Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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Longing

Lord, recently I had this aha moment. I was thinking how I always come back to art journaling or vision journaling about travel. And I realized I have been beating myself up about that. The aha came when I thought, what if I always come back to travel because I am meant to travel. What if it is calling me and literally is part of Your calling on my life? What if this longing I have is from You to begin with?

 So, Lord, I have this want. But…I shall not want.

Stop right there. You are reading the Psalm incorrectly. You are applying the wrong English definition of want.

You are thinking, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not long for…anything. You have made longing for sinful. No, no, no!

The meaning is, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack for any good thing.

What is a good thing for you? Of course body nourishment, sustenance. A safe place to live and work. Meaningful work that brings you and others joy. And yes, travel. I didn’t create this beautiful, diverse world and then sentence you to spend your days behind some small fenced-in area.

You cannot let the fear of what might happen, which you carry every single day anyway, stop you—stop you from living your own life in the now. You keep hitting Pause, and then getting up and leaving the movie of your own life. You keep stopping the action to live in the commercial.

Write down, right now, quickly, all the places you can think of that you want to travel to.

Lord, I want so much…

I am I AM; I Am your Shepherd, you shall have all you want, all you long for. For it is I Who planted these seeds of longing within you. And after you have begun to fulfill your longings for beauty and connection here, I shall unroll the map of the world, place by place. You shall be My Creation’s ambassador. You shall go and see and experience, and teach, and come back and share and write and create and go again, all with camera in hand. Your blessing will bless and enrich many others. You are an explorer of light; you shall not lack for any good thing.

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Sourced in God

Gosh, God, the schedule…the stress…I need You to help me so I don’t tumble into either burnout or fallout, meaning broken health. What is your solution for me?

You are not responsible for your family’s—your grandchildren’s—your son’s—happiness. All you can be to anyone is a loving inspiration. Be that. Model what a full life centered in Me looks like. Right now you are modeling a full life centered on your own effort and strength—and it’s not working. It’s not working because you—humans—were never meant to go it alone, by yourselves, or even with one another without Me.

You were meant to be Sourced in Me, My input, My watering, My Presence, My leading, My anointing. Sourced in Me each day, with set-apart times for filling up the well on a regular basis. Make Time to be Renewed in Love. Let Chronos become Kairos again. Right place, right time. Right person—you. Take a next step in this journey we are on together. Renew your pledge to live in synchronicity. Let My Spirit guide you.

 

 

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Suffering

God, I have—we all have—been taught so many different things about You. They can’t all be true. Here is one: You make bad things happen to punish us. Is that true?

You have been taught that I Am a God of suffering, that I afflict My Children to test or punish them. I have much to say about this.

But let Me begin with this: My Heart is to bless My children, to lavish My Love upon humanity. There are consequences for bad behavior or bad choices, and people misinterpret those consequences as My punishment. Even genetic or environmental illnesses come about because of ill-thought choices.

No, My Will is to see each of My children grow as Jesus grew: “in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” What does that mean? It means growing mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Growing in relationship to the earth, to your own body, to Me as your God, and to others around you. It’s another way of saying, growing in Love.

What gardener wants any of his flowers to wilt? What farmer wants any of his crops to fail? What rancher wants any of his animals to sicken and die? How can you possibly think I Am less than any earthly farmer or gardener or rancher or shepherd? Am I not the Good Shepherd? Do I not give good gifts?

 

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The Most Peace

The sun, this Sunday morning, threw a pink glow into the clouds at 6:30. The color gave me peace, like I could breathe. I think “outdoors” as a generic term is my peace-place, my peace-time. But You asked me yesterday, what gives me the most peace? I think of peace in two ways–as a connection to everything and everyone, and as calm, or non-agitation. So the most peace, I guess, is the experience I have outside either in beautiful light or with critters, or in combination. You made me, You said, to connect with You. And with the natural world. So is it wrong that I find my greatest peace outside, in that connection?

Little One, you have been so schooled to think in terms of right and wrong, excel or fail, okay or not-okay. I Am trying to teach you, to show you, another way of looking at your life. If you think in terms of Joy, of Peace, of Love–of all the fruits of My Spirit like gentleness and patience and kindness or in terms of gratitude–you will find yourself making “right” choices, “excelling” in all the ways that matter, and living a very “okay” life indeed. In fact, you will be living an abundant life.

So right and wrong don’t matter?

I Am trying to shift your perceptions away from that duality into a mindset, into a heart focus where Love and Peace and Joy matter most of all, where your connection to Me matters most of all. Can you see that, if you could live in deliberate, conscious connection to Me every minute, even for 24 hours, you would be living in a realm in which “wrong” becomes literally irrelevant? This is what heaven is like–and it is the Kingdom-Come-On-Earth I tried to teach My Disciples when I came as Jesus. It’s the life I lived in a human body. It’s a life I Am inviting you to live. The more you live here, the less you live in fear or doubt or angst or stress–or at odds with any other living being.

What if they live at odds with me? Or my values? What then?

What do you want for someone like that? What do you truly want?

Lord, I want them to be well. To prosper. To have a wonderful, amazing, abundant life. I want that for everybody. I want them healed, in body or mind or spirit.

Now you are thinking as I think, feeling as I feel.

Lord, this idea of always being connected, of there being no wrong in that state of being–is that what You meant by praying without ceasing?

Yes. Praying without ceasing doesn’t mean you have to become a cloistered person, on your knees, chanting religious sounding words every waking minute. It means what I have been saying to you: stay connected. Don’t unplug. Live in My Life. But live life. Life is My Gift to you. So embrace it. Relish it. Cherish it. Live it–but live it connected to Me.

 

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Questions

I guess if I can write lyrics on envelopes, I can talk to You on envelopes!

You can talk to Me anywhere, anytime, about anything.

Okay, then, I want to follow up about hearing from You. I mean, hearing from You about others. 

In what way?

Can I? May I?

Sometimes the best way to talk is to listen. Ask a question and then listen to the answer. Often the answer is itself a question.

Yes. So?

So instead of talking to those you love, if you ask a question, an inspired question, you will actually be prompting them to listen to their own heart. And that is where they will find Me–just as you did.

Okay, I understand. So…what’s the question?

Ah, yes, the question. Well, there’s not really the question. But here is a question. What in your life, right now, brings you the most joy? Why don’t you answer it first?

The most joy? A lot of things bring me a lot of joy.

Yes, but I asked about the most joy.

Honestly, Lord, it’s You. It’s knowing–I am smiling just writing this–it’s knowing I am connected to You. That You hear me and I can hear You. I didn’t use to have this connection and I so treasure it.

You always had this connection, you just didn’t know it. And now you do.

Yes, and that knowing–that brings me the most joy.

So here is a question for you to think about for tomorrow. What brings you the most peace?

 

 

 

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The Clockmaker

Lord, You know what Oct. 18th means to me, that day long ago that I heard from You in that church service when those visiting pastors came. I can’t believe I spent that day of all days in the ER!

Every day is that day for you, now. Unlimited access, 24/7, 365. Then, you needed validation, assurance, healing. Now, you need confidence, boldness, healing. Then, you believed hearing directly from Me was reserved for the few, and you felt fortunate to receive a few paragraphs, spoken from the mouth of a prophet, with your name attached. Now, you know My Heart is to have a deep, abiding relationship with everyone, everyone on the planet. That is My Purpose. And, as the Cross demonstrates, I will go to any length to have it, even play to human wants for justice that are misguided.

Misguided?

Much of what passes for justice is really revenge. What I want is so much bigger, so much deeper. I want forgiveness because I want transformation. I want everyone and everything in right relationship, in harmony and in balance. I created the Universe as that place.

But we sinned, we didn’t listen to You—and we got kicked out of that place.

 Think of the story this way. Humans managed long, long ago to upset the Balance, to introduce enmity between themselves and the natural world and between one another.

Wait a minute! Wasn’t the Serpent the Enemy?

Not until they listened. Not until being out of balance seemed more attractive than in balance, and war seemed more attractive than peace, and hate seemed more attractive than love. Imagine a different ending. Imagine Eve saying to the serpent, I think you are mistaken. Let’s go talk to God about this. Imagine a role where humans were—as I intended—stewards and teachers, learning from Me and teaching others.

But the kicked out part?

Eden is just another word for life lived in balance. They destroyed the balance. That is what led to the separation and the sense of shame, guilt, and fear I never intended for My Creation.

But…but if You really are the Creator, I mean, if You began everything…

Think of Me like a clockmaker, crafting and then winding a clock. The clock is designed to keep time and keep it accurately. But dust or dirt can clog the works, causing the clock to malfunction. A good clockmaker will clean and oil his clock as well as keep it wound. The possibility of it winding down always exists—but so does the reality of all running smoothly as long as the clockmaker stays involved. But what if the clock could somehow run itself, wind itself? I gave the clock—humanity—the power of creative choice. I give that same power to every baby born.

Because each child is born now into an out of balance world, each child has to choose at some point, and then choose over and over, who to believe and who to be. You are choosing to believe in Love and Peace and Joy as a Way, a Way of Being in the world, a way of living moment to moment and day to day. It is, in Native American terms, the Good Red Road. It is, in both eastern and western terms, the Way.

Every human who chooses this way helps tip the earth ever so slightly back toward the balance I created in the first place.

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Steadfast Purpose and Power

 

Lord, is it wrong to want things to get easier?

No, not at all. But easier really isn’t the issue–neither is harder. The issue is, approaching your whole life, which is to say, your life moment by moment, in joy.

How do I do that?

By remembering the why–the why behind the what and the how.

The why?

Yes, the why, which is another way of saying the reason or the purpose. What is your purpose? Not the general purpose that might list work or marriage or family. Those are components of your life, and how you approach each of these components is determined largely by your why. Your purpose. So let Me ask you again–what is your purpose?

Lord, we worked this out before. Like a personal mission statement, one for life. And my life’s purpose is to connect deeply with You–with You and the natural world–and to share those connections, in words and images, with others. 

Your connection is like the electrical current that runs all through your house and it powers everything, from the essential-to-you appliances to lights and heat to communication devices to entertainment. You know how dark and quiet it gets when the power goes out in a storm. Don’t let your power go out. Stay connected and flip your switches on. This means recharging here with Me and outside, where you take your deepest cleansing breaths. Your friends who told you to get some time outside were speaking My words to you. I made you to connect in both ways to Me, here at the page and in My creation. So take some minutes in this storm and make sure your power and the lights don’t go out.

Now, when the power is working efficiently, you can almost take it for granted. Some malign that phrase but I want you to think a minute about exactly what it says. My Power is granted–to you and to everyone who plugs in–as a gift, for you to receive, to take. I WANT you taking My power, as granted, as gift. I WANT you living My joy in all your circumstances, in all your relationships. Power all your relationships just as the electricity in your house powers all your rooms. Power with purpose, in Joy.

Even in the storms?

Especially in the storms. That is when you need the light and warmth the most.

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Bring your feelings

Gosh, God, I am tired. Julia Cameron counsels morning pages for first thoughts. It’s nearly 9 pm; these are definitely not first thoughts. My first thought, after how good the puppy was to wake me to go out, was panic. Panic inside and efficient calm outside because that is what I do. Now after a long day in the ER, Pete is resting quietly and who knows what happened this morning, what was the cause of his weakness. You know. You really know. And as hard as today was, all the love I felt, from friends and family really helped get me through. But all that talk yesterday about joy, honestly, I didn’t have much of that today. And now I am at that little kid point of tired where I am just rambling. 

You are like a tea kettle. You need a place to let off steam, in this case, the steam of pent up worry. Even your efficient responses today created steam, since you had to think and do rather than feel and be. And you did. You did, and you thought, and you managed. The danger for you now is to stay in that mode and not take time to go ahead and let off the pressure, and allow yourself to feel and express that feeling.

God, You say that and I tear up. I was afraid. I’m sorry but I was afraid.

Of course you were. You need to bring those fears and feelings to Me, not out of sorrow or shame but out of confidence and faith, like a young child who brings a hurt to a parent to make it all better. It’s like breathing; you can let out your held-in breath now. You can breathe. You can relax a little. You were vigilant, tense, on alert, all day.

I don’t know what is going to happen.

You do know what is going to happen–you just don’t know when, or how. So what I can tell you is, the time to grieve or mourn is not yet, not now. Trust Me at least this much, for at least this. Take this assurance in with each breath. And know that when the time comes to let go, I will be with you; you will not be alone. And when your own time comes to let go, again I will be with you and I will also be with all of those who love you, who must let you go. I want you to greet tomorrow’s sunrise with gratitude for the day and all the blessings in it. Take time tomorrow to rewind today. Each time you feel that fear, that angst, I want you to lift it up to Me. You can give me your fears and your feelings again and again and again. I can handle them. I can carry them. And I can ease you, over and over, and make your load lighter and easier. Tomorrow will be a better, easier, more joyful day; paradoxically, every moment of laughter and ease tomorrow will be sweeter because of today’s challenges. So allow yourself to feel all your feelings–the difficult ones and the more joyous ones. Don’t hide them from yourself or from Me. I know you have to have a public face. But not here. Not with Me. Never with Me.

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Play

I’m feeling a little better. Phone has dinged. I need to skeedaddle. Lord?

See how playful a word “skeedaddle” is? See how differently you feel, writing skeedaddle instead of “hustle” or “rush” or “dash”? What if you found playful ways to express your day? Your life? Puppies are all about play—it is how they learn in the world. This puppy will restore your sense of playful adventure within your “ordinary days.” And you need that. True creativity is pure play. You need to play more—a lot more. You spent weeks watching your fox kits play. Remember? Let this puppy infuse you, infuse your life, with playful joy. Get ready to laugh and smile more than you have in a long time. Life doesn’t have to be so serious.

But Lord, there are serious things happening!

And what did you learn when serious things were happening with your parents and their health? “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I just said, creativity is play. You want to make a serious impact in the lives of those around you? Then spread more joy. Give joy like bread. Bake up a loaf of joy and peace and watch what happens as you pass that around. Mercy with cheerfulness, remember? You have to carry a life preserver with you if you jump in to save someone drowning; otherwise, you will drown, too. And the life preserver is My Joy. So get ready to play! It will do you—and those around you—so much good.

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I Am

So, Lord, this is really weird.

What is really weird?

I am sitting here, trying to hear, in advance. I need to post ahead; I mean, I need to schedule a post ahead, since I will be out of the house most of tomorrow, and it could even be past midnight when I get home. I know You said I can use past conversations, and I already have done some of that, but tonight I felt I needed to be in real time. So…how can I schedule ahead?

By remembering I Am Timeless. Where you are going, I Am. Where you have been, I AM. Where you are now, this minute, take a breath, this minute, I Am. Eternity is a hard concept for your finite mind to grasp, not because you are not smart enough, but because every facet of your earthly existence has limits, has boundaries. You have boundaries of time, of physical space, you have physical limitations, and of course you eventually deal with death, which seems the biggest limiting factor of all. But I have no limits, no boundaries. I have no barriers, no obstacles to overcome. I simply Am. Eternity and Timeless are really the same thing, a life, an existence without boundaries, without limitation.

Because I Am, it follows that I See, I Hear, I Perceive, I Know. This is how some people sense future happenings in advance, or have what seems to be deja vu knowledge of what once was. They have been able to connect, even if only briefly, with the essence of Who I Am. In that connection, all knowledge, all understanding is available.

So you can rest in believing that what you write “now” in this time with Me is also, in its own way, timeless. It was spoken before the stars were formed and will echo long after your earth’s existence has faded into memory.

I Am. This is all you really need to know, as a foundation. Everything else flows from here: I Am Love, I Am Peace, I Am Joy, I Am Hope, I Am Faith, I Am Light, I Am Life.