Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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Shield of Time

Lord, the news, the nightly news, is so negative. And the underlying message is, not safe. Life’s not safe, streets aren’t safe, danger is everywhere, tragedy lies in wait. So how do I combat that? Look at my word choice: combat! Fight. How do I deal with that? I’m hearing, Praise. Makes me think of my lyric from all those years ago, the battle cry is praise…You ARE still God, You ARE still Love. Ok. So that makes me think of armor, the armor of God. All those pieces of armor in scripture: breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shoes of peace, I have always loved that. Not the gospel of judgement; the gospel of peace. “Footprints like hearts through my day.” Walk in Peace, every step is Peace. Peace with God. “As much as it depends on you, you live in peace with all others.” That’s my part–and instead of making me vulnerable to stumbling or tripping up, that mindset, that commitment protects me on my path. My path is Peace–which also speaks to me about my stubborn believing there is abundance, enough for us all to do well. It is not me versus them. Then there is the shield of faith. So why do I need a breastplate and a shield both?

The shield is for your hands. It is for what you do, your outwards actions, outreach, all the tasks of your days. You’ve been laying down your shield in order to do your tasks. You still think you have to do this–all this–alone, without help. Specifically without My help. You’ve received miracles, miracles of healing, financial and supply miracles of multiplication, miracles of synchronicity and serendipity, being led, right place/right time. Now you need miracles of organization. Miracles of prioritization. Miracles of time-management, so you can do.

The shield of faith is like a timekeeper. The shield of faith for your wrist says, I have enough time. It says, time is my companion, not my enemy; that is why it is a shield. A shield can also be a badge, an ID. Think of a police shield. Your identity, your badge is your faith, is your relationship with Me. Wear your shield again. Don’t hide who I Am in you, and who you are in Me. I did come to show the world My Love and I Am Risen, I Am alive, everywhere–and also in you. Have blessing cards in the shop. Have angels, have beautiful created works. Seek out artists who, like you, love Me. Have music.

Continue to create an atmosphere that says welcome, take a deep breath, beauty and serenity live here. Believe that the choices you make for the shop are founded in your relationship with Me and you will not choose amiss. Why would I not continue to bless your working life? Continue to create sanctuary space, for both your artists and your customers, so that you can attract, create, and sell art and craft that beautify the spaces they occupy. Infuse your own work and everything in the shop with your own positive, peaceful, loving spirit and everyone who walks in your door will feel the peace and joy present there. They may not realize the source, they may not be able to name or quantify the feeling, but they will leave more refreshed than they entered, as if the rush of time slowed and meandered during their moments inside. That is precisely what needs to happen for you, too. You need to remember that I Am your Source, for all things–including your working life, including time itself.

 

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Look for the Light

God, I want to talk to You about the dark night of the soul, when You leave us and–

I will never leave you.

But–

I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

But what about Jesus saying from the Cross, why have You forsaken Me?

Do you really think I would forsake My Own Son? You have a great fear of being left alone, being abandoned. Many humans do. Jesus was speaking out of His humanity, expressing honestly the feelings many humans have, especially when tragedies occur, of being left alone, separated or forsaken by God. But this is false–I Am. There is nowhere, no time, no circumstance, in which I Am not. That would negate My very Being. There is a difference in being Present to you in all things, and being the cause of all things. We have talked about this before.

So, then, what is this whole Dark Night experience, if it’s not some test, like a fast from your Presence?

That notion is a lie, a particularly insidious falsehood, because it sets in motion the thought that, when difficult circumstances happen, humans must muddle through on their own. The truth is, the human tendency at such times is to withdraw and turn inward. The clouds of circumstance appear to your thought and feeling to obscure the sun, but the sun has not changed its magnitude. You mistake the clouds of your circumstance for My deciding to withdraw from you. If your sun suddenly disappeared, so would life as you know it on planet earth. Similarly, you cannot live without My Love, without My Presence.

In the Genesis story, after all the spoken, it is good, what did I say was Not Good? Aloneness. Not Good for humans to be Alone.

Don’t fear an illusory Dark Night. You know what grief and loss feels like. I promise you, you will never face grief, never experience loss, apart from Me–or from many who love you and care for you. You have My Word on that.

So I need to…

Look for the light. Look for the Light of My Presence. Even in the seeming darkness, if you open your heart, open your mind, open your eyes, you will see. You know this photographically. You mount your camera so it is still, and you open your shutter. And what happens? What you cannot always see with one glance from your eyes, your shutter reveals. So it is with your heart. Be still, listen, look. You are never, nor have you ever been, Alone.

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Blue Moonrise

God, tonight I want to talk about the moonrise, the Super Blue Moon moonrise.  I’ve already posted some photos on Facebook. But I want to talk to You about it. Second full moon of January, the first month of the year…lunar eclipse earlier today, making this Super Blue Blood Moon truly unique. The last time we had a US total eclipse (even though we couldn’t see it here) of a Super Blue Moon was (thank you Google) on March 31, 1866. The Civil War had ended not quite a year before. Some folks look for portents in the moon; blood moons hearken back to Old Testament verses folks interpret as the end of the world. Various cultures find meaning in eclipses generally, and lots of folks look at new moons as times of beginning and full moons as times of fulfillment, or letting go. You often speak to me through nature. So…is there some meaning beyond “gee that was neat” that I should receive from tonight’s full moon?

How did you feel when the moon came up?

Joyful. Excited. Grateful. I wasn’t sure if the cloud layer to the north would obscure its rising, but there it was! And as it rose higher in the sky it began to light up the wisps of clouds around it, and it shone so bright that the clouds in front of its face just faded. It looked like they were behind the moon! 

I want you, I want My world to experience wonder. Wonder is not just for children. Much of the world’s current spiritual hunger and thirst stems from a mindset that has replaced wonder with logic. Science is wonderful, and necessary; you humans like to solve riddles, figure everything out, find tidy explanations, and categorize experience. Those traits have served humanity well but some experiences aren’t always explainable or understandable to the finite human mind. A mindset that requires precise explanations and measurable and consistent results leaves no room for the miraculous. The rise in popular culture of fantasy and science fiction–notice that term, science fiction–is an attempt by your artists to reconcile the logical, scientific side of grown-up humanity with the wonder and awe and openness of children.

I have asked you this before but I need to ask you again: do you think Heaven will be boring? Do you think your loved ones are bored in My Presence now? Do you think that your eternal existence will be described by words such as static, stagnant, frozen, unmoving, or sameness? You read, I Am the Lord, I change not and you think of these sorts of words, as if Heaven’s existence is like the click of your shutter, freezing a moment, a nanosecond, of experience. But what happened tonight in real time, as you reckon time? The moon Rose. It literally grew before your eyes, becoming bigger, brighter, and higher in your field of vision. I Am Risen. That is not a static fact, that is an ongoing, eternal reality of growth and expansion in your experience of Me and My Life, both within you and in the world around you and in the eternity you have yet to grasp.

When I say, I change not, or I Am the Same, yesterday, today, and forever, what I mean is, I Am Always Who I Am. My character does not change. I Am not Love today and Ambivalence or Hatred tomorrow. I Am not Peace now and War later. I Am not Mercy here and Unmerciful there. I Am Always and Fully Myself. But (this will be hard for you to grasp at first), I Grow. With every human born, My Love grows, My Mercy grows, My Heaven grows. Your astrophysicists tell you, the Universe is ever-expanding. Listen to them. They are close to the realm where science and wonder meet. That meeting place is the Door to My Kingdom, and you yourself are closer to the Door than you imagine, much closer than you were even five years ago.

You have heard, so-and-so is so heavenly minded that she is no earthly good. That is spoken as an indictment. You have heard, get your head out of the clouds. I tell you, you will be increasingly so heavenly minded that you will be of much earthly good, much greater good than you could have been otherwise. The same is true of every human being who seeks to connect more deeply with Me, to experience My Presence in fresh ways, and to embrace this seeming paradox, of science and wonder united.

This is the lesson of this full moon for you: embrace your life. Embrace your ever-larger, ever-brighter, ever-rising-higher life.

 

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Thirst

Lord, I don’t have very much time.

Actually, you do. You have all the time you need. And you are joined, right now, in conversation, with Eternity, with an eternal perspective, with One Who is Timeless. Who Was and Is and Is To Come. So why do you feel you don’t have very much time?

Because I need a message.

No. Not really. What you really need, what your world really needs, is not a message. It has lots of messages, some truer than others.

So what do we need? What do I need?

Say you’re hungry, or you think you are hungry. You have many choices, some nutritious, some not so. You could eat a snack filled with protein or one filled with sugar. But what if you are actually not hungry at all? What if you are really just thirsty? Your world’s need, your need, is more based in thirst than in hunger right now.

Okay, I understand the difference from a body’s point of view. But You are talking about our souls, our spirits. What is the difference between soul or spirit thirst, and soul or spirit hunger? I don’t understand.

Your great thirst is to be healed and to be free. Hunger is a signal that your growth needs nourishment, perhaps deeper understanding or clarification. But thirst…thirst is a signal that your soul needs refreshing. You can live longer in the natural without food than you can without water. The same is true in the spirit.

So how do I go about quenching my thirst, then? How do I play a role in quenching anyone else’s?

By experience. You can for a season nourish yourself or others with words, yours, other people’s, even Mine. But to quench the soul’s thirst, you need experience. Music can help refresh a weary, parched spirit. So can beauty, which is why art can be healing as well as merely decorative. You find personal renewal outside in nature, a great source of spiritual water for you. And you have had direct experiences of what you have come to call My Manifest Presence, that extra sense that I Am Here. I Am always Here, always Present, but you are not always aware of My Presence even though you acknowledge it mentally as a spiritual fact. Acknowledging something and experiencing it are vastly different. You need to experience My Presence again. In fact, the more tired you are, the more thirsty you are, you tend to push yourself harder, not easier. You tend to chide yourself for not having more stamina when I have designed both your body and your spirit to send you powerful signals of thirst —not so I can scold you, so I can refresh you.

Lord, I am going to say what I started out saying—I don’t have very much time.

 Yes, your days are very scheduled, and will only become more so. I know. That is why it is a very good thing I Am Timeless. So I will let you in on a secret. There is more to the verse, He gives to His Beloved even in his sleep, than you know.

Turn out your light, lay down your pen, walk away from the computer, and fall asleep in the deep knowledge that I Am infusing you once again as you rest. See if you don’t wake more refreshed in the morning than you have in a while. Let go all that troubles you, even for these few hours, and relax into My Presence.

 

 

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Positive Choices

Lord, I decided years ago, I have a finite amount of concentrated prayer time. Rather than spend it rebuking evil, I decided to spend it talking to You. I am trying so hard to turn away from malevolence, not give it more power by my attention to it.

Your every choice for good, for love, or for peace helps tip the balance in favor of good in your world. You keep making positive choices and so you keep having an increasingly positive life. Those who keep making negative choices keep having an increasingly negative life—until they switch. Until they begin to choose differently. Those who give themselves over deliberately to what you call evil, to choices intended to hurt or harm another, increasingly become the choices they make. They—and you—take on the persona and lifestyle and character of the choices made.

You are not safe because there is no evil, no malice. You are safe precisely because, despite the reality of evil and malice, you continually choose Me and My ways, and so you are surrounded by that which you have chosen to embody. It is My Spirit that protects you even when you don’t realize you are being protected.

But Lord, what about children? What about animals? Who protects them, the vulnerable?

You do. By your every choice for Love, you—and everyone like you—tip the balance in your world. That’s why I said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” You create and extend My Kingdom with every choice for good. You co-create with Me. If every single person on the planet did this at the same instant, the Kingdom would be fully realized.

Oh! As it is in heaven—right?

Exactly. You see?

 

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Password Protected

Lord, thank You for my computer being repaired. That was scary, thinking I had lost documents when I thought I had them backed up elsewhere. What I did lose was all my passwords; my new hard drive has no clue who I am or where I’ve been! So I am thinking about passwords, about keywords, about Your keywords in my life. What I keep returning to–gratitude, peace, love, joy, abundance. These are overall keywords, though, right? I mean, they apply to everyone. 

What do passwords do?

Well…they grant access. They are like doors, with keys. If you have the key, you can get in, into the program, into the website, and once you get in, you can do things.

So My first keyword is Grace. Grace opens the door from My side at the slightest whisper, the least knock. You are wondering, why a door at all? Why not a pass-through with no doors at all? Do you know why?

No. I mean, I’ve been taught it’s because we weren’t holy, we aren’t clean, we need Your blood to get in, the sacrifice of your life in exchange for our life. 

Humans are for the most part very aware of justice. “That’s not fair” is an early cry of children. Fairness, rightness, fair play, justice–all are hardwired into the human psyche. So over time whole systems of justice that were based on retribution, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, were established. But what did I say when I was here on earth? I said, judge not. Why would I ask you to live to a higher standard than God the Father? The more difficult truth is, you humans needed a sacrifice in order to satisfy your own needs for your own ideas of justice. And since I Am Mercy and I Am Love, I came as Jesus to provide what you yourselves demanded of yourselves, the sacrifice you could not give but imagined I would require. Jesus’ death was essential in order for you to feel you could walk through the door of My Grace. For My part, I Who Am the Door Am also always eternally Open.

 So…Jesus had to die, not to satisfy You, but to satisfy…us? Our misinformed logic about what grace even is?

Exactly. See how much Love is revealed in that truth? “For it is not My will that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance”–that is, to a change of mind and heart and action. That all leave any thought of retribution behind. That all come to a life of abundant, limitless Love.

This is what protects you, all of you, from your greatest fear, that you are not enough, not good enough, not worthy enough, never doing or being enough. You–all of you–are created Beyond Enough. You are–all of you–created to shine and thrive. So come running and skipping, walking and leaping and praising God through the Door! And as you pass through, watch it dissolve behind you and breathe the fresh air in front of you. No more locks, no more keys, free and complete access to My Kingdom. That is what My Will looks like for every human life, every human heart. That is what I live and love for–and it is what I Am asking you to commit to, spreading that message in every way you can.

Ok, Lord, I don’t completely understand, but I do hear You. 

 

 

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Spiritual Hydration

This week has been a rollercoaster. And while I was writing down all of the various whats and whys, I had this insight, and I think You inspired it. I need to live in each present moment emotionally even when I need to plan ahead, mentally. Like making to-do lists. That is planning ahead mentally. But I don’t need to live ahead emotionally. That’s it! Right?

Yes, this is the secret of “don’t worry about tomorrow; let tomorrow take care of itself.”  Worry is an emotional response. Mindfulness doesn’t mean ignoring the future or the past but it does mean staying spiritually and emotionally grounded in the present.

Ok, Lord, well I am definitely going to need Your help with that. As I said, this week has been a roller-coaster of thought and emotion.

So, come and drink. You need water. You are picturing as you often do a cool, clear, safe mountain stream to drink from. You need to stay hydrated, especially today. Especially after your recent surges of adrenalin, which you handled very well. But just like an athlete does, you need to replenish. So before you eat even, drink a glass of water.

Next, in your shower, take a few minutes and let the water rain on you. Try to relax your very tight muscles. Even now your jaw is clenched as you write—see you weren’t even conscious of that. So take a few minutes to relax.

Third, do a gratitude list this morning. It will help you shift your focus. Even though you did one last night, do another this morning. Gratitude always brightens our outlook and refreshes your spirit.

Fourth, build in time to go to the ocean this afternoon. Even a few minutes there, really listening to the sound of the surf, will restore you.

You will get through the day’s tasks and have more energy than you have right now. If you can trust Me to just begin, I promise you today will only get better.

Ok, Lord, and thank You.

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A Peachy Life

Lord, for years I heard the same Sunday message, about caring for the poor. Then we gave our offerings, and ate our breakfast and came home. Next week, we would do it all again. So what was I missing? Why the feeling of missing? What is it I want to hear?

You want to hear what everyone secretly wants to hear, that your life makes a difference. Not the five minutes it takes to decide whom to write your check to—all the other minutes. And it does. You have no idea how far a couple of hours with you, a few minutes with you will take those you encounter.

If your life was like a peach, what would you do with it? Would you eat it all, savoring each bite? Or would you stare at it on the counter, wondering if it was ripe enough, wondering how you’ll manage if you eat it all too quickly, until it rots there, waiting—as you wait—when I Am Lord of the Orchard! Eat your life! Enjoy the sweetness in every day. Let your own life and its particular joys nourish you once again.

Count your joys and watch them multiply. If you will eat of My Joy, then everything else you desire—health, financial stability—will also be yours. If it doesn’t make you happy, don’t think it, don’t wear it, don’t buy it, don’t photograph it, don’t entertain it, don’t welcome it in.

 

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Dreaming Awake

I would like to ask for better dreams. Relaxing nighttime scenarios would go a long way to waking refreshed, I would think. I feel like I’m thrown into these movie plots, all of which are exhausting either emotionally or physically or both. I don’t know how to shift the landscape of my dreaming.

What sort of landscape would you like?

Oh well, I am picturing a field, a kind of open field–and there’s a little streamlet, sort of like the stream in Montana–and Aslan is suddenly there, Your Golden Lion Self.

And what am I-As-Aslan saying and doing, in this dreamscape of yours?

Well, You are looking at me, our eyes are meeting, and I am not afraid. There is obviously Power here but great Love. I feel as if You are telling me Something Important, giving me an assignment or task. There’s a tree, I am under a tree. Like one of the apple trees of my childhood, that shape.

How fitting that Aslan should meet Eve under an apple tree!

Oh! But You aren’t scolding; You are saying, I make all things new.

Yes, I Am calling you, calling all humanity, to renewal, not as a church movement, as a lifestyle in Me. What was the fruit for, in Narnia?

It was for healing, for Digory’s mother.

The fruit you have asked for, the fruit of renewal and reconciliation, heals so much of your world’s ills.

God, I’m sorry–Kaylee barked, the propane gas guy is here filling our tank, I’ve lost what You were saying.

I’m saying take and eat. I’m saying what I said to Digory–take this with you, feed those around you. The fruit you share reaches beyond these words; it’s your life, your loving life.

Lord, I get impatient, I get distracted, I get discouraged…

Shhh, shhh. Here is what I see. You catch yourself in those moments, over and over. You don’t let them overtake or overwhelm you. Now what do you see in your imaginary field?

Animals, all sorts of critters, trotting and running up to me. I’m being mobbed by all these happy animals, happy with each other, happy I’m here, like a little kid’s movie.

Eden.

Yeah, I miss Eden, the thought of it. Bittersweet, poignant. What could have been.

What shall be. Remember, part of your calling is to live with one foot in Eden, so to speak, in your world. Look for evidence in the same way you look for gratitudes. You are already very aware of your planetary disconnects, just as you once were hyper aware of your grief. Begin to be alert for evidence of the way I Am restoring Eden through your life and experience. As you see that more and more in your waking life, your sleeping life will be more refreshing and your dream-life will mirror and augment your waking experiences. They will feed each other. Just keep feeding on My Promises to you, and let them nourish your soul.

 

 

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Chewing on forgiveness

Lord, I am sitting here at the page with lots of swirling thoughts and I’m tired. I just realized, I really am tired. I’m leaking joy too. So am I tired because I am leaking joy, or am I leaking joy because I am tired?

Which came first? That is your answer.

Well, there have been several things back to back that (all I can think of are cliches, another fatigue sign) let the air out of my tires…took the wind out of my sails…robbed my joy, all of which have left me tired. I think the fatigue is a result, not the cause.

Yes, remember, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Yes, I love that verse. So I learned this afternoon that a classmate died, and another is in the hospital, really ill. That is one sort of upset. The other is very different. Every time I do inventory and find items are missing, likely stolen, I always feel badly that someone would do that. Of course now I also have to pay the artist. I am feeling a bit betrayed by that. And while folks have expressed support so far for our upcoming gallery move, I am remembering the last time we had to move, and it’s stirring up a lot of feelings, I think. We were misunderstood and falsely accused by folks who didn’t understand our reasons, folks who didn’t have the full set of facts. I hate being misunderstood. I always feel as if I have to explain. Friends tell me not to bother. So why does it bother me?

It bothers you because of who you are. You are always trying to look out for those around you, to give the benefit of the doubt whenever you can, even to the point of making excuses for unacceptable behavior.

Isn’t that what forgiveness is? Isn’t that what we are called to do?

Make excuses for unacceptable behavior? Absolutely not! Every time I forgive, I Am extending a chance and a choice–a choice to do better, to live better, not to overlook bad behavior and certainly not to encourage it to continue.

So what should I do when I feel falsely accused?

The answer really does depend on the situation. Sometimes it is best to turn aside, and not to respond or retaliate.

Like turning the other cheek?

Yes–but not to give yourself over to be beaten. That was never what I meant, although folks have assumed so. I really meant what I just said–turn aside. Don’t keep standing there, taking it on the cheek. Turn aside, step aside. Don’t stay, and don’t hit back. Turning aside is the third way.

Aha! I get it. So You said sometimes it is best to do that. What other choices are there?

Sometimes it is best to speak up and give your perspective, your side of the story. Sometimes those listening will be interested in the truth but unfortunately, not always. The key for you is to do what you are doing right now. Don’t be like a squirrel, burying your grievances and going back and digging them back up, chewing on the same incidents over and over. What will help you let go and move on in peace? That is the question. The answer is never to bury your feelings only to have them fester and resurface. That only hurts you more in the long run.

If you could say one thing to any of those people you are thinking about, what would that one thing be?

You mean, and have it be effective? Or even if it fell on deaf ears? (See, another cliche. I really am tired.)

Either way. Say you don’t know the outcome in advance. What would you say?

I think I would say something like, I want you to know that I know what you’ve done, or what you’ve said, and I just want to say, you are making a mistake. You may or may not realize it now, but I pray you will realize it soon. You might not have a chance to make restitution to me, but you will have an opportunity somewhere down the road to do the right thing. So I am asking you to remember, to remember this, and do the right thing the next time. And I release you.

Release how?

Just release. Release from the burden, whatever burden, whatever thought, made the person make the wrong choice to begin with. Release from the initial cause.

In other words, you would pronounce forgiveness–for this is what forgiveness is. Release into a new, freer life.

Yes, I guess I would. I am not interested in punishment per se, I’m just not. I’m interested in healing. Although I will say, I am very interested in those who hurt others not being able to continue doing so, willy-nilly. In that sense, I guess I favor not punishment so much as restraint.

True healing, true repentance–a change of mind and behavior–is the best restraint. A true change involves an encounter with radical Love. When you are able to choose that kind of release, you are offering to that person a glimpse of My Kingdom, where radical Love reigns. You are, in the words of St. Paul, acting as My Ambassador, inviting them into a new life of conscious, conscientious connection with Me.

So tonight, when you list your gratitudes, be sure to include this one from Me–I Am grateful that you chose to bring this up with Me rather than burying it. Now I can renew and refresh and release you.