Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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In The Bubble

Ok, I need to quit so I can shower. My thoughts dart–like butterflies–this/that/the other…

Try to settle, for today, on today. Try to be present. All your tomorrows are in My Hands–and you will unwrap them as they come. Some you will unwrap early so you can plan, or prepare. But for today, just unwrap today.

Remember the snow globes you had, as a child? Well, I want you to imagine holding in your hands a globe that was filled with light, with dancing and sparkling and shimmering light. As you peer in and look from every angle, something new is revealed. Trust Me to provide an extraordinary experience in the most ordinary of days–today. My Hands are on your hands. If you let Me, I can make today a day to remember.

Ok, Lord, thank You. I love You, Lord. Thank You. You know how much I want to bless my friends.

Of course I know! This reunion is from Me. I want to bless them too–and I want to bless them through and with you.

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Forgiveness

Lord, my friend thinks I am burdened, the burden a funeral is, all of it focused down on one physical spot. I thought I released all that a few months ago.

You forgave. You truly forgave. But forgiveness and release aren’t the same things. Forgiveness released those others. Forgiveness released your anger—but not your sorrow. And the sorrow continues to be compounded—like opening an old wound, almost every time you go there or have a conversation about it.

Lord, I have tried to be numb to it, but I’m not. I’m just not. So I thought my trying to be understanding and compassionate was walking in forgiveness. No?

Forgiveness says two things: It says, Lord, please release them—which you have done, which you do, over and over. It also asks, Lord, please release me. Your compassion for them is great, both in its commitment and strength, but the burden of the wound is getting deeper and more infected. Remember what forgiveness isn’t: it isn’t permission to keep being a target. You have forgotten the part of the story where forgiving releases you.

But I can’t just leave the situation.

You can leave the conversation. You can bring the focus back to you. You are always deflecting it, trying so hard to calm the waters in their souls. What about your soul?

 

 

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Balance

It’s about 8:45 a.m. I keep the house quiet, and he sleeps. What would You say?

 

Do all from love; do nothing from worry. Like the stacking game, you are afraid if you remove worry from your foundation that your entire life will come tumbling down. No, no! It is an illusion. Your life will be more beautiful without it. Worry is making your heart like a wall, solid, featureless, with no windows.

God, I can see it visually. Like how the game starts—it’s just a solid pillar.

 The key to stability is balance. Not yin-yang, good/bad, light/dark. That’s not balance, that’s neutrality. I don’t want you neutral—I want you exuberant! I want you overjoyed! I want you rejoicing—hopeful—expectant! You counter balance the world view that says “gloom and doom,” that says “be cautious,” that says “be careful,” that says “hide your light.” “Don’t draw attention.” I say, Shine your light! I say, Shout from the rooftops! Quit being neutral. Be positive.

Wow, Lord, I never, ever thought of balance like that. So…You’re saying…when I am, uh, stubbornly hopeful, I’m actually balanced?

YES. That is exactly what I Am saying. Joy more abundantly is My definition of balance, because My Joy is your strength, is your stability. Your compass, your True North, is Joy and Peace. These are your balance points. A circle is balanced. No part pulls another.

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Adjust Your Sails

Lord, You know I am still stressing over finances. I can’t seem to stop worrying. And when I worry, I react badly—inside—to what others say or do. And I second-guess my every decision, even decisions I thought I heard about from You.

You are waiting for the wind to shift before you adjust your sails. It is what the world does. I am saying to you, adjust your sails and the wind will shift. Get ready, anticipating a blessing. The man in the parable was greedy and stingy, but I am telling you, build a bigger barn. A bumper crop is coming; it is even now growing. It is even now on its way. Take in the rainbow; it is a sign for you of My provision.

Am I not still Jehovah-Jireh? Can I not now also be your Jehovah-Rapha?

You are reacting as you always do, trying to make up a deficit at cost to yourself. What about the loaves and fishes? What about the lost coin? What about the pearl of great price? What about the coin in the fish’s mouth? If the Kingdom of God doesn’t touch you right where you live, and in your society—which includes money, the very foundation of exchange for everything except the air you breathe—then what good is it?

My Kingdom is not esoteric. My Kingdom is based on Love. My Kingdom is not ascetic. It is not a system of exchange, your wealth for poverty. What would miraculous provision look like, to you?

Let Me provide, as a lesson to you. Let Me work, so you can clearly see it is I. I have shown a spotlight on what you call a deficit to illuminate a much bigger deficit in your thinking, in your pattern of thought and belief—about money, and Me, and you, your life. That is the deficit that must be overcome, and the miraculous is the only way that will happen. So I don’t want you to engineer anything in the natural. Instead, set your sails. Instead, watch Me shift the wind. Instead, watch Me work. Continue to be generous, and watch Me give to you.

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Seeking and Finding God

I think I am listening for Your voice. It’s like a singer with a distinctive voice—like Barbara Streisand. Anyone could sing the words, but you immediately recognize her voice.

And what do you think of as My voice?

Well…the words themselves can be firm, and pointed, but always loving and fair. And Your voice, at least to me, is always gentle. Loving and gentle. And I am not hearing that in many places.

What if I said to you, “Go where you find Me.” Then what would you do?

I guess I’d need to go look for You. Spend time trying to find You.

 But I didn’t say, “Go try to find Me.” Or, “Go and Seek.” Read it again. “Go where you find Me.” Where do you find Me NOW? Find Me consistently? Or to put it another way: where are you enriched? What do you look forward to with gleeful anticipation? Go where. Go there. Don’t waste your time turning over rocks in a dry streambed, seeking for gold. Mine the gold you have. Treat every morning, here, as church. Play worship music on your guitar and in your car. Sing Me the love songs that you delight to sing. And as for your book—books—they are to be love stories. Write Love Stories. My Love Story always has a happy ending!

You praise Me—really—because you love Me. You are singing love songs. That is what sets you apart from so many others—you fell in love, with Narnia and Aslan—and Me. Your Door was different for a reason. I didn’t bring you in the Church Door, or the Bible Door. They came afterwards. I brought you in the story door, the Love-story door, and a story focused on Talking Animals to boot—for a reason. Yours is not a traditional path and it is not a traditional calling. There are a lot of, too many, mixed messages in the traditions.

You are a Creativist and a Creationist, meaning that two of the offshoots of your spiritual path are creativity and the natural world. You find Me in both, and yet I Am Beyond both. So are you—you find sustenance in and through both, and yet there is more to you, and more to what you have to give—that is why I keep saying your work is beyond natural history. It’s not that natural history won’t be a part of it—of course it will, because you love to share about creation—but your work is beyond that, as you are beyond a naturalist. So your watchword for today is Beyond.

 

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Narrow Road

Lord, You said it is easy to align ourselves again with You. Then why did You call it a narrow road?

There are many distractions pulling you away from Love, or Peace, or Joy. Narrow doesn’t mean hard, or hard to find or follow. Narrow merely acknowledges that the one Path, the Center, the place of maximum abundance of life is in Love. Peace and Joy follow from Love, as do health and wealth, as do goodness and kindness, as do mercy and faith.

Love is so far-reaching, it embraces and encompasses the whole Universe—and beyond. Yet it is called Narrow, because it is laser-focused in its intent and commitment. Love is the Way.

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Believing for myself

God, why is it so easy for me to believe You will hear my prayers to bless others…and so hard for me to believe for myself? Is it just a lack of faith on my part?

When you pray for others, you are relying on what you know and believe in your heart about Me–that I Am good, that I Am Love, that I long to bless everyone. From that perspective, it is easy for you to ask, and to ask large. And look what you receive! That kind of faith opens all sorts of possibilities. It is not that you have to convince Me to act; I have told you this before. Rather, it is that much of My acting involves prompting humans to act in certain ways, to be sensitive to certain impulses, to follow their own hearts’ leadings.

When it comes to asking for yourself, a curtain drops down between what you know to be true, and what you were told about Me and about yourself many, many years ago. The curtain is thinner now; it is more gauze than thick brocade, but it still clouds your vision and thus your belief. You begin to doubt your inclinations, doubt your impulses, and unwittingly close the door to much that I would otherwise be able to give you. It is not that I become reluctant to give; it is that you cut yourself off from the very ways I mean for you to receive.

Let’s try this. Try pretending, the next time you feel uncertain about asking Me for yourself, that you are asking for your best friend. What would you ask for then? Ah, you see, you are smiling already. Remember, abundance really means “more-than-enough.” More than enough for everyone–including you.

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Stay Tuned

OK, Lord. Here I am at this point, where I need and want to get quiet. Try to hear You. Ask You to speak, to break in.

Imagine tuning a radio, the kind you grew up with, with its dial. Hear the crackle of static? Hear how stations get louder or softer as you dial them in or out? Here’s a secret—the music is always playing. I Am the Word, so I Am always speaking. I Am always speaking over you, over your life. Over your world. Over everyone in it. Like a radio station broadcasting 24/7, I Am always speaking. You just need to turn the dial.

Now, there are a lot of voices in your radio. Not all come from Me. Not all are inspired voices, just as a radio broadcasts all sorts of music and programs all across the dial. But each station has its own identity, its own voice. Be careful which stations, whose voices, you tune in to. Keep the dial of your mind and heart near Me. The other voices you hear in proximity to My Voice will ring true and can give you good counsel and encouragement.

This is a role you can play yourself, for others. You wonder, where is my own voice in all of this? Keep closely tuned to My Voice, and what comes from the depths of your own heart, and the reaches of your own mind, will be inspired, and give life.

Your broadcasters often end a segment or a program with the invitation, Stay Tuned. That’s good advice for a musical instrument, too. Stay tuned. Like an engine—stay tuned, stay tuned up. Stay tuned in to My Voice.

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Hearing God’s Voice

How can I learn Your voice, Lord? 

 

By setting aside time in quiet for Me to speak to you. The more you hear Me speak to you in your quiet times, the better you will recognize My voice at all times. You say, “my life is never quiet, and my mind is never silent.” I will speak to you through what seem your thoughts, but from a higher perspective. Don’t make this hard. Turn off the car radio for just five minutes of your commute. Take an extra two or three minutes in the shower and imagine My Love raining down upon you. Notice what thoughts come in those moments and how they make you feel. Talking with Me, listening to Me, will become your life’s greatest adventure.

Imagine unlimited access to the world’s libraries. There is no question I won’t answer, no complexity I won’t address. My delight is to love you and help you experience My love in tangible ways. My Voice speaking to your heart is one of those ways.

 

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In Everything Give Thanks

Whew, God, that worked out. Thank You.

Would you have said thank You if it hadn’t worked out?

Oh. Uh, no. Probably not. I’m sorry. We are supposed to thank You for everything, right? No matter what happens?

No, no. Not FOR everything, IN everything. IN everything give thanks. In every circumstance, you can find reasons for gratitude, things to give thanks for. This misunderstanding has caused much harm. People assume they are supposed to be thankful for disasters, for pain, for war, for abuse, for horrific crimes. Of course you can’t give thanks for that—and even if you tried, I would not receive your thanksgiving because I cannot rejoice over these things Myself. But as you have learned, you can always find something to feel and express gratitude for, in any circumstance. You can look for the slightest glimpse of joy. You can be alert to the least motion of love in your direction. You can take one breath, in and out, focused on peace, for those few seconds. Please DON’T give thanks FOR everything. But please, please, make gratitude foundational in your life, and give thanks IN everything.

Do you know why I asked you, asked all humans, to give thanks IN everything? Because thanksgiving changes you. Because I Am always trying to break into every human conversation, every confusion, every dilemma, with more love, more peace, more joy, more unity. Gratitude opens your mind and heart to receive. You know this; you have lived this. Gratitude focuses the attention, even in sorrow, even in hardship, and helps to illuminate a different way, a different course of action, another choice. Once you make the first choice, to give thanks IN everything, other choices become more evident, more possible.