced in Luke 15, when he came back home after squandering his inheritance and hanging with the pigs...and was met so beautifully by his merciful Father. Obviously I haven't been backsliding or squandering my stuff...but I had definitely drifted away from the beautiful presence of God over the last week. I'd been feeling so burnt out...ended up being quite lazy...sleeping too much...catching a cold....needing rest but knowing I needed to meet my book writing deadline...so to try and catch up on writing I hadn't been spending time in the secret place with Jesus. I would just pray in the morning and then crack on with writing.  At night, before sleep I'd be watching TV to zone out.  My mind felt a little disengaged from God.  I missed Him so much. When I opened my eyes this morning and remembered it was Christmas Day my heart sunk a little because I was like..."Dad I've been away all week in my heart and I'm scared that I won't be "present" with you in my heart the way you deserve today...on this super special day to celebrate your Son, it sucks that I just don't feel spiritual...I feel numb...and I don't know even know how to seek your face because my heart feels cold...and kind of zoned out...etc etc etc.

I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and then standing in the kitchen I started to pray. I began to apologise and to explain to Jesus that I knew I hadn't really given Him my time this week, the way that He deserves, even when I could have. I wanted to be honest and confess to Him my shortcomings.  I wanted to share with Him my desperation to see His face.  That I missed Him. As I began to pray I wondered if I would be able to press in and meet with Him. Would I be able to get beyond the outer court into the Holy of Holies?  Was there a chance that I would have the delight of even glimpsing His beautiful face.  Yet before I could even get beyond the first couple of sentences suddenly He came. He floored me instantly with His love. I began to weep.  I felt His embrace all around me.  I began to laugh out loud with fresh delight at His scandalous mercy. I cried and laughed at the same time, repeatedly telling Him how crazy His love was. I suddenly felt the way I am convinced the prodigal son must have felt.  Before his son could even vocalise the apology he must have been rehearsing his entire journey home, the father was already telling his servant to fetch his robe...get the signet ring...prepare the feast because my son has come home.

Thats exactly how I felt. We had a feast right there. It was so glorious. Please don't get me wrong, I am not unfamiliar with Gods mercy and scandalous grace and I have been a recipient of it millions of times. I can't even tell you of how many occasions just like today when I have wondered just how I will see Gods face after where I've just been...or what I've just said...or thought...or done, and instantly He has taken me into the most holy place of His presence.  I never can take that access for granted and every single time He opens His heart up to me in that way I am undone.  Yet what I love so much about today was that this morning -  Christmas Day - was totally meant to be all about about glorifying Him and lavishing Him with my affection and devotion in a fresh way to say thank you for Who He is and what He did. Yet rather than prep my heart for it over the last week I'd been so disengaged. Rather than pray before I went to sleep last night I'd watched TV to switch off. Heaven had every right to be a little aloof given I'd been a little distant over the last week. Heaven would have been totally qualified to make it a little bit difficult to press in considering how unspiritual I was feeling on such a special occasion, where in fact it should have been about sincerely appreciating that Jesus was the greatest gift ever. 

Yet He floored me with His scandalous love and once again, rather than the shoulda, woulda, coulda's, He simply made it about His incredible goodness.  Like totally. Not only did He totally mash me up afresh with His love, His mercy and Father's embrace but He flooded me with holy laughter...something I have been asking for and praying for.  I was literally overcome with holy giggles as I stood there in my kitchen in fits of laughter at the crazy, unfathomable love of our Father.  It went on for ages.  It felt so delicious.  I can't believe that only minutes earlier I had been wondering if I would even have the opportunity to glimpse His glory today...HAAAA...only to encounter the sweetest communion ever. Literally got swept off my sweep...had a robe placed around me...signet ring straight in my finger...partay partay partay before I could even say "Papa I'm sorry!!" Oh my gosh, I simply cannot get over what a beautiful, perfect, Father in heaven we have. I am SO SO SO in awe of His Son, His Spirit and His scandalous love.

Time and time again I have been knocked out by just how lavish our God is with His presence. He is not like man. When someone is aloof, distracted or disengaged from us, as humans we have the tendency to withhold our affection...guard our hearts, protect our space just in case we get rejected again right? Not God. No matter how unfaithful we are, He never ever withholds His presence or His love from us.  Instead, even when we are unfaithful...He is always there just like the Father in the parable...waiting to meet our gaze the moment we choose to look in the direction of His beauty once again...He runs towards us...arms wide open...rings and robes at the ready...having already prepared a feast in the presence of our enemies...ready to celebrate our prodigal hearts, however far...however close...returning home to Abba Father. Aaaah love. Sweet love.

Merry Christmas Jesus....Son of God...Darling of heaven. You my sweet love, are the greatest gift of all. x

God Made Me Amazing

Image Credit: http://Pinterest.com

For a very long time God has been dealing with a deep deep deeeeeep issue in my life. I'm thinking maybe a good few years actually.  A massive area, deeply rooted, which has layers upon layers I guess. It all started off with me coming to terms with the fact that I had simply lost my voice. Despite being a leader, having a fair bit of influence...having so many loving, encouraging people around me...somehow, somewhere along the line I had, in the name of humility and protocol chosen to stay silent rather than voice my opinion...perhaps because of not wanting to rock the boat in relationships...or so as to not appear rebellious or unspiritual...or for fear of rejection or being misunderstood...I don't know really...all I know is that I had become voiceless.

Now to look at me you would think that's just stupid. Most people would label me very vocal and outspoken but I'm simply not. Most often than not if I don't feel safe or valued I just keep my thoughts to myself.  I was in heart turmoil as God began to reveal this stuff. Slowly I realised that I simply couldn't fear relationships breaking down or people rejecting me as a reason for not speaking up and voicing my thoughts. Especially when God had positioned me to speak, to have a voice...to influence.  If I stayed silent out of a false sense of humility I was hardly stewarding the voice He has given me right?  So here Papa was urging me - urging me hardcore - to face up to some truths. I had to be willing to reveal my thoughts and my opinions with confidence when needed - in the moments where staying silent had been my posture...and I had to understand that my thoughts were just as God centred as the next person's.  

I had to be willing to work through conflicting perspectives without fear of messiness. I had to be willing to not always agree with everyone and I had to be willing to fight for what was in my heart. Bottom line - I had to confront some stuff.  Whether I liked it or not, I had to engage in courageous communication in order to be more authentic...and in order to be free.  It was properly horrid but I realised that not confronting it and remaining mute was far worse.  And so I began.  I started to communicate courageously despite the discomfort and vulnerability.  I started to speak up.  Perhaps not in a conventional way but in a way that was powerful and liberating for me.  Amazingly as I began to walk through this my relationships actually got stronger and authenticity of a greater degree kicked in. Note to self - speaking up in love is healthy.

But God wasn't done yet. Not by a looooong shot.  As I navigated through the choppy seas of brave communication and slowly began to find a place of peace in the battle that had surrounded me, He began to go deeper in my inners about fear of man. Eeeeek how crazy? I didn't even know how deeply rooted this stuff was. He began to show me that just as in the name of humility I had succumbed to being silent...in my fear of man and fear of rejection I had also lost my fire.  Great - thanks God, nice one.  Haha, painful to discover but unfortunately true.  He showed me that the wild, intrepid dancing girl who came into the kingdom wide eyed...guns blazing, had somehow lost her fiery ammunition and conformed to the expectations of others - thinking it was humility, but in actual fact it was a form of religion. Eeeeek eeeek eeeeek. A thousand times eeeeeek!!  

He began to show me stuff that needed to change, as He enlightened the eyes of my heart. He also had children of God speak words of truth into what I can only describe as an identity crisis I was having.  Somewhere in my journey as a Christian a lid has been put on and I'd lost myself.  Sure, when I came to God there was soooo much He needed to purge out of me...what with all the sex, drugs and rock and roll but there was tons of stuff I now realise that He wanted me to keep, to enjoy, to radiate...but somewhere along the line in the pursuit of dying to self and being humble, I had let the sparkle in me die too. I had let the fiery way in which God made me...the sassy, bold, brash, in your face, wild, love the limelight, dancing, glowing gal become a gentle wall flower...and newsflash that's JUST NOT ME!! Haha!

Don't get me wrong - I love love looooove the grace, the love, compassion and I do believe quiet strength I walk in. I desperately needed to be tamed by God's presence and I'm so grateful for all the foul living and messed up thinking that was removed from my life...but I have come to understand that some of the stuff I was led to believe needed to be purged and pruned out of me because it was apparently part of the old me is actually very much part of the divine way in which I was fashioned. It's very much part of the way God will use me and although it may at times be too much for the church, it's by no means too much for God.  And so in the midst of all this inner stuff God was working on He began to reveal to me through our time together and through beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ that fear of man HAD TO GO. This was the time to fully embrace who I was in God...to unapologetically radiate His wild side and to not hold back.

To dance, to sing, to scream, to shout...to shine His light without caring what people think...I was told a very powerful statement - "God is not intimidated by you being amazing". Like oh my gosh how liberating!!!  You see for the longest time I was crippled by fear of disappointing God. Of making it about myself instead of Him. Of shining brightly my own radiance and trying to steal the glory away from God. I fled from the limelight. I kept silent. I tried my utmost to die to my desires - even my God given ones - in order to flee from selfish ambition and to be yielded. And don't get me wrong I did all those things from a pure heart...a heart that desperately wanted to prove faithful before God...a heart that wanted to have Christ seated in the centre of it. Yet in my desperation to 'humble' myself before God and man...I think I totally lost myself.

For fear of getting it wrong, I simply conformed to what people around me said I should do or say or be. But it's not anyone else's fault. I am surrounded by the most amazing, loving people anyone could ever desire. I am soooo blessed by the relationships I have. But I cannot be defined by them. I have to be me...and I now realise that I have to be true to who that is in Christ. Even if it's not conventional or expected or if it doesn't follow the norm. And the exciting thing is that all the gorgeous people around me totally want that for me - they fully want me to be me in God - but because I didn't know what that was I guess, I conformed a lot along the way...which is my error not anyone else's.  And so as God began to awaken this stuff in me I knew it was time for the lid to come off. It was time for me to fully embrace the way God had made me and to not be apologetic about it.

It was time for me to be completely comfortable with letting Gods light shine through me. It was time for the fear to go - fear of stealing Gods glory - fear of failing - fear of man - fear of rejection. It was time to not be shy about being amazing in God.  And to let others do the same. And somehow I now find myself on the other side of this undoing. I find myself unbridled.  I can now look back and see how God's beautiful Spirit moved in my life over the last few years to help me see as He sees...sometimes it moved incredibly violently...sometimes a little more gently...in order to renew my mind and take me to a higher place as an image bearer of God.  And today I stand here a little bolder...a little freer...a little more dazzling.  

And it's changed not just how I see myself but how I see others. I want to call out the radiance in them. I find myself hungry to raise people up. I want those in my care to step out and be incredible in God. I want them to be bold...to have faith in God's ability to preserve them from falling, as they simply go wild for Him. I want my ceiling to be their floor. I don't want there to be a lid on any of them. I don't want them to have to ever hold back on being who they have been called to be, just to conform to what may be expected of them. Because as I have recently discovered... "God is not intimidated by any of us being amazing".  On the contrary, our beautiful, ever radiant Father of lights, delights in it.

x

Anticipating the adventure...

Okay sooooooooooo I have no money...seriously none...my savings have run out...hehehe...and I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring!!  I have no idea where I am heading and having left the security of a full time job three months ago...I do not actually have a pay check coming in any time soon...hahahaha...

In the middle of this hoo haa credit crunch this nation seems to be involved in...there I am still not looking for work...or even considering working for anybody ever again...hmmmm...anyhoo...left, right and centre, I'm hearing about all the price increases...the petrol...the budget cuts...the doom and gloom...sighs galore...

Obviously if I didn't know God as my Source I’d too be kaking myself...if you don't know God you should be worried...however because I do know God and His Faithfulness...I'm expectant...and confident...so I am about to go for it with my fun lil business venture (http://www.livinginlight.co.uk/) by launching the next collection (during the next few hours...expect an email...woohoo) rather than do something safe and secure...

I am quite aware that because my savings have now totally been rinsed I have nothing to fall back on if the business doesn't work...or if the workshops I want to start up don't kick off...in the natural it would seem that I'll have NOTHING!  Hahahaha...

BRILLIANT ISN'T IT???!

I KNOW!!! I've totally been pondering my position of seemingly having nothing...reflecting upon the last few incredible months of my life...marvelling at my recent adventure of taking all that I have had in my hands and known in my heart and having sown it to the best of my ability...reminiscing over the last three months...just loving the joy of waking up each day in a bubble of leisurely bliss...spending time in worship, enjoying the freedom of just being...without structure or direction in my life yet being the most productive I have EVER been...creating day after day...writing...drawing...designing and sewing...breaking and mending things...building and constructing...growing and flourishing...investing and re-investing into all that I can see in my hands...all with a passion and resolution unlike anything I have ever known...

Sigh...and now I have done all that I can for now...sown all that is in my hands...I have prayed...I have believed...and I have joyfully exhausted it all...and now it would seem I have NOTHING left...smiles...

As I write this I smile...hahaha...because despite me having the time of my life over the last three months...this is actually where the real fun begins...this place of me having nothing left in my hands...this here is the ultra cool part...this is when I sit back because I've done all I can...hoping that I have been faithful with what small I was given, and now all that remains is for me to watch the next phase of the adventure kick in...the beauty of destiny unfolding exceedingly abundantly above anything I could ever ask or imagine...deliciously unwrapping before my very eyes...whatever it might me...maybe it will be the website or it won't...maybe the workshops...maybe the other things God's put in my heart...may be He'll tell me to get a job working for some one...I dunno...I really don't...I just know that it's gonna be good...whatever it's gonna be...it's gonna be really really good...

Hahahaha...to me that's totally what adventurous living is all about...xx

A little bit of fun from the new Living in Light Jewellery range. x

A RISKY YEAR…

For lil ol me, this has been a year all about the risk taking...Yay! I gotta say it has been a year of truly entering into a lifestyle of freedom…of living more dangerously and authentically seeking the thrill of stepping out in faith…and you know what…it has turned out to be simply yummy!  Can I share just a couple of my adventures of this year with you…?

Sooo…pursuing my love of drama and joining an acting class had been a huge risk for me, trust me! Hahaha! When you have to stand up in front of people week after week and act crazy knowing that you might get laughed has totally been an adventure. Having to expose my inners acting "mad", "sad", or "glad" was not an easy feat (my fellow thespians will agree with me I'm sure!), oh but it was so darn rewarding even when I did fail!! And trust me I failed repeatedly. Lol! But the joy of coming through and growing in character and overcoming my pride, fears and anxieties was hooooooooge!! To discover that I loved acting even more than I love fashion was totally a thrill! Imagine if I'd never pursued it for risk of failure?! So much has come of it! I've opened another door of creativity in my life? Whoop whoop!! Did I become the next big star? Hardly! But am I glad I took the risk? YES! YES! YES!!

And then there was the small matter of me leaving the teaching profession after eight years. Talk about a precarious move!! Hahaha! Soooo God showed me in the summer that it was time for me to leave my job as a Secondary school teacher. So I say OKAY!!! And I handed in my resignation! Did I know where I was heading? No? Was it an easy place to leave? Again - NO!! I had tons of different roles, untold opportunities, perks and privileges and a faaaaaaaat salary…so why leave the security?? Because security is safe and does not equate destiny!! And destiny is dangerous but brings forth true adventure!! Seriously…where's the adventure in SAFE?? There's nothing courageous about the comfort zone! There's nothing razzmatazz about the rat race!! And although I have nooooooooooo idea what the future holds for me I knew I know it’s gonna be exciting!! I know I could have done it the safe way where I waited for God to bring me another job and then resigned but that's just DRY!! And so I took the plunge and I have absolutely no regrets about stepping out in faith…on the contrary it feels DELICIOUS!!!

Then there’s the greatest risk I have taken this year…walking in LOVE! I know it sounds corny!! Sick bucket purleeeeeeeeeeeeease! I don't care what you say but TRUE UNCONDITIONAL LOVING is a dangerous game because you gotta totally put yourself on the line! You have to totally expose your inners and choose to see the best in people, choose to ignore your pride, choose to not get offended, choose to get rejected, choose to forgive again and again and again and again…and then when you've been battered, bruised and broken from LOVE cause it hurts so much, you gotta keep on keeping on and love even deeper than you thought you had in you!!!! CRAZY LOVE!!

Yet despite the deep vulnerability I faced of truly yielding to walking in love it held the greatest reward of this year. There has been nothing quite like responding to evil with love, nor have I experienced anything quite as beautiful as letting love be become my heartbeat… finding that in the encounters that have come your way each day I have had the choice to let LOVE dictate my words, thoughts and actions. It has truly become a beautiful adventure. Am I saying I have always succeeded in the LOVE WALK this year? Nooooooooooooo!!! Despite my best efforts of walking in love, many a time I have instead acted like a pit-bull!! Hahahha! But that's the joy of it, knowing that I mess up everyday but being able to get back up again and again and DARING to try again!!

Sooooooooooooooo lollipops!! I don't know what your riskiest, most vulnerable battles are…but may you be free to pursue the dangerous in order to gain the truly wonderful…And may this poem speak to you like it has spoken to me…

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental,
To reach out for another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self,
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure,
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing,
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love....live.
Chained by his certitude's, he is a slave;
He has forfeited freedom,
Only a person who risks is TRULY free.

So as this year comes to a close and a new year full of possibilities, discoveries and miracles invites us to dream in a new season…I dare you to TAKE A RISK…whatever that may mean for you…x

Sensing the Season...

I made a conscious decision to not concentrate on anything other than a few key things in my life over the last month and one of those key things was to SLEEP!!  I have spent tooo long not comprehending the true value of sleep and deceived myself into thinking that I was some sort of Xena Warrior Princess and that I could concentrate on all the projects I'm involved in whilst holding down a full time job…adequately spin all the plates without dropping a single one…and do all this without getting barely any sleep...DOH...I'm beginning to now realise that sleep deprivation is totally for losers!!  And now that I have finally had that revelation, I feel total peace at putting everything down...

Sometimes we foolishly think we really do have to do everything that comes our way but actually there's totally a season for picking stuff up and putting stuff down...I had that revelation a few days ago as I driving down the A406 – pretty much on autopilot as I made my way to work as a teacher…that basically I didn't need to be worrying about a getting a thousand things in order to make destiny happen...on the contrary, the voice in my heart told me that I needed to put all the things that I was killing myself trying to achieve in the midst of holding down a full time job...on the backburner...and just REST my mind!!!

And then it kinda dawned on me that I had become like a silly little hamster going round and round a wheel trying to get my creative flow on with my tired and busted self whilst I had a thousand things going on and I was not GETTING ANYWHERE!  As I shared my anxieties with God, sat behind the wheel praying, I felt a gentle release as I got the revelation that sounded something along the lines of..."RELAX silly billy...BREATHE and sense the season"...And then suddenly the eyes of my heart saw the bigger picture… I was trying to do so much when in fact this season for me was about KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE!  Right there and then I resolved to stop sweating the small stuff, to just relax and keep my eyes on the goal.

Following that little revelation the struggle completely left me and I dived into “REST YOUR MIND” mode.  The funny thing is that since then, I have found myself looking forward to a half term week off from work and finally feeling rested enough to get my creative groove on...excited to find myself producing the next collection for the Living in Light label...excited about maybe writing some more of my manuscript...painting, dancing...reading ...woohoo...Yet I have woken up on the first day of half term and my dear heart, without even once consulting my mind has cheekily decided that it wants all the creative stuff to WAIT...because all my heart wants to do for the entire week is jam with Jesus!!

Image from: http://jobspapa.com

So that's exactly what we are doing…me and my heart...we are jamming with Jesus…I realised this morning that this is in fact all that I need to do!...God had given me so many divine concepts that they are almost bursting out of my seams...I feel I have so so so much to do... such little time...so much to plan...so much to execute...YET the only way I'll ever get to know how to do it...when to do it and why to do it, is by spending treasured time with HIM!!!  Note to self: All things must first be birthed in INTIMACY!!

People say they have so much to do that they can't afford to spend time with God...but the truth peeps is that it's because we have so much to do that WE CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO SPEND TIME WITH HIM!!

But get this…the craziest thing is this...as you turn your heart completely towards HIM you find yourself creatively stirred up anyway, by being in His innately creative presence...unbelievably you will often times achieve far more substance from the creative flow that is conceived by default, in alone time in God's intimate presence - than weeks, even months of  soulish striving could ever attain.

Wow…how mental…How simple…yet HOW DELICIOUSLY DIVINE!!